There are still many sociologists who are skeptical of the findings of big data-based analysis of social-data, questioning the potential of this knowledge production and its contribution to the scientific discourse of sociology.The chapter shows that this tension can be addressed through the redefinition of the research methodological basis of sociology, by the organic incorporation of data science know-how into its methods; the combined application of qualitative and quantitative analysis; and, the use of knowledge-driven science instead of the data-driven approach.The theoretical, methodological, and topical pathways between traditional and computational sociology emerge gradually along the chapter, which also includes plenty of illustrative examples of research situated at the interplay between sociology and data science. As our overview shows, there are new possibilities for sociological research, which are, in some sense, just by-products of information science. We introduce recently developed methods, which can be applied to specific sociological problems outside the scope of business applications. We present sociological topics not yet studied in this area and show new insights the approach can offer to classical sociological questions. As our aim is to encourage sociologists to enter this field, we discuss the new methods on the base of the classic quantitative approach, using its concepts and terminology and addressing the question of how traditionally trained sociologists can acquire new skills.
(Renáta Németh & Júlia Koltai)
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-54936-7_3
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-54936-7_3.pdf