Big data, big problems: Why scientists should refrain from using Google Trends

Abstract

Google Trends has for over a decade been used by researchers in medicine and the social sciences who want to use information about internet searches to gain new data and insights concerning medical and social issues. A similar tool by the same company, Google Flu Trends, was abolished by Google in 2015 due to serious problems with accuracy; raising larger questions about the quality of the data provided, not only by Google, but by all platforms collecting big data. In this article, I use an unplanned experiment to test the reliability and replicability of Google Trends. The results strongly indicate that scientists in all fields should refrain from using the tool Google Trends when conducting research.