Methodology for cognition of digital society

Digital sociology is a computational social science that uses modern information systems and technologies, has already formed. But the conflict with traditional sociology and its research methods has not yet been resolved. This conflict can be overcome if we remember that there is a common goal – the knowledge of the phenomena and processes of social life, which is primary in relation to the methods to be agreed upon. Digital transformation of sociology is essential, since 1) traditional sociological methods do not solve the problem of providing voluminous, reliable empirical data qualitatively and in a short time; 2) the transition from contact research methods to unobtrusive ones is in demand. The adaptation of four modern information technologies-cloud computing, big data, the Internet of things and artificial intelligence – for the purposes of sociology provides a qualitative transition in the methodology of knowledge of the digital society. Cloud computing provide researchers with tools, big data – research materials, Internet of things technology aimed at collecting indicators (receiving signals) in large volume, in real time, as direct, not indirect evidence of human behavior. The development of “artificial intelligence” technology expands the possibility of receiving processed signals of the quality of the social system without building a preliminary hypothesis, in a short time and on a large volume of processed data. Digital transformation of sociology does not mean abandoning the use of traditional methods of sociological analysis, but it involves expanding the competence of a sociologist, which requires a revision of University curricula. At the same time, combining the functions of an expert on the subject (sociologist) and data analyst in one specialist is assessed as unpromising, it is proposed to combine their professional competencies in working on unified research projects.

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