HELPING PEOPLE'S

Curtis Jessop  is a Senior Researcher at NatCen Social Research and is the Network Lead for the NSMNSS network On Wednesday 29 th June I attended a roundtable hosted by our network partners SAGE on using big data to solve social science problems. It was a great day, with contributions from leading researchers and lots of discussion of some of the key issues of working with big data in social science. Jane Elliott began with an overview of the ESRC’s Big Data Network. She identified the difficulties with data access that earlier phases had faced, but also highlighted key challenges that big data social science currently faces: 1. Methodological Can we apply the same qualitative techniques/statistical inferences we have in the past? Are social scientists (falling) behind in using machine learning & algorithms? What are the implications of these methods? 2. Relevance of research Making sure we use big data to answer pertinent social science questions, and not just focus on meth...

Kathleen McNiff is a blogger with QSR International, the people that brought you NVivo. Get in touch with Kath on Twitter @ KMcNiff . Imagine you’re sitting on a qualitative goldmine—in-depth interviews, focus groups, intriguing survey results, nuanced observations and a comprehensive lit review.  All the traditional boxes are ticked and yet there’s the nagging feeling that something is missing.  Chances are, it’s social media—and that’s probably why you’re here.   The Challenges There are so many impassioned and revealing conversations taking place online that it’s becoming harder (and more dangerous) to ignore them.  But embracing social media is not straightforward and you may be grappling with questions such as:   How do I build social media into my research design? What platforms are worth concentrating on? How should I collect the data? What tools and methods should I use to analyse it? NVivo gives you a practical way to face these challenges.   NCa...