Processualizing Data

Variants of Process‐Produced Data

Bibliographic Data

ID12926367
AuthorsTilo Grenz (0000-0002-6255-3060, University of Vienna, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume57
Issue2
Pages247-264
Publication date2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1755-6171 • E-ISSN: 1755-618X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/cars.12280
PMID32419384
OpenAlexW3027519118
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited43

The greatly increased importance of diachronic process perspectives in the social sciences has led to process-produced data (PPD) becoming one of the main topics of this debate. However, its current use is peculiarly ambivalent. It oscillates between substantialist understandings and self-evident use. This article stresses the beforehand conceptual decisions made by the researcher that eventually define data, that is, which materials become PPD. Because process-oriented research rests on heterogenous conceptions of temporality, it is especially these conceptions researchers must make transparent. Drawing on social constructivism, extended by path dependency, happenings, and events, the article exemplifies one conceptual foundation and, using insights from two research projects (historical discussion circles and trajectories of digital infrastructures), a particular specification of PPD. The article thus contributes to the necessary methodological reflection on PPD, and, at the same time, responds to the need for diachronic social research in order to grasp contemporary processes of digitalization

Epistemology · Ethnology · Humanities · Social constructivism · Social science · Sociology · Temporality · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Data Analysis and Archiving · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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