Using Big Data
Year: 2025
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Big Data is everywhere. Globally, billions of people use online platforms and digital devicesto communicate, socialize, study, shop, and work. In the process, they generate a vast trove ofdigital footprints, documenting their thoughts, feelings, actions, and interactions. Socialexchanges, for example, are captured in emails, instant messages, and social networkingplatforms. Expressions of attitudes and biases manifest in blog articles, online profiles, and socialmedia posts. Online job markets and retail platforms capture our occupational and economicactivities. Collaborative behaviors are traceable through corporate project management tools andmassive multiplayer online games. Emotional states and well-being leave traces in language anddigital images. Intimate attributes like sexual preferences and romantic choices are exposed ononline dating sites. Moreover, even offline behaviors and social interactions are increasinglymonitored by digital sensors in smartphones, wearable devices, smart buildings, and vehicles.These digital footprints of thought and behavior are commonly captured and recorded,creating extensive datasets widely referred to as Big Data. This chapter demonstrates that BigData—characterized by its vast size, rapid accumulation, diversity, and complexity—is aninvaluable resource for researchers interested in the human mind and behavior. Although not asilver bullet, Big Data presents an opportunity to overcome some of the significant challenges insocial science research. When used correctly, it can provide new insights; enhance the diversity ofresearch samples; assist in accessing under-researched populations; and yield more reliable,replicable, and ecologically valid results. Conversely, in the wrong hands, this data could bemisused to invade privacy or manipulate the opinions of millions of people.
DOI: 10.70400/awly9440
Author: Michal Kosinski
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4410426883