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Big Data and Democracy: Facts and Values

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2017

Ashley E. Gorham*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

The incongruity between traditional research standards and the realities of “big data” raises novel ethical questions for political science researchers. Data’s status as a commodity largely held by private companies only further confuses matters. Drawing on Max Weber, this article attempts to shift the current ethical discussion away from the individualistic concern for privacy toward the more collective framework of democratic values.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2017 

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