AI for social science research should help with both halves of the work: the words and the numbers. AI for Research gives you a Qualitative workbook for coding transcripts with exact quotes, a Thesis Suite module that turns constructs into measurable variables, a Survey builder with validated scales, statistics calculated in the browser, and public economic and development data from the World Bank, OECD and FRED. Papers are searched across 250M+ scholarly works and cited in APA or any of 10,000+ styles.
Sources for social sciences
| Source | What it holds | Where in the product | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar | 250M+ scholarly works, including sociology, political science, psychology, education | All papers; Find Papers | Search 0 |
| Preprints | Working papers and preprints, flagged as not peer reviewed | Preprints source | As the run's depth |
| World Bank | Development indicators by country and year | Official Sources | 0 |
| OECD | Economic and social statistics for member countries | Official Sources | 0 |
| FRED | US and international economic time series | Official Sources | 0 |
| Your transcripts and data | Interview transcripts, survey responses, CSV files | Qualitative workbook, Survey builder, Data Lab | 0 |
Deep Research costs by depth: Summary 1 credit, Deep 15, Detailed 45 (paid plans).
Tools for social sciences
Mixed-methods projects are where the pieces connect: the codebook explains what the survey cannot, and the survey shows how common a pattern from the interviews is. All of the tools below can sit in one project.
| Tool | What it does | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Qualitative coding | Codebook (code, definition, include when, exclude when), transcript upload, coded excerpts with the exact quote and a negative-case flag, themes, code frequency by source | 0; AI suggestions 3 |
| Variable operationalization | Each construct as a definition, indicator, instrument, level of measurement and validity evidence, in a table | 3 |
| Survey builder | Questionnaires with your own questions and six validated scales (PHQ-9, GAD-7, WHO-5, PSS-10, RSES, SUS), an anonymous link | 0 |
| Data Lab | Group comparisons, correlation, regression, chi-square, Cronbach's alpha, calculated in the browser; PDF report | 0; AI write-up 2 |
| Bayesian statistics | Bayesian t-tests (JZS Bayes factor) and a Bayesian proportion | 0 |
| Methodology builder | A methods chapter planned from your design, in the Thesis Suite | 3 |
| Reporting guideline check | COREQ 2007 and SRQR 2014 for qualitative studies, STROBE 2007 for observational ones | 5 per 10,000 words |
The Survey builder is at Surveys and the Qualitative workbook in Workbooks. Official Sources is its own page in the app.
A worked example
Example (invented for illustration): a master's student in education studies teacher burnout with 12 interviews and a survey of 140 teachers.
- The Thesis Suite's operationalization module turns "burnout", "workload" and "school support" into indicators and instruments, and points to the PSS-10 for perceived stress. 3 credits.
- She builds the survey with the PSS-10 and her own workload items. 0 credits.
- She uploads three transcripts to the Qualitative workbook, writes a codebook of nine codes, and asks for AI code suggestions on each: 3 credits each, 9 credits. She rejects four suggestions and marks two excerpts as negative cases. The remaining nine transcripts she codes by hand.
- In Data Lab she checks Cronbach's alpha for her workload items, then runs a linear regression of stress on workload, free. The AI results paragraph costs 2 credits, and the PDF report is free.
- From Official Sources she adds OECD figures on teachers' working hours for the introduction, 0 credits.
- She checks the 9,000-word chapter against COREQ 2007: 5 credits.
Total: 19 credits, inside the Free plan's 45 a month.
Citation styles and reporting standards
APA 7 is the default in most of the social sciences, and the journal formatter has an APA preset with a blank APA template in the editor; Chicago, Harvard and ASA are among the other 10,000+ styles. For qualitative studies the guideline check covers COREQ 2007 for interviews and focus groups and SRQR 2014 for qualitative research in general; for surveys and other observational designs, STROBE 2007. SAGER applies when you report sex or gender, and SAMPL when you report statistics.
What it does not do
- It does not code a whole dataset for you or decide your themes. Suggestions quote the text; you accept or reject each one.
- It does not transcribe audio. Upload text transcripts.
- It does not include licensed scales, such as the SF-36, the BDI or the MBI.
- It does not search ICPSR, the UK Data Service, national statistics offices or census microdata.
- No structural equation modeling, multilevel models or factor analysis yet.
- Statistics are calculated, not generated, but the choice of test and the interpretation are yours.
Who uses it
- Master's students: see AI for master's students.
- Undergraduates writing a dissertation: see AI for undergraduates.
- PhD candidates: see AI for PhD students.
- Faculty and supervisors: see AI for academics.
For economic and financial data, see business and economics.
Learn more
- How to code qualitative data
- Operational definition of variables
- AI in qualitative studies: what it can and cannot do
- Inductive vs deductive coding
- Which statistical test to use
Last updated 2026-11-13