Big Data and the evaluation of policies

In this contribution, the authors aim to demonstrate how Big Data may be a valuable support within a participatory appraisal of the political agenda of a small municipality. The direction for the study was defined by election and inauguration policies which relied heavily on citizen involvement through social media. We will examine how the theoretical approach outlining the framework of evaluative design, in particular mixed-type methods, as well as the various data-mining techniques may be applied to highlight the expressed and unexpressed needs of the electorate. Sentiment analysis, network analysis and web-survey analysis were performed in order understand the level of knowledge and satisfaction with municipal policies, and the results are discussed. We will also show that Big Data is the pivot around which e-governance revolves. [Publishers' text].