Getting started WHEN SHOULD YOU USE DIGITAL DATA? If you are more accustomed to traditional research and documentation, it can be daunting to assess whether digital data or social media content is worthy of your attention. This section lists seven questions to help you assess the net value of newer kinds of data in the context of your particular research. Will it really help? We need to constantly weigh the pros and cons, including the costs, savings, and risks for mishandling data. For instance, the risk of surveillance can make digital data collection inadvisable in some settings, or you may only be able to access some populations but not others skewing the results of your investigation. Really, it’s not so different from traditional research methods. The hardest part is thinking creatively about what data may exist (especially data that was created for other purposes) and evaluating whether you and your team are able to collect and handle it effectively. 14