smr-empirical-illustration
Use when building the real-data empirical illustration for a Sociological Methods & Research (SMR) paper — a demonstration that the method changes a substantive conclusion, not a decorative example. Designs the illustration; does not derive properties or design the Monte Carlo.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill smr-empirical-illustration --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# SMR Empirical Illustration Use this to make the real-data section earn its place. SMR expects a methods paper to show that the method *matters substantively* — that using it instead of the incumbent leads to a different, better-justified conclusion about the social world. A throwaway "we also applied it to some data" section is a reviewer flag. ## The "it changes the answer" standard The illustration's job is to demonstrate consequence: - **Run the incumbent and the new method on the same data**, and show where they diverge. The payoff sentence is "the standard approach would have concluded X; our method shows Y, and Y is the defensible answer because [reason tied to the method's properties]." - **Tie the divergence to the mechanism** established in `smr-derivation-and-properties` and the regime identified in `smr-simulation-studies`: the data should sit in the regime where the incumbent is known to fail. - **State the substantive stake**: who would have made a wrong inference, and about what, if they had used the old method? The stake makes the method consequential, not just correct. ## Choosing the dataset - Pick data that **lives in the failure regime** (e.g., few clusters, no
- The "it changes the answer" standard
- Choosing the dataset
- What to report
- Keep it an illustration, not a substantive paper
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
What does the smr-empirical-illustration skill do?
Use when building the real-data empirical illustration for a Sociological Methods & Research (SMR) paper — a demonstration that the method changes a substantive conclusion, not a decorative example. Designs the illustration; does not derive properties or design the Monte Carlo.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill smr-empirical-illustration --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.