ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on challenges and opportunities in the use of big and geocoded data in higher education policy and research. This focus is strategic as the mere analysis of big and geocoded data does not warrant that the research findings have relevant and/or timely recommendations and implications from policy- and/or decision-making perspectives. Accordingly, the sections are designed to highlight challenges and opportunities that may threaten the policy relevance of analysis of big and geocoded data. The chapter highlights the significance/importance that critical analytic decisions have on the sorts and the scope of the inferences reached. Examples of these decisions involve the selection of the levels of analysis (county, zip code, block-level), the definition of college access rates, and the identification of neighboring structures. The chapter relies on visual displays to exemplify the topics presented. The discussion section addresses recommendations for the use of big and geocoded data, which can be summarized as follows: (a) big data and sophisticated methods without relevant research questions constitute a missed opportunity, (b) when possible incorporate more than one analytic sample as validity/robustness checks, (c) test for effect heterogeneity, and (d) prioritize relevance of research questions over the use of big and geocoded data.
