Digital Technologies in Research

Digital Technologies in Research

• Digital technologies can be studied as phenomena themselves, e.g., examining how social media platforms like Twitter influence public opinion or how virtual reality impacts human perception.

Digital Technologies as a Tool of Research

• Online surveys:
  • Quantitative dimension
  • Traditional approach in online environment (e.g., converting paper surveys to web surveys)
  • Obtrusive data collection
  • Active data collection

Digital Technologies Supporting the Research Process

• Digital technologies support various stages of the research process, such as data analysis and visualization.
• Examples of software used for data analysis:
  • NVivo for qualitative data analysis
  • SPSS for statistical analysis

Objectives of Using New Digital Technologies in Social Science Research

• Increase productivity of knowledge in the shortest time possible while minimizing costs.
• Improve data collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of empirical data.
• Facilitate cooperation among researchers.

Research Questions Addressed Using Internet and/or Mobile Technologies

• "How does the real-time dissemination of information through social media during a crisis influence public behavior and perception?"
• "How do online social networks influence political participation, particularly among younger demographics?"
• "Can online language analysis be used to identify and predict potential mental health issues in a population?"
• "Can personalized learning platforms using big data analytics improve student outcomes and engagement?"

Democratisation of Research and Its Drawbacks

• Benefits:
  • Enable citizen science, allowing the public to participate in data collection and research processes.
  • Lead to a more inclusive and diverse set of data and perspectives.
• Drawbacks:
  • Questionable quality (validity and reliability) of research results.
• Example: Crowdsourcing platforms like Zooniverse, which allow the public to contribute to scientific research, may have varying quality of classifications.