The prevalence and development of information and communication technology are reshaping our society itself and creating a new discipline called digital social research（computational social science）. This study aims to understand the impact that digital social research will have on traditional sociological methods and theories. It specifies the following three theoretical and methodological issues in sociology on which digital social surveys can have a particular impact:（1） elucidating the structure and relational mechanisms of social networks,（2）explicating causal mechanisms of social phenomena, and（3）exploring the semantic world. After an overview of the potential of digital social surveys to contribute to these three issues, I will discuss the topic more concretely based on related research cases. and thereby attempt to cover research cases in Japan extensively.