IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v7y2018i12p264-d189637.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Researching Culture through Big Data: Computational Engineering and the Human and Social Sciences

Author

Listed:
  • Teresa Duarte Martinho

    (Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Av. Professor Aníbal de Bettencourt 9, 1600-189 Lisboa, Portugal)

Abstract

The emergence of big data and data science has caused the human and social sciences to reconsider their aims, theories, and methods. New forms of inquiry into culture have arisen, reshaping quantitative methodologies, the ties between theory and empirical work. The starting point for this article is two influential approaches which have gained a strong following, using computational engineering for the study of cultural phenomena on a large scale: ‘distant reading’ and ‘cultural analytics’. The aim is to show the possibilities and limitations of these approaches in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. The article also focuses on statistics of culture, where integration of big data is challenging procedures. The article concludes that analyses of extensive corpora based on computing may offer significant clues and reveal trends in research on culture. It argues that the human and social sciences, in joining up with computational engineering, need to continue to exercise their ability to perceive societal issues, contextualize objects of study, and discuss the symbolic meanings of extensive worlds of artefacts and discourses. In this way, they may help to overcome the perceived restrictions of large-scale analysis such as the limited attention given to individual actors and the meanings of their actions.

Suggested Citation

  • Teresa Duarte Martinho, 2018. "Researching Culture through Big Data: Computational Engineering and the Human and Social Sciences," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-17, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:7:y:2018:i:12:p:264-:d:189637
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/12/264/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/12/264/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David J. Hand, 2018. "Statistical challenges of administrative and transaction data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 181(3), pages 555-605, June.
    2. Mehrdad Yazdani & Jay Chow & Lev Manovich, 2017. "Quantifying the development of user-generated art during 2001–2010," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-24, August.
    3. Francesco Boldizzoni, 2011. "The Poverty of Clio: Resurrecting Economic History," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9476.
    4. Eric P. S. Baumer & David Mimno & Shion Guha & Emily Quan & Geri K. Gay, 2017. "Comparing grounded theory and topic modeling: Extreme divergence or unlikely convergence?," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(6), pages 1397-1410, June.
    5. Halford, Susan & Savage, Mike, 2017. "Speaking sociologically with big data: symphonic social science and the future for big data research," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87236, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emilio Abad-Segura & Mariana-Daniela González-Zamar & Juan C. Infante-Moro & Germán Ruipérez García, 2020. "Sustainable Management of Digital Transformation in Higher Education: Global Research Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-24, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brigitte Granville & Jaume Martorell Cruz & Martha Prevezer, 2015. "Elites, Thickets and Institutions: French Resistance versus German Adaptation to Economic Change, 1945-2015," Working Papers 63, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    2. Advani, Arun, 2021. "Missing Incomes in the UK : Evidence and Policy Implications," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1364, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    3. Andrew Seltzer & Martin Shanahan & Claire Wright, 2022. "The Rise and Fall and Rise (?) of Economic History in Australia," CEH Discussion Papers 05, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    4. Nadia Fernández-de-Pinedo & Alvaro La Parra-Perez & Félix-Fernando Muñoz, 2023. "Recent trends in publications of economic historians in Europe and North America (1980–2019): an empirical analysis," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(1), pages 1-22, January.
    5. Peter G. M. van der Heijden & Maarten Cruyff & Paul A. Smith & Christine Bycroft & Patrick Graham & Nathaniel Matheson‐Dunning, 2022. "Multiple system estimation using covariates having missing values and measurement error: Estimating the size of the Māori population in New Zealand," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(1), pages 156-177, January.
    6. Mohamed M. Mostafa, 2023. "A one-hundred-year structural topic modeling analysis of the knowledge structure of international management research," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 3905-3935, August.
    7. Jonas F. Schenkel & Li‐Chun Zhang, 2022. "Adjusting misclassification using a second classifier with an external validation sample," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(4), pages 1882-1902, October.
    8. Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert, 2021. "The Role of Cliometrics in History and Economics," Working Papers of BETA 2021-26, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    9. Martina Cioni & Giovanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2020. "The long-term evolution of economic history: evidence from the top five field journals (1927–2017)," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(1), pages 1-39, January.
    10. Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert, 2020. "How Cliometrics has Infiltrated Economics – and Helped to Improve the Discipline," Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy), vol. 54(1), pages 219-230, June.
    11. Stephanie Coffey, PhD. & Jaya Damineni & John Eltinge, PhD. & Anup Mathur, PhD. & Kayla Varela & Allison Zotti, 2023. "Some Open Questions on Multiple-Source Extensions of Adaptive-Survey Design Concepts and Methods," Working Papers 23-03, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    12. Mariangela Vespa & Timo Kortsch & Jan Hildebrand & Petra Schweizer-Ries & Sara Alida Volkmer, 2022. "Not All Places Are Equal: Using Instagram to Understand Cognitions and Affect towards Renewable Energy Infrastructures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, March.
    13. Laura Panza, 2014. "De-industrialization and re-industrialization in the Middle East: reflections on the cotton industry in Egypt and in the Izmir region," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(1), pages 146-169, February.
    14. Alpar Lošonc, 2016. "Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization by Branko Milanovic," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 63(4), pages 493-501, September.
    15. Pencho D. Penchev, 2014. "Carl Menger on the Theory of Economic History. Reflections from Bulgaria," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(6), pages 723-738, December.
    16. James Jackson & Robin Mitra & Brian Francis & Iain Dove, 2022. "Using saturated count models for user‐friendly synthesis of large confidential administrative databases," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(4), pages 1613-1643, October.
    17. Jamie C. Moore & Gabriele B. Durrant & Peter W. F. Smith, 2021. "Do coefficients of variation of response propensities approximate non‐response biases during survey data collection?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(1), pages 301-323, January.
    18. Emanuele Felice & Josep Pujol Andreu, 2013. "GDP and life expectancy in Italy and Spain over the long-run (1861-2008): insights from a time-series approach," UHE Working papers 2013_06, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament d'Economia i Història Econòmica, Unitat d'Història Econòmica.
    19. Martina Cioni & Govanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2018. "Ninety years of publications in Economic History: evidence from the top five field journals (1927-2017)," Department of Economics University of Siena 791, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    20. Anita Lavorgna & Leslie Carr, 2021. "Tweets and Quacks: Network and Content Analyses of Providers of Non-Science-Based Anticancer Treatments and Their Supporters on Twitter," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440211, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:7:y:2018:i:12:p:264-:d:189637. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.