b'ManagementApplying technology is a social activity, not an isolatedCombine big and thick data to improve communication. technical task. Applying technology is often an intenselyThe combination of big data and thick data is especially social activity, not a job that engineers and data scientistsuseful for improving communication, both public perform in isolation. At the World Bank, the Socialand internal. Ethnography can reveal which messages Observatory team mobilized entire Indian villagesresonate most with citizens and why. And data scientists at all stages of its program, from designing surveys,who converse with agency experts and observe them in implementing them, to sharing data with the villagers.their work environment can appreciate their challenges At APHIS, data scientists worked closely with agencyand goals. The most effective targeted marketing experts, building rapport with them, incorporating theircampaigns do not result from the biggest datasetcontextual knowledge into computational analysis, andthey come instead from data scientists who know their even inviting officers to present the results to the agencyscontext and data well.leaders to instill a sense of ownership. Improve government agencies knowledge of mixed The best solutions are not always high-tech. Beingresearch methods. Many governments around the smart does not necessarily entail using the mostworld put a great deal of emphasis on the need for advanced technology available. Reiterating Lesson 1,public servants to be future ready and data literate, public managers should focus on their goals or problemsbut virtually none perceive the need for literacy in to be solved, and adopt a pragmatic approach thatmixed research methods. Using big data well requires welcomes any mixture of solutions, whether high-tech orcontextual knowledge; public managers must understand low-tech. more than just numbers and analytics.Recommendations for Public Managers Integrating Big Data and Thick Data toMake data and technology relevant to the people whoTransform Public Services Delivery use it. One common lesson that emerges from the caseby Yuen Yuen Angstudies is not to use big data for its own sake. Instead, agencies should seek to make data and technology relevant to users, by combining technology with an ask, observe, and immerse approach.Leverage thick data at appropriate stages of thebusinessofgovernment.orgproblem-solving process. Any problem-solving process has four steps: (1) Identify problems that matter to users or stakeholders, (2) propose solutions to the problems, (3) test and refine solutions on a small scale, and (4)businessofgovernment@us.ibm.comimplement solutions on a large scale. Qualitative research methods and thick data are especially useful for steps 1 and 3.Build an interdisciplinary team of quantitative and qualitative experts who work closely with stakeholders.(202) 551-9342Big data initiatives should not involve only data scientists, but should also have input from qualitative researchers or ethnographers. Ideally, such an interdisciplinary team should divide their work along the lines of recommendation 2, and it should work closely with stakeholders and clients.WINTER 2019 / 2020 IBM Center for The Business of Government 95'