This book is a concise, easy, and practical introduction to doing
digital social sciences-the key new area of social change-and the
tools to study them. It may serve as a reference book and a starting
point for further exploration. It summarizes quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and postulates that we should collect what I call Thick Big Data. In my view, Big Data not only can, but definitely
should, be interpreted by thick data: the more quantified and powerful
the datasets we use, the more important it is to use qualitative tools that
improve our understanding of the outcomes. Unlike brick-and-mortar
studies, quantitative digital research often raises more questions than
answers, and without contextualization it does not reveal its full potential.
Qualitative studies done alone are also much less rich in the digital
world, since they are based on grounded intuition of cultures much
more volatile and multifaceted than in the brick-and-mortar world,
although we can add numerical facts with relative ease. I do not believe
there is a one-size-fits-all approach to Thick Big Data, but all of the tools
presented here, and many others can be combined. More importantly,
combining quantitative and qualitative approaches significantly increases
the value of outcome when studying digital phenomena, and with much
less effort than in offline studies.