Public Opinion Quarterly Special Issue
Call for Papers: New Data in Social and Behavioral Research
Deadline: February 1, 2020
Guest editors
Frederick G. Conrad, University of Michigan, Editor
Florian Keusch, University of Mannheim, Associate Editor
Michael F. Schober, The New School, Associate Editor
Public Opinion Quarterly seeks submissions for a special issue of
the journal devoted to new types of data that might be used to
conduct social or behavioral research either in conjunction with
surveys, in place of surveys, or to address questions that cannot
be addressed by surveys.
Examples of these new data include social media posts, search
strings, online prices, and sensor data such as location,
activity, and sound. As such examples illustrate, these new data
potentially can be used in social or behavioral research after
having been repurposed, e.g., when researchers analyze search
strings as a window onto public opinion even though the users who
created these strings did so for entirely different reasons. Other
times, these data are collected directly for their intended
purpose (Taylor 2013), e.g., when smartphone owners are recruited
into a study so that researchers may capture their mobility using
the sensors built into their devices.
Regardless of the origin of these new data, they are markedly
different from survey data. In stark contrast to survey responses
that are produced by asking carefully crafted questions, these new
data are not elicited by the researchers who later analyze them.
In contrast to designed survey data, the structure of these new
data is often not known ahead of time. Instead, these data are
“organic” (Groves 2011), i.e., continuously generated byproducts
of everyday processes. And, compared to survey data sets, these
new data are massive and generally far less expensive to create.
Much has been written and spoken about the promise of these new
data for conducting social and behavioral research (e.g., the
AAPOR Big Data task-force report; Japec et al. 2015). The
contributions published in the special issue will help assess how
well this promise has been realized so far and will help sharpen
predictions of future success using these alternative data.
Potential topics for submissions include, but are certainly not
limited to:
Submissions can be methodological in orientation or can be
substantive applications that demonstrate the usefulness and
assess the validity of these new data sources.
The issue is scheduled for publication in early 2021. Submissions
of relevant research articles, research syntheses, and research
notes are welcome and will be considered through February 1, 2020.
Manuscripts should be uploaded at
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/poq, following the manuscript
preparation instructions provided on the journal’s website. To
ensure consideration in the special issue, authors must include a
cover letter that clearly states that the manuscript has been
submitted for consideration for the 2021 “New Data special issue.”
Submissions will be peer-reviewed in accord with standard journal
practice. Queries about this special issue should be directed to
Frederick Conrad (fconrad@umich.edu) using the subject line “2021
New Data Special Issue.”
References
Groves, Robert M. 2011. “Three Eras of Survey Research.” Public
Opinion Quarterly 75:861-71.
Japec, Lilli, Frauke Kreuter, Marcus Berg, Paul Biemer, Paul
Decker, Cliff Lampe, Julia Lane, Cathy O’Neil, and Abe Usher.
2015. “Big Data in Survey Research: AAPOR Task Force Report.”
Public Opinion Quarterly 79:839-80.
Taylor, Sean J. 2013. “Real Scientists Make Their Own Data.”
Available at
http://seanjtaylor.com/post/41463778912/real-scientists-make-their-own-data.
-- Florian Keusch Professor of Statistics and Methodology (interim) University of Mannheim A5, 6 Room B218, 2nd floor 68159 Mannheim, Germany +49 (0)621 - 181 3214 f.keusch@uni-mannheim.de floriankeusch.weebly.com