Luo Jiade: A New Paradigm of Combining Big Data and Survey Data Based on the Theoretical Perspective
A New Paradigm of Combining Big Data and Survey Data Based on the Theoretical Perspective
Sociological Studies, 2021 Issue 2
[Abstract]
When big data based on social network, social media, and sensors is combined with ground truths collected through qualitative or quantitative social survey methods in social sciences, a new research method is created based on the combination of big data and structural data driven by social theories. Using traditional survey methods to collect small-scale ground truths makes it possible to combine social science research questions, ground truths with existing big data, to establish a prediction model that provides a triangular reciprocal dialogue for data mining, theoretical modeling with causality inference, and prediction algorithm. Taking the research of the guanxi circle model as an example, this paper combines the ground truths obtained from the survey data with the big data of a widely used social network software in China to build a guanxi classification model. In the dialogue between theory, data mining and prediction algorithms, increasingly accurate prediction models are developed and a measurement of tie strength is created after multiple runs of sampling and model modification.
