2016
ISBN: 978-1498751407
The world has changed for empirical social scientists. The new types of 'big data' have generated an entire new research field - data science. That world is dominated by computer scientists who have generated new ways of creating and collecting data, developed new analytical and statistical techniques, and provided new ways of visualizing and presenting information. These new sources of data and techniques have the potential to transform the way applied social science is done. The goal of this book is to provide social scientists with an understanding of the key elements of this new science, its value, and the opportunities for doing better work. The goal is also to identify the many ways in which the analytical toolkits possessed by social scientists can be brought to bear to enhance the generalizability of the work done by computer scientists.