Social Fabric David Dreyer Lassen Digital Methods in Social Science Research 19/11/14
we are social animals social interactions and social networks are important for understanding human behavior but they are badly measured
do group dynamics matter for study outcomes? are phone call networks any good? is health behavior contagious? is qualitative = quantitative with detailed data? is personality constant across platforms? how do we study ‘big data’? how do friendships form?
Improvements: no. of channels frequency network coverage? Challenges:Take-up, attrition The Sociometer Idea: Best measurement device is the one you don’t think about
Social Fabric – Sensible DTU anthropology economics philosophy physics psychology(Sune Lehmann) public health sociology (biology) DTU Compute / IMM > 10 assist/assoc/full professors ~ 10 postdoc/PhD students ??? students/interested
Some thoughts Complex digital projects require dedicated personnel; in natural sciences: lab people, technicians, funding Does not solve all problems: attrition and non- response remain Hard for social scientists to image what technology can do – hard for engineers to know what social scientists could use
Thank you socialfabric.ku.dk sensible.dtu.dk