FRAGMENTED AUDIENCES AND DIGITAL TRACES: A REVIEW OF METHODOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Abstract

The article presents an analytical review of contemporary methodological transformations in sociological research under conditions of digitalization and audience fragmentation. The paper examines key challenges related to declining response rates, difficulties in accessing audiences, limits of representativeness, and the changing status of classical survey methods. Special attention is paid to digital traces as a new type of empirical data with considerable analytical potential but also with problems of platform dependence, contextual incompleteness, and ambiguous interpretation. Based on a review of recent literature, the article argues that the central challenge of the digital era lies not in replacing traditional methods with digital tools, but in reconciling two different data logics - declarative and behavioral. It is shown that integrating survey and digital data is the most promising direction for contemporary sociological methodology, since it increases analytical depth and makes research design more reflexive regarding the limits of each data type. The article concludes that digitalization requires a reconsideration of representativeness, validity, and data quality, as well as a transition to hybrid research designs capable of capturing the complexity and dynamism of the digital social world.