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Social Fabric David Dreyer Lassen Digital Methods in Social Science Research 19/11/14

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we are social animals social interactions and social networks are important for understanding human behavior but they are badly measured

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do group dynamics matter for study outcomes? are phone call networks any good? is health behavior contagious? is qualitative = quantitative with detailed data? is personality constant across platforms? how do we study big data? how do friendships form?

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Improvements: no. of channels frequency network coverage? Challenges:Take-up, attrition The Sociometer Idea: Best measurement device is the one you dont think about

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Social Fabric Sensible DTU anthropology economics philosophy physics psychology(Sune Lehmann) public health sociology (biology) DTU Compute / IMM > 10 assist/assoc/full professors ~ 10 postdoc/PhD students ??? students/interested

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Some thoughts Complex digital projects require dedicated personnel; in natural sciences: lab people, technicians, funding Does not solve all problems: attrition and non- response remain Hard for social scientists to image what technology can do hard for engineers to know what social scientists could use

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Thank you socialfabric.ku.dk sensible.dtu.dk ddl@econ.ku.dk