Between Big and Small Data: Political Participation of Twitter Users

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA E RICERCA SOCIALE
Author/s Loris Di Giammaria, Maria Paola Faggiano
Publishing Year 2016 Issue 2016/109 Language Italian
Pages 16 P. 143-158 File size 81 KB
DOI 10.3280/SR2016-109012
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This article aims to show how an approach with a mixed method orientation, combining big and small data, can be fruitfully used to study political participation. The limits of using exclusively of Big Data downloaded from the web (in particular from Twitter) can be partially overcome through a pluralist methodological approach. This case of empirical research, a web survey conducted during the campaign for the parliamentary elections in 2013, highlights the value of this approach in the study of political participation, online and offline, in relation to all its conceptual dimensions, as well as to other social phenomena.

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Loris Di Giammaria, Maria Paola Faggiano, Tra big e small data: la partecipazione politica degli utenti Twitter in "SOCIOLOGIA E RICERCA SOCIALE " 109/2016, pp 143-158, DOI: 10.3280/SR2016-109012