How Can Big Data Science Transform the Psychological Sciences?

Abstract

Big data and related technologies are radically altering our society. In a similar way, these approaches can transform the psychological sciences. The goal of this commentary is to motivate psychologists to embrace big data science for the betterment of the field. Big data sources, algorithmic methods, and a culture that embraces prediction has the potential to advance our science, improve the robustness and replicability of our research, and allow us to focus more centrally on actual behaviors. We highlight these key transformations, acknowledge criticisms of big data approaches, and emphasize specific ways psychologists can contribute to the big data science revolution.

Keywords: algorithms; big data; data science; deep learning; machine learning.