Co-organizing a Tutorial at IC²S² 2026

I am co-organizing a tutorial at the 12th International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC²S²) in Burlington, Vermont.

Tutorial: An Introduction to Simulating Human Survey Responses with Large Language Models: Potentials and Pitfalls

This hands-on session introduces researchers to employing large language models for generating survey data with an emphasis on methodological discipline. We address how “silicon samples” can supplement human data collection through pretesting and statistical correction.

Topics covered include:

• Systematic exploration of how design decisions affect simulation results
• The QSTN framework for structured simulations
• Python-based practical exercises for generating simulated responses
• Use cases including missing-data imputation and statistical correction
• Critical assessment of limitations, validation issues, and ethical considerations

The tutorial is co-organized together with Georg Ahnert, Maximilian Kreutner, Indira Sen, Markus Strohmaier (University of Mannheim) and Kristina Gligorić (Johns Hopkins University).