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Case Study

DIY Cambridge Analytica: Running personality analytics

By Karl Schmedders, Marc Chauvet and Jung Eung Park

22 pages

March 2021

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Reference: IMD-7-2274

The case walks the readers first through the Cambridge Analytica scandal, eliciting its effect and presenting an overview of the analysis the infamous company did. Readers are then introduced with simple steps on how a similar approach may be used today – running surveys on inconspicuous questions very affordably and quickly, and creating simple analytical models (linear and logistic) to infer respondents’ age and gender. The raw survey data is available upon request to the co-authors.

Learning Objective

Present the highlights of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Introduce how even small amounts of inconspicuous data can reveal personal information.
Present simple models that can be used to do so.

Keywords

Digital, Analytics, Personality Measurement, Survey, Scandal, Statistics, Linear Model, Logistics Software, Data Privacy, General Data Protection Regulation, Justice, Strong Institution, Peace, Data Analytics, Politics

Settings

World/global
Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, Business Management Services, Communication
2016-2018

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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