Sociological Perspectives on Digital Methodologies

Digital technology can be a powerful tool for sociological research, analysis, and knowledge production and dissemination. It can allow the collection of bigger data regarding social phenomena and at a greater speed. It can process data with greater efficiency and precision and for broader purposes. Digital technologies and digital data can also mislead sociologists because of their inability to fully represent a nuanced and sometimes messy sociological reality that does not surrender to digital categories and algorithmic procedures. This session invites papers that consider the epistemic changes arising from the use of digital technologies in sociological research and their opportunities and challenges for such research. Papers that can critically discuss methodological dilemmas of empirically-based research are most welcome.