Big data offers exciting new opportunities for social research. Group processes that could only be described sketchily, because so much was happening at the same time, can now be analysed in detail, since a lot of data can be captured simultaneously.
Recently, Wi-Fi tags were introduced in a Dutch health care centre for the elderly with psychiatric problems. Both the 65 patients and staff wore them continuously for three weeks. Receivers in all rooms tracked their movements. The aim was to acquire detailed information about interactions between employees as well as between employees and patients in the health care centre, with the ultimate goal of providing better care.
