Quantitative Description of Digital Media
Kevin Munger, Andrew M. Guess, Eszter Hargittai
Abstract
We introduce the rationale for a new peer-reviewed scholarly journal, theJournal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media. The journal is intendedto create a new venue for research on digital media and address severaldeficiencies in the current social science publishing landscape. First,descriptive research is undersupplied and undervalued. Second, researchquestions too often only reflect dominant theories and received wisdom.Third, journals are constrained by unnecessary boundaries defined bydiscipline, geography, and length. Fourth, peer review is inefficient andunnecessarily burdensome for both referees and authors. We outline thejournal’s scope and structure, which is open access, fee-free and relies on aLetter of Inquiry (LOI) model. Quantitative description can appeal to socialscientists of all stripes and is a crucial methodology for understanding thecontinuing evolution of digital media and its relationship to importantquestions of interest to social scientists.