Quantitative methods in the digital turn: Promises and pitfalls

Our societies are digitalizing, with the use of e.g. social media, artificial intelligence and online services having become everyday phenomena. This shift changes how our lives progress and how societies are structured. While social changes have already been observed for decades, their full extent is not yet known. At the same time, digitalization also brings new opportunities for quantitative research in the social sciences. It creates big data, which provides a large volume of information that can be analyzed. Moreover, it opens the doors for new ways of collecting survey data, for example on mobile devices. Furthermore, it gives rise to new ways of analyzing data, using machine learning and neural networks. We are still exploring how these new options can best be utilized. This conference takes an inquisitive and critical stance towards the changes caused by digitalization. It explores the situations of individuals and societies in this era, and it discusses how quantitative methods can best study them.

Please submit your abstract of max. 250 words, including your name, affiliation, title, and email address by February 28, 2025, to Kathrin Komp-Leukkunen at RN21-conference@lut.fi.

For more information, see the Call for Papers (PDF).