Big Data in Public Affairs

• Author: Ines Mergel,Kimberley Isett,R. Karl Rethemeyer
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12625
• Published date: 01 November 2016
• Date: 01 November 2016

928 Public Administration Review • November | December 2016

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 76, Iss. 6, pp. 928–937. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12625.

Kimberley Isett is associate professor

in the School of Public Policy at Georgia

Tech. Her research focuses on institutional

dynamics in implementing government

services, with a particular interest in

the delivery of services to vulnerable

populations. Increasingly, her work focuses

on the use of evidence in decision making,

both in policy and systems. She has been

awarded just over $1 million in research

grants and has worked with elected

officials and policy makers at all levels of

government.

E-mail : isett@gatech.edu

R. Karl Rethemeyer is interim dean

of the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs

and Policy at the University at Albany. An

expert on social networks, he conducts

research in three areas: the first focuses

on policy networks, collaborative networks,

and network management; the second

focuses on the intersection of management

networks and clinical health practice; and

the third focuses on terrorism, terrorist

organizations, terrorist networks, and

counterinsurgency/stabilization operations.

E-mail : kretheme@albany.edu

Ines Mergel is professor of public

administration at the University of Konstanz,

Germany. She conducts research in public

management, specifically, the diffusion and

adoption of digital service transformation in

the public sector, the use of nontraditional

technologies, and innovative forms

of collaboration with public sector

stakeholders.

E-mail : ines.mergel@uni-konstanz.de

Public

Administration

and the

Disciplines

Abstract: This article offers an overview of the conceptual, substantive, and practical issues surrounding “big data” to

provide one perspective on how the field of public affairs can successfully cope with the big data revolution. Big data in

public affairs refers to a combination of administrative data collected through traditional means and large-scale data

sets created by sensors, computer networks, or individuals as they use the Internet. In public affairs, new opportunities

for real-time insights into behavioral patterns are emerging but are bound by safeguards limiting government reach

through the restriction of the collection and analysis of these data. To address both the opportunities and challenges of

this emerging phenomenon, the authors first review the evolving canon of big data articles across related fields. Second,

they derive a working definition of big data in public affairs. Third, they review the methodological and analytic chal-

lenges of using big data in public affairs scholarship and practice. The article concludes with implications for public

affairs.

Practitioner Points

• While “big data” refers to the scale of newly emerging data sets (many observations with many variables), the

term also refers to the nature of the data collection process (continuous and automatic), the form of the data

collected (structured and unstructured), the sources of such data (public and private), the “granularity” of the

data (more variables describing more discrete characteristics of persons, places, events, interactions, and so

forth), and the lag between collection and readiness for analysis (ever shorter).

• Big data in the public sector is context specific and needs to be meaningfully combined with administratively

collected data to have value in improving public programs.

• There are important ethical issues, privacy concerns, security and secrecy problems, and feasibility and

efficacy issues when using big data for the public good.

P ublic administration researchers and practitioners

for most of the field ’ s history have bemoaned

the lack of data for analysis and operations. In

the space of roughly two decades, the Internet has

turned this problem on its head. Now, scholars and

practitioners are scrambling to realize the opportunities

and face the challenges that “big data” presents. These

“big” data sets are increasingly used to help public

managers derive real-time insights into behavioral

changes, public opinion, or daily life. Additionally,

researchers are using these data sets to validate existing

theory and to generate new insights in areas in which

few data resources previously existed and for which

analytics are still under development (Chen, Chiang,

and Storey Chen, Roger and Storey, 2012 ).

Despite the rhetoric surrounding these data, simply

having access to and using algorithms for analysis

of large-scale data sets does not necessarily lead to

insights (Meier and O ’ Toole 2005 ). For instance,

computer scientists often reveal the composition of

large online networks but do not connect the findings

to existing policy or public management frameworks

(Eagle, Pentland, and Lazer 2009 ; Onnela et al.

2007 ). Indeed, much of the “promise” of these data

has been their “post-theoretical” nature—focusing on

the possibilities for discovery within huge and newly

accessible data sets without well-developed conceptual

foundations that also provide actionable insights for

policy makers or public managers.

We seek to orient the field of public affairs to issues

inherent in big data—especially those that are unique

to public sector endeavors—and to the possible

implications for theory and practice. Beyond the

analytical and interpretative challenges, we see major

hurdles for data collection, retention, and analysis

of these types of data in the public sector. Current

law and practices regulating individual-level data

collection focus only on administratively collected

data and do not easily extend to this new source of

information.

Rosemary O’Leary , Editor

Ines Mergel

University of Konstanz, Germany

R. Karl Rethemeyer

University at Albany

Kimberley Isett

Georgia Tech

Big Data in Public Affairs