In Praise of the Digital in Social Research
"The collection of “big data” and the ability to do experiments using the internet, may be the start of a scientific revolution in social research. But there are important ethical considerations that also need to be factored in." says Roby Muhamad in this piece which both praises the innovations big data has been able to allow us to explore and puts caution to the wind for the future of what these advances may entail.
Big data rich and big data poor
Data is being created faster than ever before however without access to these data-sets or the expertise to analyse them, research is confronted with a replication crisis and is vulnerable to commercial motivations. The problem is growing as Katie Metzler points out, "Firstly, because replication is the engine of science, and irreproducible research slows progress... secondly the motivations of industry researchers and social scientists may differ in ways that may really matter."