*Twitter and Facebook as a means of gathering data

Computer analysis has changed the way some social scientists gather data. In the journal Social Psychological & Personality Science. Psych Prof. Jesse Preston and associates published, 'Happy Tweets: Christians Are Happier, More Socially Connected, and Less Analytical Than Atheists on Twitter'.

By comparing those who have declared themselves as 'Christian' and those who have declared themselves as 'Atheist', using their tweets and facebook updates as people tweet or update their facebooks on what happened in their lives, what emotions they are feeling, what kind of content they post, it is possible to analyse tons and tons of data just by being an online "friend" or "follower". Granted that there are some concerns but in general, the assumption is that people will post about themselves or things that are interesting to them, or things that are happening to them and etc. Of course there are occassional mishaps instances but the magnitude of data may render such things insignificant.

Allowing these social network sites to work for the social scientist allows for greater data collection than it ever has. Longitudinal studies conducted over years and years manage to collect from a couple hundred participants. However, with computer analysis and these social networking sites, the data can be gathered in tremendous amounts. What the methodological implications are and theoretical limitations may be is yet to be seen or discussed. But the idea is exciting.

Preston et al., found that Christians tend to tweet happier while Atheists tweet more analytically. (Here) The claim that religious folk are happier seems to be a superficial claim. The factors and variables are much more rich than simply social support, risk-aversive behavior, and statements of well-being. The term "happier" is elusive and hard to pin down. This is further complicated by subjective interpretations of what "happiness" is and even more complicated by the possibility of people claiming happiness but not really - what some have called "false consciousness" or "delusional beliefs" or what have you. Nor can we discount the possibility of persons simply ignoring the ugly things in their life and fail to recognize the possibilities of things that may not make them happy. So they flat out deny its occurrence (clergy and sexual abuse is one). So while much data suggests that religion is directly associated with well-being and happiness and all that feel-good warm-hearted stuff, the actualities are quite complicated and only now are we scratching the surface. The surface seems to suggest that there is a positive correlation. But the rabbit hole needs to go deeper and the layers peeled back further.