A J Alvero
Biographic Data
| ID | 315748 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A J Alvero |
| GIVEN NAMES | A J |
| FAMILY NAME | Alvero |
| SIGNATURE | ALVERO A J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cornell University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4642-9788 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
What Does It Mean to Be Black? Experimental Evidence on the Situational Deployment of Racial Schemas
How do Black Americans construct narratives about the meaning and boundaries of Blackness in America today? We leverage an original, nationally representative survey experiment among U.S.-born Black Americans ( n = 3,100) to examine (1) justifications used to validate or reject another’s racial self-identification as Black and (2) how situational cues shape these narratives. Using a vignette experiment and structural topic modeling, we find that …
Racial framing contests: How anti-Asian racism and its resistance enacted racial projects during Covid-19
This study examines the dynamics of racial framing contexts taking the case of anti-Asian hate speech and counter-hate speech on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the COVID-HATE dataset ( n = 2,491,405 tweets posted 15 January 2020 to 26 March 2021), we analyze racial framing contests between movements and counter-movements. Through a mixed-methods approach, we find that: (1) hate frames deployed racial projects characterizing Asia…
Generative AI in Sociological Research: State of the Discipline
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has garnered considerable attention for its poten- tial utility in research and scholarship, even among those who typically do not rely on computational tools. However, early commentators have also articulated concerns about how GenAI usage comes with enormous environmental costs, serious social risks, and a tendency to produce low-quality content. In the midst of both excitement and skepticism, it is cr…
Linguistic Affordances Framework: A Linguistic-Sociological Approach for the Social Study of Language Technology
This paper describes a three-part framework to study how language technologies elucidate and shape linguistic relations in society. Reframing a mountain of evidence about language bias in LLMs, we introduce the concept of linguistic affordances to attend to how an object can shape social relations through language. First, we contextualize how language ideologies inform social relations in a particular setting. Next, we examine how language ideolo…
Generative AI Meets Open-Ended Survey Responses: Research Participant Use of AI and Homogenization
The growing popularity of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools presents new challenges for data quality in online surveys and experiments. This study examines participants’ use of large language models to answer open-ended survey questions and describes empirical tendencies in human versus large language model (LLM)-generated text responses. In an original survey of research participants recruited from a popular online platform for sourc…
Policing the Boundaries of Blackness: How Black and White Americans Evaluate Racial Self-Identifications
How do people assess the authenticity and legitimacy of another person’s racial self-identification? This study explores the racial conceptions held by both Black and White Americans as they decide who they believe can—and cannot—self-identify as Black across a range of contexts. We examine how a person’s responses compare to their perceptions of how other Americans evaluate racial claims. Using a series of survey experiments, we find that respon…
Time to Degree, Identity, and Grant Writing: Lessons Learned From a Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Case Study of Biosciences PhD Students
Time to degree completion is an important metric of academic progress and success for doctoral students. It is also a common way for educational stakeholders to compare programs even if the content of the degree programs varies. But what types of behaviors and experiences are associated with faster times to degree? In this study, we examine the relationship between receiving competitive research awards (e.g., grant writing) and time to degree for…
Multilingualism and mismatching: Spanish language usage in college admissions essays
In US K-12 education, the Spanish language is subject to practices and policies that limit its expression, especially among racialized Latinx students. However, higher education claims to view Spanish as a positive form of diversity. We therefore examine college admissions essays to analyze how students strategically deploy Spanish in light of these contradictions. We use two years of undergraduate application essays (n = 276,768) and metadata su…
Application essays and the ritual production of merit in US selective admissions
US colleges and universities are defined by their exclusivity, and the most prestigious schools reject most of those who apply. Yet these same schools also widely advertise their inclusiveness, encouraging students from all backgrounds to submit applications and highlighting evaluation protocols that identify many characteristics worthy of consideration for admission. We surface this paradox and use it as motivation to theorize a little studied c…
Signaled or Suppressed? How Gender Informs Women's Undergraduate Applications in Biology and Engineering
How does gender inform initial academic commitments and narrative self-presentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields during the college application process? Analyzing 60,000 undergraduate applications to the University of California, the authors surface two key findings. First, extant gender segregation of academic disciplines also manifests in intended major choice. Additionally, gender and SAT Math scores toget…
Application essays and the ritual production of merit in US selective admissions
US colleges and universities are defined by their exclusivity, and the most prestigious schools reject most of those who apply. Yet these same schools also widely advertise their inclusiveness, encouraging students from all backgrounds to submit applications and highlighting evaluation protocols that identify many characteristics worthy of consideration for admission. We surface this paradox and use it as motivation to theorize a little studied c…
Signaled or Suppressed? How Gender Informs Women's Undergraduate Applications in Biology and Engineering
How does gender inform initial academic commitments and narrative self-presentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields during the college application process? Analyzing 60,000 undergraduate applications to the University of California, the authors surface two key findings. First, extant gender segregation of academic disciplines also manifests in intended major choice. Additionally, gender and SAT Math scores toget…
Multilingualism and mismatching: Spanish language usage in college admissions essays
In US K-12 education, the Spanish language is subject to practices and policies that limit its expression, especially among racialized Latinx students. However, higher education claims to view Spanish as a positive form of diversity. We therefore examine college admissions essays to analyze how students strategically deploy Spanish in light of these contradictions. We use two years of undergraduate application essays (n = 276,768) and metadata su…
Application essays and the ritual production of merit in US selective admissions
US colleges and universities are defined by their exclusivity, and the most prestigious schools reject most of those who apply. Yet these same schools also widely advertise their inclusiveness, encouraging students from all backgrounds to submit applications and highlighting evaluation protocols that identify many characteristics worthy of consideration for admission. We surface this paradox and use it as motivation to theorize a little studied c…
Signaled or Suppressed? How Gender Informs Women's Undergraduate Applications in Biology and Engineering
How does gender inform initial academic commitments and narrative self-presentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields during the college application process? Analyzing 60,000 undergraduate applications to the University of California, the authors surface two key findings. First, extant gender segregation of academic disciplines also manifests in intended major choice. Additionally, gender and SAT Math scores toget…
Time to Degree, Identity, and Grant Writing: Lessons Learned From a Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Case Study of Biosciences PhD Students
Time to degree completion is an important metric of academic progress and success for doctoral students. It is also a common way for educational stakeholders to compare programs even if the content of the degree programs varies. But what types of behaviors and experiences are associated with faster times to degree? In this study, we examine the relationship between receiving competitive research awards (e.g., grant writing) and time to degree for…
Multilingualism and mismatching: Spanish language usage in college admissions essays
In US K-12 education, the Spanish language is subject to practices and policies that limit its expression, especially among racialized Latinx students. However, higher education claims to view Spanish as a positive form of diversity. We therefore examine college admissions essays to analyze how students strategically deploy Spanish in light of these contradictions. We use two years of undergraduate application essays (n = 276,768) and metadata su…
Generative AI in Sociological Research: State of the Discipline
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has garnered considerable attention for its poten- tial utility in research and scholarship, even among those who typically do not rely on computational tools. However, early commentators have also articulated concerns about how GenAI usage comes with enormous environmental costs, serious social risks, and a tendency to produce low-quality content. In the midst of both excitement and skepticism, it is cr…
Linguistic Affordances Framework: A Linguistic-Sociological Approach for the Social Study of Language Technology
This paper describes a three-part framework to study how language technologies elucidate and shape linguistic relations in society. Reframing a mountain of evidence about language bias in LLMs, we introduce the concept of linguistic affordances to attend to how an object can shape social relations through language. First, we contextualize how language ideologies inform social relations in a particular setting. Next, we examine how language ideolo…
Generative AI Meets Open-Ended Survey Responses: Research Participant Use of AI and Homogenization
The growing popularity of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools presents new challenges for data quality in online surveys and experiments. This study examines participants’ use of large language models to answer open-ended survey questions and describes empirical tendencies in human versus large language model (LLM)-generated text responses. In an original survey of research participants recruited from a popular online platform for sourc…
Policing the Boundaries of Blackness: How Black and White Americans Evaluate Racial Self-Identifications
How do people assess the authenticity and legitimacy of another person’s racial self-identification? This study explores the racial conceptions held by both Black and White Americans as they decide who they believe can—and cannot—self-identify as Black across a range of contexts. We examine how a person’s responses compare to their perceptions of how other Americans evaluate racial claims. Using a series of survey experiments, we find that respon…
What Does It Mean to Be Black? Experimental Evidence on the Situational Deployment of Racial Schemas
How do Black Americans construct narratives about the meaning and boundaries of Blackness in America today? We leverage an original, nationally representative survey experiment among U.S.-born Black Americans ( n = 3,100) to examine (1) justifications used to validate or reject another’s racial self-identification as Black and (2) how situational cues shape these narratives. Using a vignette experiment and structural topic modeling, we find that …
Racial framing contests: How anti-Asian racism and its resistance enacted racial projects during Covid-19
This study examines the dynamics of racial framing contexts taking the case of anti-Asian hate speech and counter-hate speech on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the COVID-HATE dataset ( n = 2,491,405 tweets posted 15 January 2020 to 26 March 2021), we analyze racial framing contests between movements and counter-movements. Through a mixed-methods approach, we find that: (1) hate frames deployed racial projects characterizing Asia…
Psychology (6 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Computational and Text Analysis Methods (3 works) · Computer Science (2 works) · Generative grammar (2 works) · Law (2 works) · Law (2 works) · Linguistics (2 works) · Mathematics education (2 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (2 works)