We are delighted to share two new resources aimed at supporting social science researchers in building practical skills with research software. Developed as part of the Research Software Practices in the Social Sciences project, funded by the Economics and Social Science Research Council (ESRC), these guides are designed to address a growing need across the social sciences: the ability to engage confidently with data, code, and computational tools.
The project’s overarching goal is to raise awareness of research software practices and promote sustainable, reproducible methods that enhance research quality and efficiency. These guides provide hands-on support for researchers at any stage of their career who are looking to expand their technical toolkit—particularly those with little or no prior programming experience.
Python for Social Scientists: A Practical Guide (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16738917). Written by Dr. Danai Korre (University of Edinburgh), this guide offers a gentle but comprehensive introduction to using Python for data analysis, statistical testing, and visualisation in a social science context. It walks researchers through setting up their environment, working with data in Python, and automating common workflows.
Creating Maps in Python using GeoPandas (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16738169). Authored by Andrzej A. Romaniuk, this guide focuses on helping researchers visualise geospatial data using Python tools such as GeoPandas and Folium. It covers the essentials of creating informative maps, working with publicly available datasets, and exporting publication-ready figures.
Both guides are openly available and were developed with accessibility and usability in mind. They are ideal for researchers looking to explore what software can do for their work—without needing to become full-time programmers.
As research methods continue to evolve across the social sciences, building confidence in using research software is increasingly critical. These guides form part of our wider commitment to supporting a culture of digital capability, reproducibility, and responsible software use across disciplines.
The Research Software Practices for Social Sciences was supported by the ESRC as additional funding to the UK Software Sustainability Institute: Phase 4, which is funded through UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure Programme (grant number AH/Z000114/1).