Big Data for Policymaking: Great Expectations, but with Limited Progress?

While talk of “Big Data” is now prevalent in many sectors, there are still relatively few examples of Big Data being used to shape public policy. This article reports an international study of Big Data for policy initiatives to understand the role played by data‐driven approaches in the policy process. Drawing on evidence (including policy analysis and interviews with stakeholders) from 58 initiatives, we find that some policy areas, notably efforts to improve government transparency, are far more represented than others, such as use of social media data for policy evaluation. We also find Big Data used more often in the policy cycle for foresight and agenda setting, or interim evaluation and monitoring, rather than for policy implementation and ex post evaluation. Many different types of data are used in the policy process, with traditional sources such as government statistics still favored over new and emerging sources. We find that use of Big Data for public policy is therefore at an early stage, with expectations far outstripping the current reality.