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Digital Ethnography for Sociology: Craft, Rigor, and Creativity

• Published: 16 July 2022
• Volume 45 , pages 319–326, ( 2022 )

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• Jeffrey Lane 1 &
• Jessa Lingel 2  

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This special issue gathers empirical papers that develop and employ digital ethnographic methods to answer core sociological questions related to community, culture, urban life, violence, activism, professional identity, health, and sociality. Each paper, in its own right, offers key sociological insights, and as a collection, this special issue demonstrates the need to bring ethnographic methods to digital communities, interactions, practices, and tools. Both as a topic and a methodological approach, “the digital” points us to the need to update, rethink, and grow qualitative sociology. The exemplary papers comprising this special issue exhibit this curiosity and expansiveness, with lessons and implications for an interdisciplinary set of fields and research problems.

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What does it mean to bring digital tools and practices to established methods of ethnography? How can digital technologies help us rethink core claims about ethnography and other established modes of doing qualitative sociology? How can sociology’s debates and norms speak to related fields of communication, media studies, information science, and internet studies? Do we have the kinds of ethnography we need to answer the most interesting and most important research questions about social and digital life? These are the kinds of questions at the heart of this special issue.

The empirical papers in this collection develop and employ digital ethnographic methods to answer sociological questions about community, culture, urban life, violence, activism, professional identity, health, and sociality. They show how digital ethnography can be used to test and animate classic sociological concepts and theories in the digital age and to rework our theoretical and methodological landscape for the complexities of today’s communication environments. Both as a topic and a methodological approach, “the digital” provides incredible leverage to update and grow qualitative sociology. Digital technologies, practices, and communities point us toward new, exciting, and overlooked phenomena. The exemplary papers comprising this special issue exhibit this curiosity and expansiveness, with lessons and implications for an interdisciplinary set of fields and research problems.

As editors of this special issue, we came to this collection with aligned but distinct relationships to ethnography, digital culture, and sociology. With a PhD in sociology and interest in urban ethnography, Jeff came to digital ethnography through adapting neighborhood fieldwork to the digital networks that were shaping the social life he studied in Harlem (Lane 2019 ). With a PhD in library science and firm ties to internet studies, Jessa’s expertise in digital ethnography comes from an investment in unearthing the technological distributions of power (Lingel 2017a , b ). We both share a commitment to seeing the digital as a core component of how the communities we study make sense of themselves and the world around them. While Jeff’s ethnographic praxis typically starts in the streets and ventures towards the digital to study neighborhood and digital life together, Jessa’s work often traverses the reverse course, beginning with online communities and asking how those practices reshape in-person networks and relationships. The papers in this collection demonstrate this spectrum of where to locate the digital within ethnographic work.

One way of characterizing the range of approaches to digital ethnography in this special issue (and more broadly) is to situate some papers as proactively focused on the digital, while others are more reactive. Within this collection, Ross Arguedas’ work on orthorexia is focused on a phenomenon that arguably requires online interaction to take shape. Similarly, Ferrari’s paper on the role of social media within mutual aid work of activist groups begins with the online communications of activists while pulling in the ways that local geography and politics still retain a crucial impact on digital practices. In contrast, Baldor’s work on queer men’s dating lives began in bars and clubs, but could only succeed as a full accounting of queer urban nightlife by recognizing the role of online dating platforms within the community. Evans’ work on the creative work of urban youth began in a production studio and expanded to include young people’s online networks. Whether researchers opt to focus on the digital from the outset or to incorporate online practices as part of what makes a particular community or practice function, we would argue that the idea that the digital could be a completely unexpected encounter in fieldwork will be increasingly uncommon. Moreover, a refusal to engage with the digital will increasingly risk key conceptual oversights and potentially a disservice to one’s project and participants. To be sure, we do not mean to imply that every ethnography must be primarily virtual in focus – this special issue is meant as an invitation, not a mandate. More specifically, we see these papers as offering guidance on what digital ethnography looks like and how it produces new insights into questions that have long been central to sociology.

The methods at the core of this special issue have also been called cyber ethnography (Ward 1999 ), netnography (Kozinets 2002 ), and virtual ethnography (Hine 2008 ). We see digital ethnography as the most expansive term and position this collection as a complement to the growing literature on how to conduct ethnographic and qualitative work that attends to digital technologies (cf. Boellstorff et al. 2012 ; Hine 2020; Lane 2020 ; Lingel 2017a , b ). Rather than gathering a set of papers focused solely on methodology, we wanted an empirical collection, where authors could show how they used digital ethnography to gather evidence, make claims, and advance theory. These contributions all demonstrate sociological value in their capacity to offer insight into phenomena like understanding changing norms of health and diagnosis (Ross Arguedas), disparities around class and privilege (Rosa), and the social dimensions of rituals around food and eating together (Bascuñan-Wiley et al.). But in addition to developing key sociological insights, these papers create opportunities for future ethnographers to learn and plan future projects, with the benefit of reading papers that lay out the turning points, the struggles, and the advantages of digital ethnography. We hope that readers will take away a sense of how to make a plan for assessing the role of technology in the communities, sites, and practices that they are following. As a way of considering the collective contributions to these empirical pieces, we invited Dr. Mario Small, whose expertise in ethnography has guided and inspired countless researchers in sociology as well as many other fields, to respond in an afterword. His contribution underscores both the importance of digital technology as a focus for sociology, and the different but equally valid approaches that one can take to bringing online life and practices within the sphere of sociological study.

Across the ethnographic approaches gathered in this special issue, the digital is centrally relevant (Markham 2016 , 2020 ), but not monolithic. Thus, there is no one single way to do digital ethnography: as the projects in this collection demonstrate, there are different ethnographic designs, with varying physical and digital proximities, varying modes of entry into the field, and varying goals and timelines of the project. In some cases these variances also stem from contingencies of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Projects and the Pandemic

The pandemic has taught us many things, one of which is that virtual communication is essential to our basic, social functioning. Indeed, one finding that cuts across these papers is the entanglement of the digital in our everyday lives. As a result, the conservative view of ethnographers with stalwart resistance to the digital is no longer possible or welcome to an increasing number of researchers, both inside and outside sociology. In this sense, the pandemic has helped to legitimize the necessity and possibilities of paying attention to the digital within ethnographic work.

Digital ethnography is highly adaptive to the social demands of the moment and the “versatility of sociality” (Bascuñan-Wiley et al.). Several studies in this special issue are shaped by pandemic restrictions on fieldwork in person and serve as empirical studies of digital transformations brought on or made more salient by the pandemic (e.g., Bascuñan-Wiley et al.; Evans; Ferrari). This special issue also features projects completed entirely or in part before the pandemic that reveal fundamental changes to social order and everyday interaction in the digital age. For instance, Lane and Stuart show in their fieldwork how various neighborhood actors use the “communication visibility” that social media affords to divert and de-escalate urban violence, forcing sociologists to think differently, more broadly, and further “upstream” about the third-party actors, relationships, and processes surrounding neighborhood gun and gang violence. Baldor’s Philadelphia Gayborhood study, meanwhile, captures a new relationship type and interactional problem in digitally mediated neighborhoods where meetings between strangers in persons are routinely yet no less awkwardly reshaped by prior acquaintanceship on social media.

Returning to our earlier categorization of proactive and reactive ethnographies, we should add that the pandemic created its own influences on whether, when, and how to incorporate digital methods. For many ethnographers, crises like the pandemic felt primarily disruptive of in-person fieldwork. For others, digital technologies became a valuable lifeline that allowed for continued dialogue with and observations of interlocutors. Recognizing that bringing the digital to ethnographic work is sometimes a pull from the communities we study and sometimes a push from exigent circumstances, we hope this collection can provide guidance to both the proactive and reactive forms of bringing online tools and communities within the sphere of ethnography.

Craft and Rigor of Digital Ethnography

It’s a mistake to think of digital ethnography as simply a matter of adding the digital to conventional ethnography. At its best, digital ethnography is an orientation to a set of relationships between people and technologies. We would also discourage thinking of digital ethnography solely as a matter of convenience, allowing us to observe or interview people in locations or under circumstances that aren’t amenable to in-person meetings. Indeed, we embrace digital ethnographies that retain the inconveniences of ethnography: of meeting people where they’re at, doing the things that participants are doing on their time and not on our own, and recognizing the complexity of overlapping platforms, devices, and communities. Digital ethnography should also retain the awkwardness inherent to ethnography. After all, it is fundamentally awkward to insert yourself into a situation for the purposes of research, even if you are a part of the community you are studying (Colic-Peisker 2004 ). The inconveniences and awkwardness of ethnography are key to fieldwork, to understanding a community, and one’s place in that community as a researcher. Rather than imagining that digital technologies are valuable for ethnography primarily because they can ease communication flows or smooth out awkward encounters, we would insist that the difficulties, inconveniences, and awkward encounters of fieldwork should carry over to digital ethnography.

In looking across the pieces that comprise this special issue, we see some patterns in how these ethnographies were conducted to inform future ethnographers as they formulate their plans and embrace the inevitable challenges of fieldwork. Most of the ethnographers in this special issue created or adapted their own social media accounts to link to the people and processes they wanted to study. Creating an account is an important mode of understanding the people we study, helping us to get a sense of the social hierarchies and values within a community, and build rapport with participants. Building profiles also open us up to the specificities of a platform’s politics and norms. For example, although they study vastly different communities, both Ferrari and Ross Arguedas argue that Instagram’s specific design norms and policies shape how particular communities form and interact. As a whole, creating online profiles can provide points of access to and ways of constructing, moving about, and making decisions about the field site (Burrell 2009 ).

Digital ethnographies engage deeply and thoughtfully with technology, requiring new forms of adaptability and expertise for ethnographers. For the pieces in this collection, online sightlines and ties were also combined with remote or in-person interviews and, in four of the seven papers, observations and fieldwork in person. All of the papers treat the digital as slices of social life entangled online and offline (Hine 2015 ) rather than the whole or totality of a community. For studies on and of social media, digital ethnographers inevitably encounter algorithms that structure the visibility of digital field sites by making certain user accounts and contents more noticeable and available than others (Christin 2020a , b ; Seaver 2017 ). Ross Arguedas and Ferrari each leverage algorithmic recommendations (Christin 2020b ; Leaver et al. 2020) to find and recruit participants. Other ethnographers in this issue, such as Baldor, Evans, and Lane and Stuart, rely primarily on neighborhood-based relationships to determine which participants to study online. Lane and Stuart discuss what it means to digitize urban ethnography in ways that allow the ethnographer to compare, contrast, and track outcomes between online interaction and neighborhood events, and vice versa. In all cases, ethnographers on social media must wrestle and engage with the logics and politics of these platforms (van Dijck 2013 ), even if they remain “black boxes” (Christin 2020b ), and how best to incorporate various platforms and platforms features (e.g., Instagram stories) into recruitment, study designs, and the everyday flow of fieldwork. Through his study of the career-building, social media practices of young, aspiring Hip Hop artists and mentors at Dreamer Studio, Evans learned to conduct fieldwork and ask meaningful questions within and across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Clubhouse, in addition to the physical space of the recording studio. Meanwhile, Rosa shifts the focus of digital ethnography onto the code, internet nodes, and decision-making points and actors that undergird the internet, social media, and various communication technologies in ways that shape and sustain global inequality.

While we are drawn to digital ethnography for the opportunities that it affords, it also presents important challenges, not least around ethics (Markham and Tiidenberg 2018 ). Screenshots and other materials that digital ethnographers typically collect include traceable, searchable data that identifies participants and third parties, which raises questions about if, when, and how to intervene in the collection and presentation of that data. Initiating the ethnography and choosing to write about people may open social scenes and networks that cannot be closed off again without taking extreme measures of de-Googlization (Shklovski and Vertesi 2013 ). While non-digital ethnography is certainly not free from harms of representation (see Moreton-Robinson 2021 ), digital methods carry added challenges around managing visibility that may require digital ethnographers to adapt specialized strategies, such as the feminist ethics of care that Ross Arguedas uses in her paper (see also Clark-Parsons and Lingel 2020 ).

For those with lingering concerns about the need for or value of digital ethnography, we hope that reading these papers will demonstrate the depth of observation and insight that this method yields. Even for more reactive projects, where attention to the digital may have seemed primarily like a form of convenience or necessity, we see that digital work produces vibrant, complex accounts of people and practices. While digital outreach can initially feel like primarily a matter of saving time or research funds, these projects reveal just how much heavy lifting had to go into ultimately getting to know the field, getting to know the people, recruiting the people, building trust, and collecting meaningful personal narratives and perspectives.

Creativity and Inclusivity

Digital ethnography is here to stay. It is our goal with this special issue to encourage and help foster the kinds of creativity and interdisciplinarity we need in ethnography to be able to not only update qualitative sociology, but to make sense of social life that is increasingly coextensive with digital technologies. Digital ethnography, as these empirical papers demonstrate, is an exciting and malleable craft that can be done rigorously and that gives great leverage to help construct and understand a field site. This style of research also pushes sociologists to be more inclusive about the strategies employed to collect ethnographic data and the concepts and theories used to frame and analyze this data. It is not a new empirical approach, although only recently, with “big data,” algorithms, and predictive analytics, have many sociologists, particularly in the U.S., become more widely interested in digital research (Markham 2020 ; on digital methods in sociology, cf. Hampton 2017 ; Lupton 2014 ; Selwyn 2019 ). Digital ethnography has an established history across disciplines, including communication, media studies, information science, internet studies, cultural anthropology, and marketing (see Murthy 2008 , on bridging digital ethnography with sociology). Digital ethnography also has a rich and vibrant history outside the Global North (e.g., Chan 2014 ; Takhteyev 2012 ; Treré 2015 ), which provides important sociological insights in their own right while also representing the need to decenter mainstream narratives of technological origins and values (see also Rosa, this issue). Digital ethnography is an opportunity for qualitative sociologists to bridge literatures, import concepts, theories, and methodological strategies, and practice greater interdisciplinarity and inclusion. This integrative spirit has shaped the selection of the authors and projects convened for this special issue, and is reflected in the article framings and references. This volume, we hope, helps to legitimize further and inspire even more creative, cross-disciplinary, and rigorous forms of digital ethnography.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editors of Qualitative Sociology , Claudio Benzecry and Andrew Deener, for the invitation and opportunity to convene a special issue on digital ethnography and their support during all phases of the project. We’d also like to acknowledge the editorial assistance of Jessica Yorks, who helped manage all aspects of this project, and Mariela Morales, who provided administrative support. We thank Mark Compendio at Springer for managing production. We appreciate the thoughtful writing and conversations with the authors included in this special issue and thank the peer reviewers for feedback that helped to strengthen these papers. Finally, we’d like to acknowledge Mario Small for his important contribution of an afterword.

No funding to declare.

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The authors Jeffrey Lane and Jessa Lingel contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Communication, Rutgers University, 4 Huntington Street, 08901, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Jeffrey Lane

University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication, 3620 Walnut Street, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Jessa Lingel

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Correspondence to Jeffrey Lane or Jessa Lingel .

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Lane, J., Lingel, J. Digital Ethnography for Sociology: Craft, Rigor, and Creativity. Qual Sociol 45 , 319–326 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-022-09509-3

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Published : 16 July 2022

Issue Date : September 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-022-09509-3

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The Oxford Handbook of Digital Media Sociology

Deana A. Rohlinger is a professor of sociology at Florida State University with expertise in political participation, political change, and digital technologies. She is author of Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and New Media and Society (New York University Press, 2019) as well as dozens of research articles and book chapters that analyze topics as diverse as the kinds of claims individuals make in the emails they sent Jeb Bush about the Terri Schiavo case to collective identity processes in MoveOn.org and the Tea Party movement. Her most recent articles can be found in Information, Communication & Society, Signs, Mobilization, New Media & Society, and Social Media + Society. Rohlinger has co-edited three volumes, Strategy in Action: Movements and Social Change (University of Minnesota Press, 2012), Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change: Media, Movements, and Political Change (2012), and Emerald Studies in Media and Communication: Social Movements and Mass Media (2017); guest-edited issues of two journals (Information, Communication & Society in 2018 and the American Behavioral Scientist in 2009); served as the book review editor for the journal Mobilization (2012–2018); and was the editor of the section on social movements for Sociology Compass (2012–2015). Rohlinger chaired the American Sociological Association’s Communication, Information Technologies and Media Sociology section (2018–2019) and is chair-elect for the Collective Behavior, Social Movements section. She has been interviewed on a range of topics including digital politics and controversies involving Planned Parenthood as well as written commentaries for a variety of media outlets including U.S. News & World Report, Fortune, The American Prospect, and The Conversation. Her body of research was recently honored with the 2021 William F. Ogburn Mid-Career Achievement Award from the Communications and Information Technologies and Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association.

Sarah Sobieraj is a professor and chair of The Department of Sociology at Tufts University and a faculty associate with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Her most recent book, Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2020), examines the impact of identity-based digital abuse on women’s participation in social and political discourse. She is also the author of The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility (Oxford University Press, 2014) with Jeff Berry and Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism (New York University Press, 2011). Sobieraj also edited (with Rob Boatright, Danna Young, and Tim Schaffer) A Crisis of Civility: Political Discourse and Its Discontents (Routledge, 2019). Her most recent journal articles can be found in Information, Communication & Society , Social Problems , PS: Political Science & Politics , Poetics , Political Communication , and Sociological Theory . Her work has been featured in venues such as The New York Times , The Washington Post , The Boston Globe , Politico , Vox , CNN , PBS , NPR , The American Prospect , National Review , The Atlantic , Pacific Standard , and Salon . Sobieraj serves on the advisory board of the Social Science Research Council’s Disinformation Research Mapping Initiative and is a member of the National Institute for Civil Discourse Research Network.

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Digital media are normal. But this was not always true. For a long time, lay discourse, academic exhortations, pop culture narratives, and advocacy groups constructed new information and communications technologies as exceptional. Whether they were believed to be revolutionary, dangerous, rife with opportunity, or otherworldly, these tools and technologies were framed as extraordinary. But digital media are now mundane, thoroughly embedded—and often unquestioned—in everyday life. Digital media are enmeshed in health and wellness, work and organizations, elections, capital flows, intimate relationships, social movements, and even our own identities. Although the study of these technologies has always been interdisciplinary—at the crossroads of computer science, cultural studies, science and technology studies, and communications—never has a sociological perspective been more valuable. Sociology excels at helping one re-see the normal. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Media Sociology is a perfect point of entry for those curious about the state of sociological research on digital media. Each chapter reviews the sociological research that has been done thus far and points toward unanswered questions. The 33 chapters are arranged in six sections which look at digital media as they relate to theory, social institutions, everyday life, community and identity, social inequalities, and politics and power. The contributors to this volume provide a distinctly sociological center that will be an indispensable resource for scholars looking to find their way in the subfield, offering an overview of the research on digital media that is sure to illuminate this shifting terrain. Readers will find it accessible enough for use in class and thorough enough for seasoned professionals interested in a concise update in their areas of interest.

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Digital Sociologies

• School of Social and Political Science

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• https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/digital-sociologies

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Karen Gregory

• School of Social and Political Science - Senior Lecturer
• Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry

Person: Academic: Research Active

T1 - Digital Sociologies

A2 - Daniels, Jessie

A2 - Gregory, Karen

A2 - McMillan Cottom, Tressie

PY - 2016/11/16

Y1 - 2016/11/16

N2 - Providing a much needed overview of the growing field of digital sociology, this handbook connects digital media technologies to the traditional sociological areas of study, like labour, culture, education, race, class and gender. Rooted in a critical understanding of inequality as foundational to digital sociology and is edited by leaders in the field. It includes topics ranging from web analytics, wearable technologies, social media analysis and digital labour. This rigorous, accessible text explores contemporary dilemmas and problems of the digital age in relation to inequality, institutions and social identity, making it suitable for use for a global audience on a variety of social science courses and beyond. Offering an important step forward for the discipline of sociology Digital sociologies is an important intellectual benchmark in placing digital at the forefront of investigating the social.

AB - Providing a much needed overview of the growing field of digital sociology, this handbook connects digital media technologies to the traditional sociological areas of study, like labour, culture, education, race, class and gender. Rooted in a critical understanding of inequality as foundational to digital sociology and is edited by leaders in the field. It includes topics ranging from web analytics, wearable technologies, social media analysis and digital labour. This rigorous, accessible text explores contemporary dilemmas and problems of the digital age in relation to inequality, institutions and social identity, making it suitable for use for a global audience on a variety of social science courses and beyond. Offering an important step forward for the discipline of sociology Digital sociologies is an important intellectual benchmark in placing digital at the forefront of investigating the social.

UR - https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/digital-sociologies

SN - 9781447329015

SN - 9781447329008

BT - Digital Sociologies

PB - Policy Press

• Opinion / People / Science & Technology / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

“Digital Sociology: The Reinvention of Social Research”. Noortje Marres on how digital technology contributes to sociology.

by Noortje Marres in conversation with Francesca Halstead · Published 4th July 2017 · Updated 23rd August 2017

Noortje Marres is the author of 2017 book, Digital Sociology: The Reinvention of Social Research , a critical new overview and assessment of the key concepts, methods and understandings that currently inform the development of specifically digital forms of social enquiry. In conversation with Francesca Halstead, Noortje discusses the key arguments in her book, how she came to write it, and how digital technology contributes to sociology research and practice.

What is Digital Sociology?

Digital Sociology came into usage as a label only 5 years ago, which is somewhat mysterious, as sociologists have studied digital societies and have used digital techniques for many decades, going back to studies of computers in the workplace in the early 80s, and the even earlier development of software packages to process survey data. Sister terms, like Digital Anthropology, predate Digital Sociology by about 10 years.

Digital sociology emerged as a response to a particular hype – in industry, news, media, government, and the university – about how ‘new’ digital data would transform ways of knowing society. But digital sociology also offers an alternative to narrow definitions of digital social research. Some define the new ‘computational social science’ as essentially a form of data analytics. By contrast, digital sociologists are committed to investigating a far wider set of interactions between data, people, technologies – and much else besides – which overflow, exceed and do not “fit” inside the simple story about the new forms of data analysis taking the place of old social research methods, like surveys or fieldwork.

What goes on in digital culture takes the form of sociological processes but they are still too rarely understood in those terms. An example is that of ‘Samaritan Radar’ – an online data tool that was designed for the UK charity ‘Samaritans’, to help identify people at risk of “suicide” by analysing Tweets. Soon after its release, this tool became the focus of criticism online, and this highlighted all sorts of “unintended” effects of the release of the app – bloggers noted the risk that identifying social media users as posing a “suicide risks” would be stigmatizing. Others observed that monitoring for deviance poses a threat to digital expression, and would encourage self-censorship in online conversations. Importantly, these kind of effects, in which labels such as “suicide risk” affect people’s perceptions and actions, present fundamental sociological phenomena.

Classic sociologists from Max Weber to Howard Becker and Harold Garfinkel, and Susan Leigh Star have drawn attention to precisely these effects by which the categories used to make sense of social phenomena transform how social life is conducted. But today, to analyse these sociological effects, sociologists need to take an interest in how digital media technologies work and proliferate across social life.

What difference does digital technology make to how we practice sociology, and to sociology as a form of knowledge?

Sociology, and digital sociology, has an important contribution to make to wider debates about the role of science and research in digital societies today. It has an alternative vision to offer as to how we know society with digital data and with digital tools. The value of sociology in this regard is in my view insufficiently recognized. The field of computational social science has over the last years been strongly influenced by physics. Digital trace data are often approached as behavioural data. As one group of data scientists put it: by measuring what is liked, clicked, purchased “we do not have to consider people’s subjective opinions at all.” I think sociology can make important contributions to challenging such methodological assumptions – not just to be critical of computer science, but to outline alternatives to the reduction of digital data to behavioural data. The latter approach may certainly have its uses but it also produces a sociological blind spot: it ignores the interplay between people and ideas, and between people, ideas and technology, as in the case of ‘Samaritan Radar’ above.

Another question that digital sociology can help clarify is the changing role of research methods in digital society. Digital devices like phones and platforms like social media are explicitly designed to enable the analysis of social life: smart phones make possible spatial tracing, social media make social networks available for analysis to users as well as third party researchers.

We need to question which social methods get built into technology, and to study the effects of this on social life, and to argue, wherever possible, in favour of particular design and not others. Sociology is not alone in doing so – within digital culture many productive research practices have emerged over the last year, such as bloggers monitoring the tech industry for problematic knowledge tools, such as Facebook creepy search graphs, which made Facebook profiles searchable by attribute (eg “lives near me” and “likes getting drunk”). For this tool, bloggers produced an archive of problematic queries, virtually overnight, and sociologists can make important contributions not only by adding examples and voice to this critique, but also to spreading wider awareness of how social research tools and analysis do not just reflect but also intervene in society.

Technology is moving and changing so fast, with disruptive technologies changing the way we live and behave all the time. What challenges does this bring for research in this area?

One anonymous user said on Twitter some time ago: “There is no Internet of Things, only other people’s computers in your house”. This is a good way of summing up the challenge of recent developments in the digital sector. Digital services in transport and the home in effect mean that the hub-client model is re-instated in digital infrastructures today, a decade or so after we assumed digital networks were and would be inherently distributed. Indeed, many of the possibilities for digital sociology, like participatory research, are inspired by this older age of distributed digital networking. They stem from a time in which we believed that the web and social media were ‘unlike’ established society-wide infrastructures, like “the media” or “electricity.” Recent developments in the area of digital innovation have challenged this belief: they are precisely about grafting digital media technologies onto and into large, centralized infrastructures – think of intelligent mobility (driverless cars) or smart electricity meters in the home as examples, many of which are today designed to place the tech giants and utility industries in a position of centralized oversight. On the one hand, this undoes some of the progress that the Web represented: it presents re-centralization; bureaucratization, control. In this sense it is not just “other people’s computers” we find in our homes today: if only there were actual people associated with those nameless devices like digital energy meters in our homes. But, on the other hand, these new developments also make visible the challenges involved in transforming digital ways of living from a sub-culture into a society-wide phenomenon. We need to develop a much more precise understanding of what participatory practices and sensibilities are still being enabled by the digital and how these can be nurtured in this changing context.

What in your opinion are the key concepts and arguments making up the discourse in this field right now?

A key issue that digital sociology allows us to come to terms with is that the digital does not or no longer refer to a separate field or domain of society , it is no longer only a topic for the sociology of technology.

Only a decade ago, digital technology could still be thought of as a specialist concern – of geeks, experts, the young, the savvy, or those experimentally inclined. Today, the digital plays a fundamental role in a broad range of societal developments – from the transformation of the welfare state to the way elections are won, and how we experience “the self”. The digital today constitutes a “total social fact.” It operates across and between different social sectors and affects all aspects of society, in a way similar to how the environment is now understood by many as relevant to all domains of society.

The digital signals big transformations of society, but it may also require changes in how we understand – and investigate – social life.  Issues that may seem separate from technology, like the sociology of discrimination, prove to be entangled with it . Take the issue of racism. Today, to understand racism, we also need to come to terms with search engines and social media bots with racist tendencies. Famously, a search for “unprofessional hair” in Google images returned “ back mainly results of black women .” Why do these reactionary, views float to the top in search engine results? Some argued in the press that this was “reflective of our society” but that argument misses the point. Instead, what we see in these search engine returns is a particularly troubling way in which social and technological dynamics come together:  platform algorithms reward content that has been most clicked and shared with visibility, which leads to the amplification of stereotypical views. Platforms let us see what has been seen the most. This is not just a purely social dynamic, but neither is it purely technological. It is both. To understand this, we need digital sociology.

What do we mean when we think of the digital public and/or publics?

Digital platforms and the associated practices that proliferate across social life, like Twitter, are transforming the ways in which scientists and intellectuals engage with publics, and communicate publically.

One the one hand, this is a humbling experience, as experts and thinkers are compelled to become users of digital media technologies like everyone else. But this has all sorts of beneficial effects, such as turning the communication of knowledge into an experimental practice: how to turn the main insights from a research article into a tweet? By making a drawing?

At the same time, in the participatory cultures that have emerged online, there are many risks, such as the strengthening of stereotypes flagged above. We know about the way women especially are targeted by online trolls, but there is also a more subtle, insidious dynamic in which stereotypical roles and positions, the “amateur”, the “expert”, are reinforced online. The role of “authoritative commentator” can seem to be filled more easily by some people rather than others: those who don’t question themselves, who give answers rather than formulate new problems.

Fortunately, digital culture is developing solutions to this. Social media also opens up creative ways of engaging publically, for example by adopting the mantel of a ‘collective’ or assembly of voices, rather than an “individual influencer”, and this experimentation with occupying different subject positions is important. This is one of the reasons I enjoy being an editor of Sociological Review , which has a lively blog and twitter account, to which different colleagues contribute, often anonymously.

Historically, one of the strengths of digital culture has precisely been to confound stereotypes, among others by allowing for anonymity and play in online interaction. Today it becomes all important to preserve and advocate this form of digital publicity, as it is under threat in a culture rightfully concerned with security and the problem of extremism.

Finally, how did you decide how to focus and structure your book around these themes?

The book grew out developing and teaching Masters courses on Digital Sociology, at Goldsmiths, University of London, where I developed and convened the first programme in the world on the topic (2011-2017). Now there are several MA courses with this title, in France, the US and here in the UK.

This initial MA programme in digital sociology was a collaboration between sociology and computing, and I now teach the course with this title in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick. I believe digital sociology is an inherently interdisciplinary undertaking, combining elements from computing, social research, design and media, and communication studies. Of course, one of the attractions of sociology is that as a form of inquiry it has always combined elements from and with different disciplines like philosophy and gender studies, and I argue this is a strength for digital sociology.  I think sociology is today in a very good position to make prominent contributions to interdisciplinary research, as sociological dynamics are proving once again fundamental in technical, economic, political and cultural domains.

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Digital media and society

Digital media are integral to society and to everyday life, as platforms shaping public processes and values, and as intimate devices for living, connecting and networking.

The Digital Media and Society research area in the Department for Sociological Studies is concerned with a broad range of digital media/society issues, including: 

• Self-representation and online identities in relation to gender, age, race & ethnicity, globalisation;
• Digital infrastructures;
• Digital media and activism;
• Digital media and marginalised groups (eg relating to gender, race, sexuality);
• Mobile digital media and digital marketing;
• Digital media and health, mental health and well-being;
• Visual digital cultures;
• Digital research methods and ethics;
• Digital media theory (eg relating to politics, expertise and time).

Our research has been funded by ESRC (e.g. Making Climate Social ), AHRC (e.g. Drones in Visual Culture ), EPSRC (e.g. Trust In Data ), the European Commission (e.g. Queer Migrant Identities Online ), Australian Research Council (e.g. Tracking Infrastructure for Social Media Analysis ), the Norwegian Research Council (e.g. Data Visualization In Society ), Leverhulme (e.g. Tracking Ourselves? Caring for ourselves through everyday monitoring  and  Previvorship in the platform society. Cancer genetic risk in the digital age ),  Wellcome (e.g. Mix and Match: constituting racialised communities in UK stem cell donation and projects on tweeting rare diseases), the Nuffield Foundation (e.g. Living With Data ), and the British Academy (e.g.   Vaccine voices  and on secret-telling apps). 

Our research is regularly featured in national and international media, for example BBC TV and radio, the Guardian and Independent newspapers, and Wired magazine.

Digital Media and Society researchers play leadership roles in the main international associations in our field, including: 

• The Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR);
• The International Communications Association (ICA);
• The European Communications Research and Education Association (ECREA);
• The UK’s Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MECCSA);
• The British Sociological Association (BSA).  

Digital Media and Society PhD students are currently researching topics such as:

• The role of data visualisation in society;
• Digital health, from self-tracking and digital fitness companies to digital health activism;
• Self-representation, connectivity and intimacy – on WeChat, dating apps, gaming communities;
• Social media and environmentalism, including climate change communication and social norm messaging;
• Data, AI, algorithms and inequality;
• Digital and data-driven research methods;
• Gender and digital media;
• Covid-19 in the media. 
• Health, science and expertise on social media

Digital Media and Society PhD students and researchers are actively involved in the Sociological Studies' research themes (especially  Everyday Life & Critical Diversities  and  STeMiS ) and in Faculty of Social Sciences’ interdisciplinary research groups ( Digital Society Network , Migration Research Network , iHuman ).

People in the digital media and society research area include:

Dr hannah ditchfield.

Digital identity (and the presentation of self) Online interaction Social media/platform affordances Everyday perceptions of digital media Digital methods and ethics Qualitative research methods

Dr Ysabel Gerrard

Young people’s experiences of social media  Digital identities (particularly gender) Digital research methods and ethics

Dr Eva Haifa Giraud

Alternative & activist media Food politics ‘Lifestyle’ ethics Online dis/misinformation & hate speech Mediated activism Science & technology studies Social & cultural theory

Dr Matthew Hanchard

Critical data studies  Digital sociology/Digital geography  Media and communications Medial sociology Research methods Urban studies/Smart cities research Science and technology studies

Dr Briony Hannell

Youth, gender, race & sexuality Participatory culture & fandom Popular media cultures Belonging & (cultural) citizenship Feminist methodologies Feminist pedagogies & informal learning cultures

Dr Tim Highfield

Digital methods Visual social media Politics &/of digital media Time & digital media Everyday digital cultures Digital media platforms & their cultural & political interventions

Dr Eva Hilberg

The biopolitics of patient activism Intellectual property & Global Health Digital technologies & health The politics of molecular conceptions of life Foucauldian methods & Critical Theory

Dr Lianrui Jia

Political economy of media Platform studies App studies Media and financialization Media industries Media policy and regulation

Professor Helen Kennedy

New media theory, practice & creativity Social media data mining, big data analytics and data visualisation The myths of new media Media industries & cultural labour

Dr Ozge Ozduzen

Media activism Digital politics Contentious digital publics Visual cultures Online conspiracy theories Online racism

Dr Warren Pearce

Digital methodologies Expertise on digital platforms Social life of climate change Environmental imagery Computer vision Governance of climate knowledge Science communication Science and technology studies (STS)

Dr Preeti Raghunath

Global Media Policy Global Data Economy

Dr Harrison Smith

Surveillance Data analytics industries The geoweb Mobile digital culture Digital marketing

Dr Stefania Vicari

Digital methods Digital publics Health and illness Platform studies Networks

Dr Kate Weiner

Everyday health practices Mundane health technologies Lay/professional knowledge Genetics Prevention Qualitative methods Science & technology studies Sociology of health & illness

Dr Ros Williams

Health & social media Digital health Sociology of health & illness Genetics Race & ancestry Science & technology in society/STS Digital methods Tissue donation & biobanking

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The University's cross-faculty research centres harness our interdisciplinary expertise to solve the world's most pressing challenges.

• Schools & departments

Digital Sociology MSc

Awards: MSc

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme description

Uk's top ranked sociology department.

Our sociology department is the UK’s top-ranked department for sociological research.

What will I learn?

This programme will provide you with a rigorous introduction to sociological research in the digital age.

The programme combines training in “traditional approaches” to sociology with new theory and methods for understanding the digital world. We will study, for example, foundational questions in inequality, demography, and labour research with an emphasis on how the digital transformation has shifted our understandings.

On this programme, you may take up the following specialised topics, including (but not limited to):

• work and labour
• relationships
• government and law

We will be launching in the 2024/25 academic year a dedicated cluster of courses in Social Data Science for the MSc in Digital Sociology.

Students taking these courses will be able to undergo specialised training in core analytical skills within the field of social data science (including natural language processing, and network analysis).

In combination with other core courses in Digital Sociology, this will equip students with the core analytical and programming skills required for evaluating and conducting data science for the social sciences.

How will I learn?

The degree combines lectures and seminar teaching on specific topics with individual research supervision by leading researchers in the emerging field of digital sociology.

Who is this programme for?

While this programme will be primarily suitable for those with a background in the social sciences, the MSc is intended for anyone who wants to undertake specialised training in sociological approaches for understanding the digital world.

Programme structure

The MSc in Digital Sociology is offered as a one-year full-time or two-year part-time programme.

You will take compulsory courses that give you a sociological perspective and prepare you for independent dissertation research.

Your four further option courses will provide a deeper empirical and theoretical grounding in questions within the sociology of emotions, finance, and technology. You will also have methods training in areas such as computational text analysis, network analysis, and multi-level modelling.

The dissertation, a piece of self-designed research with supervisory support, allows you to put your personal stamp on your studies.

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses.

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses

Learning outcomes.

As well as providing students with relevant skills, studying for this degree will give you:

• a foundation in social and cultural theory, as relevant to the study of digital society
• a foundation in digital research methods relevant for the sociological study of contemporary society
• the opportunity to learn how to gather and analyse digital data using programmatic tools in R and/or Python
• the opportunity to engage with ethical issues that are raised by digital sociological work

Career opportunities

You will complete a supervised dissertation project on a topic that you choose based on your interests and career plans.

This degree is well-positioned for a wide range of careers in the public, private, and third sectors. It is particularly relevant for those who have aspirations for a career in:

• digital research
• internet research
• digital social policy
• digital media design and development

The programme is also key for those who wish to engage with digital technology and data in their own personal lives, or on a wider scale as an activist, artist, manager, or practitioner.

You will gain highly transferable skills in research, communication, and project management applicable to roles in many fields.

After graduating, you may go on to undertake roles in areas including:

• social media analysis
• technology consulting
• law and government

Further study

The programme also offers a route to a PhD programme in social research.

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK 2:1 honours degree or its international equivalent, in a relevant discipline.

We welcome applications from students with a strong background in the social sciences as well as those coming from a background in statistics, data science, and computer science. Applicants who do not have this relevant background will receive consideration on the merits of their personal statement and other relevant experience.

Students from China

This degree is Band C.

• Postgraduate entry requirements for students from China

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 59 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

Fees and costs

Tuition fees, scholarships and funding, uk government postgraduate loans.

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments. The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

• your programme
• the duration of your studies
• your residency status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• Postgraduate Admissions Team
• Phone: +44 (0)131 650 4086
• Contact: [email protected]
• Programme Director, Dr Chris Barrie
• Contact: [email protected]
• Graduate School of Social & Political Science
• Chrystal Macmillan Building
• 15A George Square
• Central Campus
• School: Social & Political Science
• College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Select your programme and preferred start date to begin your application.

MSc Digital Sociology - 1 Year (Full-time)

Msc digital sociology - 2 years (part-time), application deadlines.

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines. We will make a small number of offers to the most outstanding candidates on an ongoing basis, but hold the majority of applications until the next published selection deadline when we will offer a proportion of the places available to applicants selected through a competitive process.

Please be aware that applications must be submitted and complete, i.e. all required documents uploaded, by the relevant application deadline in order to be considered in that round. Your application will still be considered if you have not yet met the English language requirement for the programme.

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in 2024/25:

(Revised 18 October 2023 to update the 'places awarded by' date for round 1)

• How to apply

References are not usually required for applications to this programme.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

Research Topics & Ideas: Sociology

50 Topic Ideas To Kickstart Your Research Project

If you’re just starting out exploring sociology-related topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research by providing a hearty list of research ideas , including real-world examples from recent sociological studies.

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . These topic ideas provided here are intentionally broad and generic , so keep in mind that you will need to develop them further. Nevertheless, they should inspire some ideas for your project.

To develop a suitable research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan to fill that gap. If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Sociology-Related Research Topics

• Analyzing the social impact of income inequality on urban gentrification.
• Investigating the effects of social media on family dynamics in the digital age.
• The role of cultural factors in shaping dietary habits among different ethnic groups.
• Analyzing the impact of globalization on indigenous communities.
• Investigating the sociological factors behind the rise of populist politics in Europe.
• The effect of neighborhood environment on adolescent development and behavior.
• Analyzing the social implications of artificial intelligence on workforce dynamics.
• Investigating the impact of urbanization on traditional social structures.
• The role of religion in shaping social attitudes towards LGBTQ+ rights.
• Analyzing the sociological aspects of mental health stigma in the workplace.
• Investigating the impact of migration on family structures in immigrant communities.
• The effect of economic recessions on social class mobility.
• Analyzing the role of social networks in the spread of disinformation.
• Investigating the societal response to climate change and environmental crises.
• The role of media representation in shaping public perceptions of crime.
• Analyzing the sociocultural factors influencing consumer behavior.
• Investigating the social dynamics of multigenerational households.
• The impact of educational policies on social inequality.
• Analyzing the social determinants of health disparities in urban areas.
• Investigating the effects of urban green spaces on community well-being.
• The role of social movements in shaping public policy.
• Analyzing the impact of social welfare systems on poverty alleviation.
• Investigating the sociological aspects of aging populations in developed countries.
• The role of community engagement in local governance.
• Analyzing the social effects of mass surveillance technologies.

Sociology Research Ideas (Continued)

• Investigating the impact of gentrification on small businesses and local economies.
• The role of cultural festivals in fostering community cohesion.
• Analyzing the societal impacts of long-term unemployment.
• Investigating the role of education in cultural integration processes.
• The impact of social media on youth identity and self-expression.
• Analyzing the sociological factors influencing drug abuse and addiction.
• Investigating the role of urban planning in promoting social integration.
• The impact of tourism on local communities and cultural preservation.
• Analyzing the social dynamics of protest movements and civil unrest.
• Investigating the role of language in cultural identity and social cohesion.
• The impact of international trade policies on local labor markets.
• Analyzing the role of sports in promoting social inclusion and community development.
• Investigating the impact of housing policies on homelessness.
• The role of public transport systems in shaping urban social life.
• Analyzing the social consequences of technological disruption in traditional industries.
• Investigating the sociological implications of telecommuting and remote work trends.
• The impact of social policies on gender equality and women’s rights.
• Analyzing the role of social entrepreneurship in addressing societal challenges.
• Investigating the effects of urban renewal projects on community identity.
• The role of public art in urban regeneration and social commentary.
• Analyzing the impact of cultural diversity on education systems.
• Investigating the sociological factors driving political apathy among young adults.
• The role of community-based organizations in addressing urban poverty.
• Analyzing the social impacts of large-scale sporting events on host cities.
• Investigating the sociological dimensions of food insecurity in affluent societies.

Recent Studies & Publications: Sociology

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual sociology-related studies to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of recent studies to help refine your thinking. These are actual studies,  so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• Social system learning process (Subekti et al., 2022)
• Sociography: Writing Differently (Kilby & Gilloch, 2022)
• The Future of ‘Digital Research’ (Cipolla, 2022).
• A sociological approach of literature in Leo N. Tolstoy’s short story God Sees the Truth, But Waits (Larasati & Irmawati, 2022)
• Teaching methods of sociology research and social work to students at Vietnam Trade Union University (Huu, 2022)
• Ideology and the New Social Movements (Scott, 2023)
• The sociological craft through the lens of theatre (Holgersson, 2022).
• An Essay on Sociological Thinking, Sociological Thought and the Relationship of a Sociologist (Sönmez & Sucu, 2022)
• How Can Theories Represent Social Phenomena? (Fuhse, 2022)
• Hyperscanning and the Future of Neurosociology (TenHouten et al., 2022)
• Sociology of Wisdom: The Present and Perspectives (Jijyan et al., 2022). Collective Memory (Halbwachs & Coser, 2022)
• Sociology as a scientific discipline: the post-positivist conception of J. Alexander and P. Kolomi (Vorona, 2022)
• Murder by Usury and Organised Denial: A critical realist perspective on the liberating paradigm shift from psychopathic dominance towards human civilisation (Priels, 2022)
• Analysis of Corruption Justice In The Perspective of Legal Sociology (Hayfa & Kansil, 2023)
• Contributions to the Study of Sociology of Education: Classical Authors (Quentin & Sophie, 2022)
• Inequality without Groups: Contemporary Theories of Categories, Intersectional Typicality, and the Disaggregation of Difference (Monk, 2022)

As you can see, these research topics are a lot more focused than the generic topic ideas we presented earlier. So, for you to develop a high-quality research topic, you’ll need to get specific and laser-focused on a specific context with specific variables of interest.  In the video below, we explore some other important things you’ll need to consider when crafting your research topic.

Get 1-On-1 Help

If you’re still unsure about how to find a quality research topic, check out our Research Topic Kickstarter service, which is the perfect starting point for developing a unique, well-justified research topic.

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School of Social and Political Science

Msc digital sociology, introduction.

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines for this programme. See 'how to apply' below for the application deadlines.

Understand a world undergoing rapid digital transformation

Edinburgh is one of the leading international centres of excellence for postgraduate study in sociology.

The MSc in Digital Sociology directly responds to a growing need for graduates to be able to study and analyse a world that continues to undergo rapid digital transformation. Digital and computational sociology courses provide a vital theoretical foundation for understanding and analysing how digital technologies and data are shaping our social institutions, social relations, and everyday life. Our courses will enable you to conduct sociological research through new forms of social data, such as social media data and other types of "digital trace" data that are so central to modern science data.

This programme is intended for any student who wants to understand, as well as learn to study and critique digital technologies and the complex ways in which they shape society, social institutions, and culture. While a sociological background is not strictly required, familiarity with the social sciences will be helpful for incoming students.

In our core courses, you will study how we are re-understanding foundational questions in fields such as the sociology of inequality, work, and identity. You will also have the chance to develop essential social data science skills to explore topics such as political protest, misinformation, the future of work, digital bias and discrimination, and digital mobility and stratification.

Karen Gregory is a world-leading expert in digital work and digital sociology generally. She has co-edited Digital Sociologies —a key reference in the field of digital sociology. Her current research explores the nature of risk in the gig economy and the ways in which workers are gaining access to new forms of data to navigate and negotiate these risks. You can read more about this work at The Workers' Observatory , which Karen helped to establish in Edinburgh in conjunction with the Scottish Trade Union Congress and the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

Christopher Barrie is a political sociologist and computational methodologist who specializes in the study of protest, violence, and communication. His research has helped answer questions that are currently dominating the headlines like: “how much misinformation is out there?” In particular, he has studied at countries often less well represented in this scholarship—like those in the Arabic-speaking world.

This programme takes a unique approach to methods and methodologies, putting 'traditional' sociological methods such as ethnography, survey work, and interviewing in conversation with science techniques.

In 2024/25 there will be a dedicated cluster of Social Data Science courses for the MSc in Digital Sociology. Students taking these courses will undertake specialized training in core analytical skills within the field of social data science (including natural language processing, network analysis, machine learning and prediction). In combination with other core courses in Digital Sociology, this will equip students with key analytical and programming skills required for evaluating and conducting data scientific work in the social sciences.

Hands-on, research-based methods seminars will take place on campus and the programme will draw on interdisciplinary expertise in:

• Informatics
• Science and Technology Studies
• Design Informatics
• Digital Education

Dissertation

You will complete a supervised dissertation project on a topic that you choose based on your interests and career plans.

This degree is well-positioned for a wide range of careers in the public, private, and third sectors. It is particularly relevant for those who have aspirations for a career in digital research, internet research, digital social policy, or digital media design and development.

The programme is also key for those who wish to engage with digital technology and data in their own personal lives, or on a wider scale as an activist, artist, manager, or practitioner.

You will gain highly transferable skills in research, communication, and project management applicable to roles in many fields.

After graduating, you may go on to undertake roles in area including:

• social media analysis
• internet research
• digital social policy
• technology consulting 
• law and government

Application Deadlines

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines.

We will make a small number of offers to the most outstanding candidates on an ongoing basis, but hold the majority of applications until the next published selection deadline when we will offer a proportion of the places available to applicants selected through a competitive process.

Please ensure that you have submitted all supporting documentation and paid the application fee before the deadline for the round you wish to be considered in.

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in 2024-2025:

Study in a dynamic environment

Students enrolled in the MSc in Digital Sociology will also have the opportunity to enrol in some EFI courses. See here for more information.

Our faculty are also involved in the Centre for Data, Culture, and Society. Dr. Karen Gregory co-directs the Digital Social Science Research Culture , which regularly hosts research seminars and workshops, which MSc students are welcome to attend. 

Our faculty have also brought the Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science (SICSS) to Edinburgh. Here's some information on the event we held in 2022.

Our faculty also convene the British Sociological Association’s Digital Sociology study group: https://www.britsoc.co.uk/groups/study-groups/digital-sociology-study-group/

• Digital Sociology: Critical Perspectives  (Palgrave, 2013)
• Digital Sociologies  (Policy Press, 2016)

Other core texts include:

• Bit By Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age (Princeton, 2017)
• Computational Thinking and Social Science (Sage, 2022)

• Frontiers in Sociology
• Sociological Theory
• Research Topics

Big Data and Machine Learning in Sociology

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The digital revolution and the resulting datafication of society have changed empirical social science research fundamentally. Enormous amounts of data can now be easily stored, managed and analyzed. Furthermore, the digital innovations of recent years allow the collection of data in various formats that were ...

Keywords : computational social sciences, digitalization, big data, machine learning, data science

Important Note : All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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Sociology Research Topics: Key Considerations and Ideas

Did you know that as of 2021, income inequality in the United States was at its highest level in over 50 years? This striking fact underscores the pressing need to examine the dynamic world of sociology research paper topics. It's a field that goes beyond mere statistics, delving deep into the intricate tapestry of human society. Income inequality, just one thread in this complex fabric, has far-reaching consequences on social mobility, access to education, healthcare, and even political influence. These disparities don't just affect individual lives; they shape the very foundations of our communities and nations.

Sociology Research Topics: Short Description

In this article, we'll focus our lens on diverse social issues that captivate the minds of researchers and shape our understanding of the world we inhabit. From the qualities of a strong research topic to the intricacies of research methods, we'll explore the methodologies that underpin groundbreaking studies. Additionally, we'll delve into selecting sociology research topics, providing tips and guidelines to help researchers find their academic compass in this vast terrain!

Qualities of a Strong Sociology Research Topic

A strong sociology research topic is like a compass that guides scholars through the uncharted terrain of society's complexities. To stand out in the realm of sociological inquiry, one must select a topic possessing unique and insightful qualities. Here are key attributes from our ' write paper for me ' experts that define such topics:

• Relevance to Contemporary Issues : Potent sociology research ideas should be rooted in the here and now, addressing issues that resonate with contemporary society. This ensures that the research remains pertinent, capturing the zeitgeist of the era and facilitating meaningful societal change.
• Interdisciplinary Potential : The strongest research topics often bridge gaps between sociology and other disciplines. They have the potential to draw insights from fields like psychology, economics, anthropology, or political science, fostering a holistic understanding of complex societal phenomena.
• Underexplored Terrains : Novelty is a hallmark of strong research topics. Choosing uncharted areas of study allows researchers to make fresh contributions to the field, opening doors to new perspectives and paradigms.
• Empirical Feasibility : While theoretical exploration is vital, a strong topic should also be empirically feasible. It should enable researchers to gather data and test hypotheses, ensuring that the findings have practical applications and can contribute to policy or societal change.
• Ethical Values : Topics that raise ethical questions and dilemmas are often powerful. They encourage researchers to grapple with moral complexities and contribute to ongoing debates about societal values and norms.
• Community Engagement : Topics that involve the active participation of communities or marginalized groups often yield valuable insights. Such engagement ensures that research is not conducted in isolation but collaboratively with those directly affected by the issues under investigation.
• Longitudinal Perspective : Societal phenomena evolve over time. A strong topic should lend itself to a longitudinal perspective, allowing researchers to track changes and continuities offering deeper insights into societal transformations.
• Global Relevance : In an interconnected world, global perspectives are invaluable. Research topics with international implications or comparative elements can shed light on commonalities and differences across cultures, making the research more insightful and relevant on a broader scale.
• Intersectionality : Recognizing the intersection of various social factors (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality) within a topic adds depth and complexity. Strong topics should acknowledge and explore these intersections to provide a richer understanding of social dynamics.
• Policy Implications : Lastly, strong research topics should have the potential to inform policy decisions. They should offer practical solutions or recommendations that can lead to positive societal change.

Exploring Sociological Research Methods

Sociological research is a multifaceted endeavor that employs a wide array of methods to investigate and understand complex social phenomena. The choice of research method depends on the nature of the research question, the available resources, and the desired depth of analysis. Here, we delve into the diverse landscape of sociology research methods:

Surveys and Questionnaires :

• Quantitative Research : Surveys and questionnaires are popular tools for collecting numerical data on a large scale. They are effective for studying attitudes, behaviors, and demographics. These methods provide statistical insights into patterns and correlations within society.

Interviews :

• Qualitative Research : Interviews involve in-depth conversations with individuals or groups. They allow researchers to explore complex social phenomena, experiences, and perspectives. Open-ended questions provide rich qualitative data.

Observational Research :

• Participant Observation : Researchers immerse themselves in the social context they are studying, often over extended periods. This method is valuable for gaining insights into social practices, norms, and behaviors from an insider's perspective.
• Non-Participant Observation : Researchers observe and document social phenomena without actively participating. This method is used to maintain objectivity and can be applied in various settings, from public spaces to institutions.

Content Analysis :

• Textual and Visual Analysis : Content analysis involves the systematic examination of texts, images, or other mass media. Researchers analyze patterns, themes, and meanings within the content to draw sociological insights. This method is often used to study media representations, discourse, and cultural artifacts.

Experimental Research :

• Laboratory and Field Experiments : Experimental research manipulates variables to test causal relationships. While less common in sociology due to ethical and practical constraints, experiments can provide valuable insights into human behavior and causality.

Archival Research :

• Historical and Document Analysis : Sociologists frequently delve into historical records, documents, and archives to trace the evolution of social phenomena over time. This method is crucial for understanding the historical context of contemporary issues.

Ethnography :

• Deep Immersion and Participant Observation : Ethnographic research involves long-term, immersive engagement with a specific social group or community. Researchers seek to understand the culture, practices, and social dynamics from the inside.

Secondary Data Analysis :

• Using Existing Data : Researchers often analyze existing datasets, such as census data, government reports, or surveys conducted by other organizations. This approach can be cost-effective and allows for the exploration of a wide range of sociological questions.

Mixed-Methods Research :

• Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches : Mixed-methods research integrates both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. This comprehensive approach offers a more nuanced understanding of complex social issues.

Online Research :

• Digital Ethnography and Big Data Analysis : Researchers are increasingly turning to the internet and social media as valuable resources for studying online communities, behaviors, and trends. They harness the power of big data analysis techniques to gain valuable insights from the vast datasets created by online interactions, thus enhancing their work on research topics in sociology.

If you're interested in exploring how to write a discursive essay , we offer a wealth of intriguing insights on the subject as well.

Selecting Sociology Research Paper Topics: Tips and Guidelines

Choosing sociology research topics ideas is a crucial step in the research process. It sets the tone for your study, determines the direction of your investigation, and can greatly impact the quality and relevance of your work. To select a compelling topic that stands out and resonates with both you and your audience, consider the following tips and guidelines:

• Start with Introductory Texts :
• As a college student, you may not yet have an in-depth understanding of the field. Begin by exploring introductory sociology textbooks and course materials. These resources can introduce you to key sociological concepts and help you identify areas that pique your interest.
•  Consult Your Professors :
• Don't hesitate to seek guidance from your sociology professors or academic advisors. They can provide valuable insights into research areas that align with your skills, coursework, and academic goals. Professors often appreciate students who show enthusiasm for delving deeper into the subject matter.
• Analyze Local Social Dynamics :
• Investigate the social issues and dynamics specific to your local community or region. By focusing on localized topics, you can offer a unique perspective that contributes to a deeper understanding of how broader sociological concepts manifest in your area.
• Explore Underrepresented Voices :
• Consider sociology research topics for college students that give voice to marginalized or underrepresented groups. Research that amplifies the experiences and challenges faced by these groups can shed light on social inequalities and provide fresh insights into the dynamics of power and privilege.
• Examine Emerging Social Trends :
• Pay attention to emerging social trends, such as the impact of technology on social interactions, changes in family structures, or evolving work patterns. Investigating these contemporary shifts can lead to innovative research paper topics with real-world relevance.
• Consider Your Academic Goals :
• Reflect on your long-term academic and career goals. Are there specific areas within sociology that align with your future plans? For example, if you aspire to work in social policy, you might want to focus on topics related to social welfare or public health. Tailoring your research to your career aspirations can be a motivating factor.

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Sociology Research Topics Ideas

Sociology is a multifaceted field that examines the intricate web of human interactions, institutions, and societal structures. Within this discipline, a wide array of sociology research paper topics can be explored, each shedding light on different aspects of the social world. Here are some topic ideas categorized into subcategories:

Social Inequality and Stratification :

• Income Inequality : Causes and consequences of income disparities.
• Educational Inequality : Factors contributing to disparities in education.
• Occupational Stratification : Impact of occupation and social class.
• Gender Pay Gap : Wage disparities between genders.

Cultural Identity and Belonging :

• Cultural Assimilation : Processes and impact on immigrant communities.
• Racial Identity : Construction and navigation of racial identities.
• Intersectionality : Interplay of multiple identity aspects.

Social Movements and Activism :

• Civil Rights Movements : Historical and contemporary social justice movements.
• Environmental Activism : Societal responses to environmental challenges.
• Political Participation : Influence of interest groups and political processes.

Migration and Identity :

• Refugee Integration : The challenges and successes of refugee integration into host societies.
• Diaspora Communities : Examining the cultural and social dynamics of diaspora communities.
• Immigrant Identities : How immigrants navigate identity and belonging in a new country.

Technology and Relationships :

• Online Dating : The impact of technology on modern dating and relationship formation.
• Digital Communication : How digital communication tools affect interpersonal relationships.
• Cyberbullying : Societal responses to online harassment and cyberbullying.
• AI and Ethics : Ethical considerations surrounding artificial intelligence and technology.

These general social issues essay topics can serve as a starting point for your exploration of the field. As you narrow down your interests, consider delving deeper into specific subtopics or issues within these broader categories to develop a focused and meaningful research question for your paper.

General Sociology Research Topics

• Digital Surveillance and Privacy Concerns : Investigate the impact of pervasive digital surveillance on individual privacy and its societal consequences.
• The Gig Economy and Worker Precarity : Analyze the effects of the gig economy on labor markets, job security, and workers' rights.
• Radicalization in Online Spaces : Explore the process of radicalization in online communities and its real-world consequences.
• Social Media's Impact on Political Polarization : Examine the relationship between social media use and political polarization, focusing on recent developments.
• The Loneliness Epidemic in Modern Society : Analyze the factors contributing to increased feelings of loneliness and social isolation in contemporary society.
• Remote Work and Its Societal Implications : Investigate how the shift to remote work is changing work-life balance, urban dynamics, and social interactions.
• Eco-Anxiety and Climate Activism : Study the psychological and sociological aspects of eco-anxiety and its role in driving climate activism.
• Cryptocurrency and Socioeconomic Inequality : Analyze the impact of cryptocurrencies on wealth distribution and financial inclusion.
• The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development : Explore how social entrepreneurs are addressing social and environmental challenges.
• Intergenerational Wealth Transfer and Inequality : Investigate the implications of wealth transfer from older to younger generations on societal inequality.

Race, Nationality, Ethnicity

• Afrofuturism's Cultural Impact : Explore the influence of Afrofuturism in contemporary art, music, and literature on race and identity narratives.
• Solidarity Between Afro-Asian Diasporas : Study contemporary solidarity movements between African and Asian diaspora communities and their shared social and political objectives.
• Afro-Latinx Identity Complexity : Examine the complexities of racial and ethnic identities in individuals who identify as both Black and Latinx.
• Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainability : Investigate how Indigenous communities contribute to addressing environmental challenges through traditional knowledge.
• Transracial Adoption and Identity : Analyze the identity formation experiences of transracially adopted individuals, focusing on their sense of belonging and heritage.
• Refugee Integration and Cohesion : Study the challenges and achievements of refugee integration, emphasizing social cohesion.
• Critical Race Theory in Education : Explore the implementation and impact of critical race theory in educational institutions.
• Racial Disparities in Healthcare : Investigate the social factors contributing to healthcare access and outcome disparities based on race.
• Indigenous Language Revitalization : Examine initiatives aimed at preserving and revitalizing Indigenous languages and their cultural significance.
• Cultural Sensitivity in Sexual Education : Recognize that sexual education varies significantly due to diverse cultural norms, beliefs, and values regarding sexuality and relationships in different communities.

Social Movements and Activism

• Fashion Sustainability Activism : Explore how activists drive environmental changes and consumer behaviors in the fashion industry toward sustainability.
• Crowdsourcing in Crisis Relief : Analyze the role of online crowdsourcing in rapid disaster and pandemic response efforts.
• Algorithmic Accountability Movements : Examine activism demanding transparency in algorithm use, spanning from criminal justice to social media.
• Disability Rights in Tech : Investigate activists' efforts to ensure emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality are accessible to people with disabilities.
• Digital Activism in the Authoritarian States : Analyze challenges and strategies employed by digital activists promoting democracy and human rights in authoritarian regimes.
• Ageism Activism : Explore advocacy efforts addressing ageism and elderly rights, especially in an aging world.
• Cross-Border Anti-Corruption Movements : Study activist networks combating corruption across borders and their impact on governance and accountability.
• Youth Mental Health Advocacy : Examine youth-led movements promoting mental health services, reducing stigma, and enhancing well-being in schools and communities.
• Global Disability Rights Treaty Progress : Investigate the implementation progress and obstacles regarding the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in various nations.
• Transnational Feminist Alliances : Analyze alliances among feminist movements from diverse regions, tackling global gender disparities and advocating for women's rights.

Culture and Media

• AI Art and Copyright : Investigate copyright issues and ethical considerations in AI-generated artworks amid changing paradigms of artistic creation.
• Influencers and Consumer Behavior : Analyze social media influencers' impact on consumer choices, brand loyalty, and advertising tactics.
• Sustainability in Pop Culture : Examine sustainability portrayal in contemporary media and its influence on public attitudes and actions.
• VR Museums for Heritage : Explore VR technology's role in conserving and presenting cultural heritage, addressing accessibility and conservation challenges.
• NFTs and Digital Ownership : Study the rise of NFTs as digital assets and their impact on art, entertainment, and collectibles industries.
• Podcasts for Social Change : Investigate how podcasts serve as platforms for activism, community-building, and social commentary, fostering dialogue and transformation.
• Metaverse Culture Impact : Analyze how metaverse platforms influence identity, relationships, and creativity in contemporary culture.
• Reality TV and Identity : Examine reality TV's role in shaping viewer perceptions of identity, body image, and social norms.
• Fan Engagement in Media : Explore fan contributions to media content creation and interpretation, including fan fiction, fan art, and activism.
• Impact of Digital Media on Religious Education : Delve into the complex interplay between digital media, cultural shifts, and religious education.

Health and Well-Being

Now, let's take a closer look at sociology research topics pertaining to health and well-being.

• Nutrition and Mental Health : Explore how diet influences mood, cognition, and mental well-being.
• Aging in Place Tech : Analyze technologies supporting older adults' independence at home.
• Ecotherapy for Mental Health : Study nature-based interventions' therapeutic benefits, especially in urban environments.
• Social Prescribing in Healthcare : Examine healthcare providers recommending non-medical activities for well-being.
• Ethics of Genetic Editing : Investigate ethical dilemmas in genetic editing technologies and their impact on health.
• Telemedicine for Mental Health : Analyze telemedicine's effectiveness in mental health care, considering accessibility and privacy.
• Digital Biomarkers in Health : Investigate the use of digital biomarkers for early disease detection and personalized health monitoring.
• Intermittent Fasting and Metabolism : Examine the potential health effects of intermittent fasting on metabolism and longevity.
• Blockchain in Healthcare : Study blockchain's role in secure health data management and sharing.
• Human Augmentation and Well-being : Analyze the societal and ethical implications of human augmentation technologies on individual well-being.

Social Inequality and Stratification

• Platform Economy and Workers : Explore how gig work and delivery apps impact income inequality and worker stability, considering recent labor rights developments.
• Space Tourism and Wealth : Analyze the impact of space tourism on global wealth inequality, including access, environmental concerns, and regulation.
• Algorithmic Credit Scoring : Examine algorithmic credit scoring's effects on financial inclusion and economic disparities, with a focus on bias and discrimination.
• Climate Change and Migration : Investigate the link between climate change, forced migration, and social inequality, especially affecting vulnerable populations.
• Digital Redlining and Internet Access : Study digital redlining's consequences on internet access in underserved areas and its impact on education and economic opportunities.
• Automation and Job Disparities : Analyze how automation and AI affect employment disparities, considering affected sectors and demographics.
• AI Bias in Healthcare : Examine how AI in healthcare may perpetuate health disparities and unequal access to quality treatment.
• Urban Food Deserts : Study urban food deserts and their role in nutritional inequality, exploring solutions for improved access to healthy food.
• Regional Income Inequality : Explore disparities in income at regional levels within countries, examining causes, consequences, and policy responses.
• Social Media Moderation : Investigate how social media content moderation affects freedom of expression, including issues like bias, misinformation, and inequality amplification.

Family and Relationships

Here is a selection of compelling sociology research topics that revolve around the themes of family and relationships.

• Polyamory and Relationships : Explore the experiences and challenges of individuals and families practicing polyamory, examining its impact on relationship structures and norms.
• Metaverse Parenting : Analyze how parents navigate raising children in a digital metaverse world, addressing privacy, screen time, and virtual relationships.
• Long-Distance Grandparenting : Examine how technology helps maintain intergenerational relationships for grandparents and grandchildren separated by distance.
• Online Dating for Seniors : Study how older adults use online dating platforms, considering technology's influence on late-life dating, companionship, and well-being.
• Siblings' Roles in Elderly Care : Investigate adult siblings' responsibilities in caring for aging parents, including emotional, financial, and logistical aspects.
• LGBTQ+ Parenting Experiences : Analyze the unique challenges and experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals as parents, including legal recognition, discrimination, and support networks.
• Influence of Family Influencers : Examine how family influencers on social media shape parenting norms, choices, and behaviors among young parents.
• Co-Parenting with AI : Investigate the ethical and psychological implications of co-parenting with artificial intelligence and robots, including attachment and family dynamics.
• Mixed Nationalities in Families : Study the experiences of families with mixed nationalities, considering the impact of immigration policies on family reunification and stability.
• Aging Solo Support Networks : Analyze the challenges and strategies of individuals aging solo (without a spouse or children) in building and maintaining social support networks for late-life well-being.

Crime and Deviance

• Crypto Crime and Cybersecurity : Investigate emerging cryptocurrency-related crimes, such as ransomware attacks, and the cybersecurity challenges in the digital era.
• Biohacking and Ethics : Analyze the legal and ethical implications of biohacking, including body modification, and its potential to blur legal boundaries.
• Dark Web Markets : Examine dark web marketplaces' role in facilitating illegal transactions, including drug sales, weapons, and data theft.
• Environmental Deviance : Investigate environmental offenses like illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, and pollution and their impacts on ecosystems and communities.
• Deepfake Technology : Analyze deepfake technology's use in identity theft and its potential legal and societal consequences.
• Corporate Espionage : Examine corporate espionage and intellectual property theft in the digital age and their impact on industries and economies.
• Online Hate Crimes : Study the rise of online hate crimes and extremist content, exploring monitoring, prevention, and legal prosecution strategies.
• AI in Sentencing : Investigate how artificial intelligence in sentencing decisions may affect disparities in criminal justice outcomes.
• Deviant Health Practices : Analyze DIY medical procedures and deviant health practices facilitated by online communities and their challenges to public health and regulation.
• Virtual Currency Laundering : Examine the use of virtual currencies like cryptocurrencies in money laundering and financial crimes, considering evolving techniques and countermeasures.

Closing Reflections

In closing, the diverse array of sociology research topics ideas presented here reflects the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of human society. Much like economics essay topics , these areas provide ample opportunities for exploration, in-depth analysis, and the potential for uncovering insights into pressing contemporary issues. The possibilities for meaningful research in sociology are endless, ensuring that this discipline remains vital and relevant in the years to come.

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Understanding How Digital Media Affects Child Development

Technology and digital media have become ubiquitous parts of our daily lives. Screen time among children and adolescents was high before COVID-19 emerged, and it has further risen during the pandemic, thanks in part to the lack of in-person interactions.  

In this increasingly digital world, we must strive to better understand how technology and media affect development, health outcomes, and interpersonal relationships. In fact, the fiscal year 2023 federal budget sets aside no less than $15 million within NICHD’s appropriation to investigate the effects of technology use and media consumption on infant, child, and adolescent development.

Parents may not closely oversee their children’s media use, especially as children gain independence. However, many scientific studies of child and adolescent media use have relied on parents’ recollections of how much time the children spent in front of a screen. By using software embedded within mobile devices to calculate children’s actual use, NICHD-supported researchers found that parent reports were inaccurate more often than they were on target. A little more than one-third of parents in the study underestimated their children’s usage, and nearly the same proportion overestimated it. With a recent grant award from NICHD, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine plan to overcome the limitation of relying on parental reports by using a novel technology to objectively monitor preschool-age children’s digital media use. They ultimately aim to identify the short- and long-term influences of technology and digital media use on children’s executive functioning, sleep patterns, and weight. This is one of three multi-project program grants awarded in response to NICHD’s recent funding opportunity announcement inviting proposals to examine how digital media exposure and use impact developmental trajectories and health outcomes in early childhood or adolescence. Another grant supports research to characterize the context, content, and use of digital media among children ages 1 to 8 years and to examine associations with the development of emotional regulation and social competence. A third research program seeks to better characterize the complex relationships between social media content, behaviors, brain activity, health, and well-being during adolescence.

I look forward to the findings from these ongoing projects and other studies that promise to inform guidance for technology and media use among children and adolescents. Additionally, the set-aside funding for the current fiscal year will allow us to further expand research in this area. These efforts will help us advance toward our aspirational goal to discover how technology exposure and media use affect developmental trajectories, health outcomes, and parent-child interactions.

2024 Monographs

Digital Transformation in Design: Processes and Practices

Scherling, Laura S.

What does it take to create innovative tech-savvy designs that are usable, appealing, and good for society? The contributions to this volume introduce contemporary research on the digitization and »datafication« of products, exploring topics like user experience, artificial intelligence, and virtual environments in design. Coming from varied backgrounds in product design, interaction design, service design, game design, architecture, and graphic design, they emphasize that digital transformation is not just a technical process, but also a social and learning process that fundamentally changes the way we understand information.

• Design and technology
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When Online Content Disappears

38% of webpages that existed in 2013 are no longer accessible a decade later, table of contents.

• Webpages from the last decade
• Links on government websites
• Links on news websites
• Reference links on Wikipedia
• Posts on Twitter
• Acknowledgments
• Collection and analysis of Twitter data
• Data collection for World Wide Web websites, government websites and news websites
• Data collection for Wikipedia source links
• Evaluating the status of pages and links
• Definition of links

Pew Research Center conducted the analysis to examine how often online content that once existed becomes inaccessible. One part of the study looks at a representative sample of webpages that existed over the past decade to see how many are still accessible today. For this analysis, we collected a sample of pages from the Common Crawl web repository for each year from 2013 to 2023. We then tried to access those pages to see how many still exist.

A second part of the study looks at the links on existing webpages to see how many of those links are still functional. We did this by collecting a large sample of pages from government websites, news websites and the online encyclopedia Wikipedia .

We identified relevant news domains using data from the audience metrics company comScore and relevant government domains (at multiple levels of government) using data from get.gov , the official administrator for the .gov domain. We collected the news and government pages via Common Crawl and the Wikipedia pages from an archive maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation . For each collection, we identified the links on those pages and followed them to their destination to see what share of those links point to sites that are no longer accessible.

A third part of the study looks at how often individual posts on social media sites are deleted or otherwise removed from public view. We did this by collecting a large sample of public tweets on the social media platform X (then known as Twitter) in real time using the Twitter Streaming API. We then tracked the status of those tweets for a period of three months using the Twitter Search API to monitor how many were still publicly available. Refer to the report methodology for more details.

The internet is an unimaginably vast repository of modern life, with hundreds of billions of indexed webpages. But even as users across the world rely on the web to access books, images, news articles and other resources, this content sometimes disappears from view.

A new Pew Research Center analysis shows just how fleeting online content actually is:

• A quarter of all webpages that existed at one point between 2013 and 2023 are no longer accessible, as of October 2023. In most cases, this is because an individual page was deleted or removed on an otherwise functional website.

• For older content, this trend is even starker. Some 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 are not available today, compared with 8% of pages that existed in 2023.

This “digital decay” occurs in many different online spaces. We examined the links that appear on government and news websites, as well as in the “References” section of Wikipedia pages as of spring 2023. This analysis found that:

• 23% of news webpages contain at least one broken link, as do 21% of webpages from government sites. News sites with a high level of site traffic and those with less are about equally likely to contain broken links. Local-level government webpages (those belonging to city governments) are especially likely to have broken links.
• 54% of Wikipedia pages contain at least one link in their “References” section that points to a page that no longer exists.

To see how digital decay plays out on social media, we also collected a real-time sample of tweets during spring 2023 on the social media platform X (then known as Twitter) and followed them for three months. We found that:

• Nearly one-in-five tweets are no longer publicly visible on the site just months after being posted. In 60% of these cases, the account that originally posted the tweet was made private, suspended or deleted entirely. In the other 40%, the account holder deleted the individual tweet, but the account itself still existed.
• Certain types of tweets tend to go away more often than others. More than 40% of tweets written in Turkish or Arabic are no longer visible on the site within three months of being posted. And tweets from accounts with the default profile settings are especially likely to disappear from public view.

How this report defines inaccessible links and webpages

There are many ways of defining whether something on the internet that used to exist is now inaccessible to people trying to reach it today. For instance, “inaccessible” could mean that:

• The page no longer exists on its host server, or the host server itself no longer exists. Someone visiting this type of page would typically receive a variation on the “404 Not Found” server error instead of the content they were looking for.
• The page address exists but its content has been changed – sometimes dramatically – from what it was originally.
• The page exists but certain users – such as those with blindness or other visual impairments – might find it difficult or impossible to read.

For this report, we focused on the first of these: pages that no longer exist. The other definitions of accessibility are beyond the scope of this research.

Our approach is a straightforward way of measuring whether something online is accessible or not. But even so, there is some ambiguity.

First, there are dozens of status codes indicating a problem that a user might encounter when they try to access a page. Not all of them definitively indicate whether the page is permanently defunct or just temporarily unavailable. Second, for security reasons, many sites actively try to prevent the sort of automated data collection that we used to test our full list of links.

For these reasons, we used the most conservative estimate possible for deciding whether a site was actually accessible or not. We counted pages as inaccessible only if they returned one of nine error codes that definitively indicate that the page and/or its host server no longer exist or have become nonfunctional – regardless of how they are being accessed, and by whom. The full list of error codes that we included in our definition are in the methodology .

Here are some of the findings from our analysis of digital decay in various online spaces.

To conduct this part of our analysis, we collected a random sample of just under 1 million webpages from the archives of Common Crawl , an internet archive service that periodically collects snapshots of the internet as it exists at different points in time. We sampled pages collected by Common Crawl each year from 2013 through 2023 (approximately 90,000 pages per year) and checked to see if those pages still exist today.

We found that 25% of all the pages we collected from 2013 through 2023 were no longer accessible as of October 2023. This figure is the sum of two different types of broken pages: 16% of pages are individually inaccessible but come from an otherwise functional root-level domain; the other 9% are inaccessible because their entire root domain is no longer functional.

Not surprisingly, the older snapshots in our collection had the largest share of inaccessible links. Of the pages collected from the 2013 snapshot, 38% were no longer accessible in 2023. But even for pages collected in the 2021 snapshot, about one-in-five were no longer accessible just two years later.

We sampled around 500,000 pages from government websites using the Common Crawl March/April 2023 snapshot of the internet, including a mix of different levels of government (federal, state, local and others). We found every link on each page and followed a random selection of those links to their destination to see if the pages they refer to still exist.

Across the government websites we sampled, there were 42 million links. The vast majority of those links (86%) were internal, meaning they link to a different page on the same website. An explainer resource on the IRS website that links to other documents or forms on the IRS site would be an example of an internal link.

Around three-quarters of government webpages we sampled contained at least one on-page link. The typical (median) page contains 50 links, but many pages contain far more. A page in the 90th percentile contains 190 links, and a page in the 99th percentile (that is, the top 1% of pages by number of links) has 740 links.

Other facts about government webpage links:

• The vast majority go to secure HTTP pages (and have a URL starting with “https://”).
• 6% go to a static file, like a PDF document.
• 16% now redirect to a different URL than the one they originally pointed to.

When we followed these links, we found that 6% point to pages that are no longer accessible. Similar shares of internal and external links are no longer functional.

Overall, 21% of all the government webpages we examined contained at least one broken link. Across every level of government we looked at, there were broken links on at least 14% of pages; city government pages had the highest rates of broken links.

For this analysis, we sampled 500,000 pages from 2,063 websites classified as “News/Information” by the audience metrics firm comScore. The pages were collected from the Common Crawl March/April 2023 snapshot of the internet.

Across the news sites sampled, this collection contained more than 14 million links pointing to an outside website. 1 Some 94% of these pages contain at least one external-facing link. The median page contains 20 links, and pages in the top 10% by link count have 56 links.

Like government websites, the vast majority of these links go to secure HTTP pages (those with a URL beginning with “https://”). Around 12% of links on these news sites point to a static file, like a PDF document. And 32% of links on news sites redirected to a different URL than the one they originally pointed to – slightly less than the 39% of external links on government sites that redirect.

When we tracked these links to their destination, we found that 5% of all links on news site pages are no longer accessible. And 23% of all the pages we sampled contained at least one broken link.

Broken links are about as prevalent on the most-trafficked news websites as they are on the least-trafficked sites. Some 25% of pages on news websites in the top 20% by site traffic have at least one broken link. That is nearly identical to the 26% of sites in the bottom 20% by site traffic.

For this analysis, we collected a random sample of 50,000 English-language Wikipedia pages and examined the links in their “References” section. The vast majority of these pages (82%) contain at least one reference link – that is, one that directs the reader to a webpage other than Wikipedia itself.

In total, there are just over 1 million reference links across all the pages we collected. The typical page has four reference links.

The analysis indicates that 11% of all references linked on Wikipedia are no longer accessible. On about 2% of source pages containing reference links, every link on the page was broken or otherwise inaccessible, while another 53% of pages contained at least one broken link.

For this analysis, we collected nearly 5 million tweets posted from March 8 to April 27, 2023, on the social media platform X, which at the time was known as Twitter. We did this using Twitter’s Streaming API, collecting 3,000 public tweets every 30 minutes in real time. This provided us with a representative sample of all tweets posted on the platform during that period. We monitored those tweets until June 15, 2023, and checked each day to see if they were still available on the site or not.

At the end of the observation period, we found that 18% of the tweets from our initial collection window were no longer publicly visible on the site . In a majority of cases, this was because the account that originally posted the tweet was made private, suspended or deleted entirely. For the remaining tweets, the account that posted the tweet was still visible on the site, but the individual tweet had been deleted.

Which tweets tend to disappear?

Tweets were especially likely to be deleted or removed over the course of our collection period if they were:

• Written in certain languages. Nearly half of all the Turkish-language tweets we collected – and a slightly smaller share of those written in Arabic – were no longer available at the end of the tracking period.
• Posted by accounts using the site’s default profile settings. More than half of tweets from accounts using the default profile image were no longer available at the end of the tracking period, as were more than a third from accounts with a default bio field. Tweets from these accounts tend to disappear because the entire account has been deleted or made private, as opposed to the individual tweet being deleted.
• Posted by unverified accounts.

We also found that removed or deleted tweets tended to come from newer accounts with relatively few followers and modest activityon the site. On average, tweets that were no longer visible on the site were posted by accounts around eight months younger than those whose tweets stayed on the site.

And when we analyzed the types of tweets that were no longer available, we found that retweets, quote tweets and original tweets did not differ much from the overall average. But replies were relatively unlikely to be removed – just 12% of replies were inaccessible at the end of our monitoring period.

Most tweets that are removed from the site tend to disappear soon after being posted. In addition to looking at how many tweets from our collection were still available at the end of our tracking period, we conducted a survival analysis to see how long these tweets tended to remain available. We found that:

• 1% of tweets are removed within one hour
• 3% within a day
• 10% within a week
• 15% within a month

Put another way: Half of tweets that are eventually removed from the platform are unavailable within the first six days of being posted. And 90% of these tweets are unavailable within 46 days.

Tweets don’t always disappear forever, though. Some 6% of the tweets we collected disappeared and then became available again at a later point. This could be due to an account going private and then returning to public status, or to the account being suspended and later reinstated. Of those “reappeared” tweets, the vast majority (90%) were still accessible on Twitter at the end of the monitoring period.

• For our analysis of news sites, we did not collect or check the functionality of internal-facing on-page links – those that point to another page on the same root domain. ↩

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Research: What Companies Don’t Know About How Workers Use AI

• Jeremie Brecheisen

Three Gallup studies shed light on when and why AI is being used at work — and how employees and customers really feel about it.

Leaders who are exploring how AI might fit into their business operations must not only navigate a vast and ever-changing landscape of tools, but they must also facilitate a significant cultural shift within their organizations. But research shows that leaders do not fully understand their employees’ use of, and readiness for, AI. In addition, a significant number of Americans do not trust business’ use of AI. This article offers three recommendations for leaders to find the right balance of control and trust around AI, including measuring how their employees currently use AI, cultivating trust by empowering managers, and adopting a purpose-led AI strategy that is driven by the company’s purpose instead of a rules-heavy strategy that is driven by fear.

If you’re a leader who wants to shift your workforce toward using AI, you need to do more than manage the implementation of new technologies. You need to initiate a profound cultural shift. At the heart of this cultural shift is trust. Whether the use case for AI is brief and experimental or sweeping and significant, a level of trust must exist between leaders and employees for the initiative to have any hope of success.

• Jeremie Brecheisen is a partner and managing director of The Gallup CHRO Roundtable.

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You’re invited to our virtual event! Digital Equity/Inequity in Seattle: Learning from 2024 Seattle Technology Access & Adoption Study community research

Join us for a data discovery and discussion session as Seattle IT presents Digital Equity/Inequity in Seattle: Learning from 2024 Seattle Technology Access & Adoption Study presentation and discussion on Tuesday, May 21, from 3-4 p.m. with an optional extended conversation from 4-4:30 p.m. This virtual Webex event is an opportunity for us to share what we’ve learned from the report released this year. We will share the survey and focus group results, what this means for our community, and how to explore our dashboards and data. We’ll be joined by the City’s Interim Chief Technology Officer Jim Loter, Community Technology Advisory Board members, Digital Equity Advisor David Keyes, and research partners at Olympic Research and Strategy and Inclusive Data.

The study, conducted every five years, provides valuable data and insight on internet access and use, devices, digital skills, civic participation, training needs, and safety and security concerns. Results help guide City and community programs to better serve residents and close the digital divide. This study received input from 4,600 diverse Seattle residents, including Native community members, in eight languages.

Some of the results include:

• One in 20 households have fewer than one internet device per household member.
• 1 in 6 Native households dealt with internet outages of a month or more.
• Nearly 44,000 households have significant needs for improvement in access, devices, uses, and skills using a new digital connectedness index.
• 11% of BIPOC households do not have internet access both at home and on-the-go.

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Despite marketing budgets falling to just 8% of overall company revenue, marketers are taking that little flexibility in spend and funneling it into their media strategies. This revelation was surfaced in Gartner’s annual “ 2024 CMO Spend Survey ,” which seeks to generate a pulse on the current state of marketing budgets, spending and strategic priorities.

The importance of paid media was a clear theme throughout the report, as media investments grew to 28% of budget in 2024 — while spending fell in other areas, such as martech, labor and agencies. Digital dominated a growing share of paid media spend, taking up 57% of budgets in 2024, compared to 55% in 2023.

The top online channels marketers are investing in included search, social advertising and digital display advertising, while the top offline channels consisted of event marketing, sponsorships and television.

“We’ve seen a major shift in investment strategies, reflecting tightened budgets and higher growth aspirations,” said Ewan McIntyre, VP Analyst and Chief of Research for the  Gartner Marketing Practice , in a statement. “The drop in martech investment doesn’t signal a dulled appetite for technology; rather, it reflects CMOs’ diminishing influence over martech as other enterprise leaders, such as IT, take more control. Meanwhile, CMOs are clearly prioritizing media spend as they seek to drive revenue growth.”

AI Emerges As Time-Saving Contender

As  CMOs chase revenue growth despite budget cuts , AI has emerged as an important tool: According to a previous Gartner study, 73% of marketers are currently piloting or using generative AI. In the most recent research, 33% of CMOs identified time and cost efficiencies as part of their top three benefits when considering the ROI of AI investments.

“Reduced budgets are only a problem if marketing leaders are working with the same tools as before, but that’s not the case now that CMOs have AI,” said McIntyre. “Gen AI is delivering enhanced productivity, despite constrained resources. Most CMOs believe AI may save the day — 64% said they lack the budget to execute their 2024 strategy, but gen AI offers the opportunity to grow the marketing function’s impact far beyond its budgetary constraints.”

Posted in: Industry News

Tagged with: Gartner

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