Bit by Bit - by Matthew J Salganik

About the Book

This essential guide to doing social research in this fast-evolving digital age explains how the digital revolution is transforming the way social scientists observe behavior, ask questions, run experiments, and engage in mass collaborations.

Book Synopsis

An innovative and accessible guide to doing social research in the digital age

The rapid spread of social media, smartphones, and other digital wonders enables us to collect and process data about human behavior on a scale never before imaginable, offering entirely new approaches to core questions about social behavior. Bit by Bit is the key to unlocking these powerful methods. In this authoritative and accessible book, Matthew Salganik explains how the digital revolution is transforming the way social scientists observe behavior, ask questions, run experiments, and engage in mass collaborations. Featuring a wealth of real-world examples and invaluable advice on how to tackle the thorniest ethical challenges, Bit by Bit is the essential guide to doing social research in this fast-evolving digital age.

From the Back Cover

"Bit by Bit is, by far, the best and most up-to-date book on modern social science. Salganik writes compellingly and inspiringly. He has done a wonderful job of collecting a diverse set of meaningful examples and describing how they are important in language anyone can understand."--Sean Taylor, research scientist, Facebook

"This book is a gem--a rare combination of a highly accessible and engaging writing style coupled with an introduction to advanced computational methods for collecting and analyzing observational and experimental data."--Michael Macy, Cornell University

Review Quotes

"Winner of the AAPOR Book Award, American Association for Public Opinion Research"

"Winner of the 2019 PROSE Award in Textbook / Social Sciences, Association of American Publishers"

About the Author

Matthew J. Salganik is professor of sociology at Princeton University, where he is also affiliated with the Center for Information Technology Policy and the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning.