What Big Data May Mean for Surveys

Two converging trends raise questions about the future of large-scale probability surveys conducted by or for National Statistical Institutes (NSIs). First, increasing costs and rising rates of nonresponse potentially threaten the cost-effectiveness and inferential value of surveys. Second, there is growing interest in Big Data as a replacement for surveys. There are many different types of Big Data, but the primary focus here is on data generated through social media. This paper supplements and updates an earlier paper on the topic (Couper, 2013). I review some of the concerns about Big Data, particularly from the survey perspective. I argue that there is a role for both high-quality surveys and big data analytics in the work of NSIs. While Big Data is unlikely to replace high-quality surveys, I believe the two methods can serve complementary functions. I attempt to identify some of the criteria that need to be met, and questions that need to be answered, before Big Data can be used for reliable population-based inference.