Article ID: CBB857177238

Looking in the Wrong (La)place? The Promise and Perils of Becoming Big Data (July 2017)

unapi

Laplace once argued that if one could “comprehend all the forces by which nature is animated,” it would be possible to predict the future and explain the past. The advent of analysis of large-scale data sets has been accompanied by newfound concerns about “Laplace’s Demon” as it relates to certain fields of science as well as management, evaluation, and audit. I begin by asking how statistical data are constructed, illustrating the hermeneutic acts necessary to create a variable. These include attributing a certain characteristic to a particular phenomenon, isolating the characteristic of interest, and assigning a value to it. In addition, a population must be identified and a sample must be “taken” from that population. Next, I examine how statistical analyses are conducted, examining the interpretive acts there as well. In each case, I show how big data add new challenges. I then show how statistics are incorporated into audits and evaluations, emphasizing how alternative interpretations are concealed in the audit process. I conclude by noting that these issues cannot be “resolved” as Laplace suggested. His Demon, already banished from physics, needs to be banished from other fields of science, management, audits, and evaluations as well.

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Authors & Contributors
Shi, Yong
Siibak, Andra
Huang, Guangyan
Włodzimierz Gogołek
He, Jing
Boem, Federico
Concepts
Big data
Technology and society
Computers--social aspects
Information technology
Data collection; methods
Computers and computing
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
20th century
19th century
Places
United States
Commonwealth countries
Latin America
Europe
European Union
Great Britain
Institutions
Mass-Observation
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