Research methodology - Computer-intensive methods in the social sciences

With the availability of powerful, inexpensive computer hardware and software, computer-intensive statistical methods are becoming more commonly applied in the social sciences. These methods frequently offer a number of advantages over traditional parametric procedures. This article briefly reviews four computer-intensive methods (permutation/randomization tests, bootstrapping, the jackknife, and cross-validation), discusses some of the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, provides example applications, and discusses five commercially available software packages that may be used to implement these methods.