Social Media, Sociality, and Survey Research

362 Pages·2013·9.13 MB·English

by  Craig A. Hill, Elizabeth Dean, Joe Murphy

Social Media, Sociality,
and Survey Research

Social Media, Sociality,
and Survey Research
Editedby
Craig A. Hill
Elizabeth Dean
Joe Murphy
RTIInternational
ResearchTrianglePark
NorthCarolina
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Socialmedia,sociality,andsurveyresearch/[editedby]CraigA.Hill(RTIInternational,
ResearchTrianglePark,NC),ElizabethDean(RTIInternational,ResearchTrianglePark,NC),
JoeMurphy(RTIInternational,ResearchTrianglePark,NC).
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-118-37973-8(cloth)
1.Onlinesocialnetworks–Research. 2.Socialmedia–Research. 3.Socialsurveys–
Methodology.I.Hill,CraigA.,1956- II.Dean,Elizabeth,1974- III.Murphy,Joe,1974-
HM742.S628452013
302.23(cid:3)1–dc23
2013018926
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Figures xiii
List of Tables xvii
Contributors xix
Preface xxi
Acknowledgments xxv
1. Social Media, Sociality, and Survey Research 1
JoeMurphy,CraigA.Hill,andElizabethDean
WhatIsSocialMedia? 2
SocialMediaOrigins 6
SocialNetworkingSitesandPlatforms 6
Blogs 8
Twitter 8
Facebook 9
LinkedIn 9
SecondLife 9
OtherSocialNetworkingPlatformsand
Functionalities 10
WhyShouldSurveyResearchersBeInterested
inSocialMedia? 11
TheCurrentStateofSurveyResearch 11
FallingResponseRates 11
FrameCoverageErrors 13
TheComingAgeofUbiquity 14
Publicvs.PrivateData 17
SocialMediaInteraction:NextWave(orSubwave)? 18
AddingSocialMediatotheSurveyResearchToolbox 21
TowardUsingtheConceptofSocialityinSurvey
ResearchoftheFuture 22
HowCanSurveyResearchersUseSocialMediaData? 26
References 28
v
vi Contents
2. Sentiment Analysis: Providing Categorical
Insight into Unstructured Textual Data 35
CarolHaney
DescribingEmotionalorSubjectiveFeelingin
TextualData 36
DefinitionofMachine-AugmentedSentimentAnalysis 37
HowSentimentAnalysisIsUsedwithTextData 38
DifferentWaysofRepresentingSentiment 42
OrdinalScales 42
NominalEmotionClassification 43
NeutralSentiment 44
TechniquesforDeterminingSentiment 44
PrecursorstoAnalysis 44
Harvesting 46
StructureandUnderstand 50
ApproachestoDeterminingSentiment 51
Machine-CodedSentimentAnalysis 51
Human-CodedSentimentAnalysis 53
SentimentAnalysisasaSubsetofTextAnalytics 54
CurrentLimitationsofSentimentAnalysis 57
References 59
3. Can Tweets Replace Polls? A U.S. Health-Care
Reform Case Study 61
AnniceKim,JoeMurphy,AshleyRichards,HeatherHansen,
RebeccaPowell,andCarolHaney
Methods 64
TwitterData 64
PublicOpinionAboutHealth-CareReform:KaiserHealth
TrackingPoll 70
Analysis 70
Results 71
RQ1:ToWhatExtentWasHealth-CareReform
DiscussedonTwitter? 71
RQ2:WhatIstheDistributionofSentimentof
Health-CareReformTweets? 74
RQ3.DoTrendsintheSentimentofTweetsAbout
Health-CareReformCorrelatewithObservedTrends
Contents vii
inPublicOpinionAboutHealth-CareReformfrom
NationallyRepresentativeProbability-Based
Surveys? 75
KFFTrends 75
Comparison 77
RQ4.WhatAretheKeyTopicsDiscussedin
Health-CareReformTweets? 78
Discussion 80
Conclusions 84
References 85
4. The Facebook Platform and the Future of
Social Research 87
AdamSage
TheChangingWeb:FromSearchabletoSocial 88
DigitalandDigitizedData 93
TheCaseforFacebookIntegration 94
DataandtheGraphAPI 97
FacebookApplications 99
SocialPlugins 103
TheFuture,MobileApps,andtheEverIncreasing
ComplexityoftheSocialGraph 104
References 104
5. Virtual Cognitive Interviewing Using Skype
and Second Life 107
ElizabethDean,BrianHead,andJodiSwicegood
BriefBackgroundonCognitiveInterviews 108
CognitiveInterviewingCurrentPractice 109
Practitioners’Techniques 109
CognitiveInterviewsinPractice:PresentandFuture 112
SecondLifeforSurveyResearch 114
Methods 115
Recruitment 115
Screening 117
Incentive 118
Think-AloudandProbes 118
viii Contents
Results 118
OverallParticipantCharacteristics 118
FeasibilityofPilotStudy 120
QualityofCognitiveInterviewsbyMode 121
ParticipantDisengagement 122
NonverbalCues 125
TotalProblems 126
TypeandSeverityofProblems 126
Conclusions 127
DiscussionandFutureResearch 128
References 129
6. Second Life as a Survey Lab: Exploring the
Randomized Response Technique in a
Virtual Setting 133
AshleyRichardsandElizabethDean
OverviewofSecondLife 134
ResearchinSecondLife 134
TheRandomizedResponseTechnique 136
StudyDesign 137
Results 142
Discussion 144
References 146
7. Decisions, Observations, and Considerations
for Developing a Mobile Survey App and Panel 149
DavidRoe,YuyingZhang,andMichaelKeating
ImpactoftheEvolutionofTechnologyonData
Collection 150
TelephoneInterviewing 151
WebInterviewing 151
CellPhones 152
Smartphones 153
BuildinganApp 156
Goals 157
PreliminaryFindings 168
Recruitment 170
RespondentCommunication 170