Extend analysis backwards in time
Design forensics adds retrospective attention to the history behind a current project, complementing the prospective orientation of established design ethnography.
PDF pp. 6–9; printed pp. 273–276.
Book Chapter · 2023
Balancing the Momentum of Datafication with Qualitative Researchers as Design Thinkers
Official publication
Cite this work · APA 7
Wang, G., Burton-Jones, A., & Akhlaghpour, S. (2023). Balancing the momentum of datafication with qualitative researchers as design thinkers. In B. Simeonova & R. D. Galliers (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of qualitative digital research (pp. 268–281). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009106436.021
Explore the original contribution
Interactive paper explorationUnderstanding tomorrow's algorithm may require investigating yesterday's design decisions.
Start
Begin with the available data
Analytical accuracy can leave the origins of datasets and design choices outside the investigation.
Reconsider
Investigate the system's design history
Design forensics traces who made consequential decisions, and how and why those decisions became embedded.
Implication
Use historical insight to shape the future
Qualitative researchers and technical teams can jointly question inherited assumptions before they become harder to change.
The perspective the paper challenges
Datafication initiatives can treat available data as a neutral starting point, with attention concentrated on processing it more effectively.
The paper’s original contribution
The chapter proposes datafication momentum and design forensics. Earlier social choices become inscribed in systems and increasingly shape later behaviour; qualitative researchers can investigate those design histories and actively influence future systems.
Concept explorer
Follow the concepts.
Select a concept to see its role in this paper’s contribution.
Concept 01
Datafication momentum
The authors adapt technological momentum to explain how early social influences on datafication systems can become persistent influences on later social systems.
Concept 02
Qualitative researchers as design thinkers
The proposed mindset encourages active, empathetic, holistic and critical engagement with datafication projects.
Concept 03
Design forensics
A proposed genre of design ethnography that investigates key design decisions, why they were made, and how their effects persist.
Concept 04
Empathetic datafication · Datafication totality · Reflective criticism
The three proposed principles direct attention to affected people, relevant sociomaterial factors and upstream design decisions.
Explain the persistence of design choices
Datafication momentum links three social forces—expertise, pragmatics and cognition—with three technical forces—theory, equipment and records—to show how earlier choices can stabilise and amplify.
PDF pp. 3–5; printed pp. 270–272.
Record the logic behind design decisions
Capture why data was collected, omitted, structured or interpreted in particular ways, making past choices available for later scrutiny.
PDF pp. 7–9; printed pp. 274–276.
Build a preventative role into data projects
The chapter proposes design forensics analysts to complement reactive algorithm forensics, improve design transparency and trace responsibility before and after problems emerge.
PDF p. 11; printed p. 278. This is a proposed role, not an empirically validated intervention.
Why this matters
Questions for research and practice.
This approach gives data and AI teams a way to examine what their datasets and architectures inherit, rather than limiting scrutiny to an algorithm's final outputs.
Discuss this researchStudy context & evidence
A conceptual and methodological proposal illustrated through examples. It builds on existing technological-momentum, design-thinking and ethnographic research; it does not claim to invent those traditions or prove that its practices eliminate bias.
Where to find these ideas in the paper
- Proposed concepts and principlesPrinted pages 268–276
Datafication momentum, force taxonomy, design forensics and its three principles.
- Practice proposalPrinted pages 277–278
Preventative and reactive roles, traceability and proposed design forensics analyst occupation.
This exploration is based on the author-supplied full text. It distinguishes the paper’s own contribution from established concepts it draws on. For formal citation, consult the publication.