Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

The course provides students with an understanding of relevant data formats and methods for harvesting large-scale data about user behaviour, interaction, and/or opinions. More specifically, the course is focused on digital, online traces of user behaviour and how to identify, collect, prepare, and make sense of such data. Students are prompted to reflect on the scope and feasibility of different research designs, including their data requirements and the implications for data processing and ethics.

Learning objectives

Knowledge

In this module students will acquire knowledge of:

• Data formats

• Methods for collecting and processing data

• Legal and ethical principles related to (online) data harvesting and usage.

Skills

In this module students will acquire skills in:

• Asking data-driven questions about research problems

• Identifying, comparing, and selecting relevant techniques for collecting data about user behavior, interaction, and/or opinions

• Constructing relevant data sets

• Explaining the data set’s construction, limitations and potential use cases.

Competences

In this module students will acquire competences in:

• Relating theories and methods to real-world cases

• Evaluating the practical and ethical dimensions of a data-driven project in relation to specific research designs

• Taking an analytical, reflective and critical approach to the identification, harvesting, preparation, and understanding of relevant research data.

Exam

Exams