A view from data science

Abstract

For better and worse, our world has been transformed by Big Data. To understand digital traces generated by individuals, we need to design multidisciplinary approaches that combine social and data science. Data and social scientists face the challenge of effectively building upon each other’s approaches to overcome the limitations inherent in each side. Here, we offer a “data science perspective” on the challenges that arise when working to establish this interdisciplinary environment. We discuss how we perceive the differences and commonalities of the questions we ask to understand digital behaviors (including how we answer them), and how our methods may complement each other. Finally, we describe what a path toward common ground between these fields looks like when viewed from data science.