Big Data, big challenges for social sciences

Abstract

This paper analyzes the current debate on Big Data in the Social Sciences, emphasizing certain epistemological discussions about its possible utility for the understanding of the social. The rhetoric about data as a source of value is analyzed as well as certain methodological proposals to explore social problems through the analysis of these social constructs. It is argued that this novel quantitative twist requires ethical treatment on the part of social scientists, a new scientific practice, but above all an objective view that will reveal its usefulness in understanding social phenomena.