Big Data and the Challenge of Construct Validity

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 521-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Braun ◽  
Goran Kuljanin
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
Industrial Engineering ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Organizational Sciences

One important issue not highlighted by Guzzo, Fink, King, Tonidandel, and Landis (2015) is that simply establishing construct validity will be significantly more challenging with big data than ever before. One needs to only look as far as the other social sciences analyzing big data (e.g., communications, economics, industrial engineering) to observe the difficulty of making valid claims as to what measured variables substantively “mean.” This presents a significant hurdle in the application of big data to organizational research questions because of the critical importance of demonstrating validity in the organizational sciences as highlighted by Guzzo et al.

scholarly journals North Perspectives for a Better South? Big Data and the Global South in Big Data & Society

2019 ◽  
pp. 84-107
Author(s):  
Guilherme Cavalcante Silva
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Global South ◽  
The Other ◽  
The South ◽  
Local Data ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Data Practices ◽  
Academic Scholarship ◽  
The One

Over the last few years, data studies within Social Sciences watched a growth in the number of researches highlighting the need for more proficuous participation from the Global South in the debates of the field. The lack of Southern voices in the academic scholarship on the one hand, and of recognition of the importance and autonomy of its local data practices, such as those from indigenous data movements, on the other, had been decisive in establishing a Big Data in the South agenda. This paper displays an analytical mapping of 131 articles published from 2014-2016 in Big Data & Society (BD&S), a leading journal acknowledged for its pioneering promotion of Big Data research among social scientists. Its goal is to provide an overview of the way data practices are approached in BD&S papers concerning its geopolitical instance. It argues that there is a tendency to generalise data practices overlooking the specific consequences of Big Data in Southern contexts because of an almost exclusive presence of Euroamerican perspectives in the journal. This paper argues that this happens as a result of an epistemological asymmetry that pervades Social Sciences.

Experience Sampling Methods: A Discussion of Critical Trends and Considerations for Scholarly Advancement

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 969-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison S. Gabriel ◽  
Nathan P. Podsakoff ◽  
Daniel J. Beal ◽  
Brent A. Scott ◽  
Sabine Sonnentag ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Methods ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Confounding Factors ◽  
Dynamic Phenomenon ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Experience Sampling Methods ◽  
Level Of Analysis ◽  
Organizational Sciences

In the organizational sciences, scholars are increasingly using experience sampling methods (ESM) to answer questions tied to intraindividual, dynamic phenomenon. However, employing this method to answer organizational research questions comes with a number of complex—and often difficult—decisions surrounding: (1) how the implementation of ESM can advance or elucidate prior between-person theorizing at the within-person level of analysis, (2) how scholars should effectively and efficiently assess within-person constructs, and (3) analytic concerns regarding the proper modeling of interdependent assessments and trends while controlling for potentially confounding factors. The current paper addresses these challenges via a panel of seven researchers who are familiar not only with implementing this methodology but also related theoretical and analytic challenges in this domain. The current paper provides timely, actionable insights aimed toward addressing several complex issues that scholars often face when implementing ESM in their research.

scholarly journals Survey Research in Times of Big Data

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Cabrera-Álvarez
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Gps Data ◽  
Redes Sociales ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Data Ownership ◽  
Survey Costs ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Accessibility Issues

La encuesta es la técnica de investigación predominante en la investigación en Ciencias Sociales. Sin embargo, la aparición de otras fuentes de datos como las publicaciones en redes sociales o los datos generados por GPS suponen nuevas oportunidades para la investigación. En este escenario, algunas voces han defendido la idea de que, debido a su menor coste y la velocidad a la que se generan, los big data irán sustituyendo progresivamente a los datos de encuesta. Sin embargo, este optimismo contrasta con los problemas de calidad y accesibilidad que presentan los big data como la fata de cobertura de algunos grupos de la población o el acceso restringido a alguna de estas fuentes. Este artículo, a partir de una revisión profunda de la literatura de los últimos años, explora como la cooperación entre los big data y las encuestas resulta en mejoras significativas de la calidad de los datos y una reducción de los costes. Nowadays, while surveys still dominate the research landscape in social sciences, alternative data sources such as social media posts or GPS data open a whole range of opportunities for researchers. In this scenario, some voices advocate for a progressive substitution of survey data. They anticipate that big data, which is cheaper and faster than surveys, will be enough to answer relevant research questions. However, this optimism contrasts with all the quality and accessibility issues associated with big data such as the lack of coverage or data ownership and restricted accessibility.  The aim of this paper is to explore how, nowadays, the combination of big data and surveys results in significant improvements in data quality and survey costs.

scholarly journals Archaeology and Ideology in a ‘postmodern’ environment: material remains of ideological claims

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 36727
Author(s):  
John Gabriel O’Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Relativistic Approach ◽  
Intellectual Identity ◽  
Research Questions

According to scholar Fredrik Fahlandar, postmodernism has caused an intellectual identity crisis throughout the humanities. Using his chapter on Postmodern Archaeologies as a guide, this essay attempts to address some of the ways in which archaeology and the other social sciences has actually benefited from the scrutiny of postmodernist criticism, while at the same time maintaining its usefulness and insisting on its ability to avoid a relativistic approach to its research questions. The essay particularly emphasizes archaeology’s on-going relationship to the study of ideology, as both evident within the archaeological record itself and also its influence on the researchers conducting the investigations.***Arqueologia e Ideologia em um ambiente ‘pós-moderno’: restos materiais de reinvindicações ideológicas***Segundo o estudioso Fredrik Fahlandar, o pós-modernismo causou uma crise de identidade intelectual em todas as humanidades. Usando seu capítulo sobre Arqueologias pós-modernas como guia, este ensaio tenta abordar algumas das maneiras pelas quais a arqueologia e as outras ciências sociais realmente se beneficiaram do escrutínio das críticas pós-modernas, enquanto, ao mesmo tempo, mantém sua utilidade e insiste em sua capacidade de evitar uma abordagem relativista de suas questões de pesquisa. O ensaio enfatiza particularmente a relação contínua da arqueologia com o estudo da ideologia, como evidente no próprio registro arqueológico e também sua influência nos pesquisadores que conduzem as investigações.

Assessing Personality With Multi-Descriptor Items

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-125
Author(s):  
Johannes Schult ◽  
Rebecca Schneider ◽  
Jörn R. Sparfeldt
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Personality Inventory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Big Five Inventory ◽  
Personality Inventories

Abstract. The need for efficient personality inventories has led to the wide use of short instruments. The corresponding items often contain multiple, potentially conflicting descriptors within one item. In Study 1 ( N = 198 university students), the reliability and validity of the TIPI (Ten-Item Personality Inventory) was compared with the reliability and validity of a modified TIPI based on items that rephrased each two-descriptor item into two single-descriptor items. In Study 2 ( N = 268 university students), we administered the BFI-10 (Big Five Inventory short version) and a similarly modified version of the BFI-10 without two-descriptor items. In both studies, reliability and construct validity values occasionally improved for separated multi-descriptor items. The inventories with multi-descriptor items showed shortcomings in some factors of the TIPI and the BFI-10. However, the other scales worked comparably well in the original and modified inventories. The limitations of short personality inventories with multi-descriptor items are discussed.

From Fieldwork to Research Theory on an Indian Pilgrimage

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rémy Delage
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
South India ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Major Research ◽  
Research Hypothesis ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
The One

Using as the example of the pilgrimage to Sabarimala (Kerala, South India), I propose here to explore the links existing between sources, research hypothesis and research theory in social sciences. The choice of research materials in the process of investigation, sources of knowledge about the studied object, is not mere random sampling; it is processed in accordance with the questions of the researcher. It inevitably assumes a selective dimension. After a critical reading of the sources used by Indian studies, I will highlight on the connections between the sources and the methodological tools on the one hand, and the major research hypothesis about pilgrimage on the other. The links between the data taken from the field and the legitimacy of scientific discourse on India will be examined at the end before providing some keys for the interpretation of Sabarimala phenomenon in South India during the contemporary period.

Planning with Semi-input-output Method with Empirical Application to Nigeria. By Arie Kuyvenhoven. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Social Sciences Division. 1978. xi + 266 pp.

1980 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-249
Author(s):  
A. R. Kemal
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Final Demand ◽  
The Other ◽  
Production Structure ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Output Analysis ◽  
Input Output Analysis ◽  
Comparative Cost ◽  
Planning Models

Input -output analysis is being widely used in developing countries for planning purposes. For a given level of final demand, input-output analysis allows us to project the required level of gross output to ensure consistency of plan. These projections are made on the assumption that the existing production structure is optimal and it implies that an increase in demand will be met through the expansion of domestic output even when it can be satisfied through an increase in imports. On the other hand, according to the semi-input-output method, we do not have to increase the output of international sectors in order to meet the increase in demand because the level and composition of these activities should be determined by comparative- cost considerations. These are the only national sectors in which output must increase in order to avoid shortage. The semi-input -output method has been such a useful and important contribution, yet, regrettably, its influence on the planning models had been rather limited.

Editorial

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (16) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Andrea Meza Torres
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
The Other ◽  
Intercultural Dialogue ◽  
Enrique Dussel ◽  
Point Of Departure

The essays in this dossier are the result of the course  “Interreligious and intercultural dialogue from a decolonial perspective”, which took place between May and June 2017 at the CEIICH in the UNAM. In this course, I proposed to link a decolonial theoretical perspective to the topic of “intercultural dialogue” and, beyond, to “interreligious dialogue”; anyhow, this last topic turned out to be the point of departure to explore more profound dialogues, linked no only to religious phenomena but to sacred traditions and spiritualities. During the course, emphasis was put on this last aspect due to the fact that the topic of “the Divine” (in its different expressions), although central to decoloniality, has been poorly studied. Moreover, it has been marginalized within secularized social sciences —and this not just in Mexico, but in most occidentalized universities throughout the globe. This vacuum towards the study of “the Divine” —and, beyond, its limitation through a concept of culture (which is, at the same time, associated to the colonized and to the “other” of modernity)— led the participants of this volume to research deeper that which philosopher Enrique Dussel has described as the “spaces denied and oppressed by modernity”.

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