Pub Date : 2025-03-14DOI: 10.1177/08944393251326175
Steve Randerson, Thomas Graydon-Guy, En-Yi Lin, Sally Casswell
Large language models show promising capability in some qualitative content analysis tasks; however, research reporting their performance in identifying initial codes that underpin subsequent analysis is scarce. This paper explores the suitability of GPT-4 to assist in building a codebook for a discourse network analysis (DNA) of a recent alcohol policy reform. DNA is a codebook-driven approach to identifying groupings of actors who use similar policy framings. The paper uses GPT-4 to identify initial codes (‘concepts’) and related quotes in 108 news articles and interviews. The results produced by GPT-4 are compared to a codebook prepared by researchers. GPT-4 identified over two-thirds of the concepts found by the researchers, and it was highly accurate in screening out a large volume of irrelevant media items. However, GPT-4 also provided many irrelevant concepts that required researcher review and removal. The discussion reflects on the implications for using GPT-4 in codebook preparation for DNA and other situations, including the need for human involvement and sample testing to understand its strengths and limitations, which may limit efficiency gains.
{"title":"Exploring the Use of a Large Language Model for Inductive Content Analysis in a Discourse Network Analysis Study","authors":"Steve Randerson, Thomas Graydon-Guy, En-Yi Lin, Sally Casswell","doi":"10.1177/08944393251326175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251326175","url":null,"abstract":"Large language models show promising capability in some qualitative content analysis tasks; however, research reporting their performance in identifying initial codes that underpin subsequent analysis is scarce. This paper explores the suitability of GPT-4 to assist in building a codebook for a discourse network analysis (DNA) of a recent alcohol policy reform. DNA is a codebook-driven approach to identifying groupings of actors who use similar policy framings. The paper uses GPT-4 to identify initial codes (‘concepts’) and related quotes in 108 news articles and interviews. The results produced by GPT-4 are compared to a codebook prepared by researchers. GPT-4 identified over two-thirds of the concepts found by the researchers, and it was highly accurate in screening out a large volume of irrelevant media items. However, GPT-4 also provided many irrelevant concepts that required researcher review and removal. The discussion reflects on the implications for using GPT-4 in codebook preparation for DNA and other situations, including the need for human involvement and sample testing to understand its strengths and limitations, which may limit efficiency gains.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143627418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1177/08944393251322160
Hana Vonkova, Ondrej Papajoanu, Martin Bosko
Understanding reporting behavior in questionnaires is a key issue in enhancing cross-national data comparability and policy decisions. Computers help improve the analysis of careless or insufficient effort (C/IE) responding by logging response times and other response behavior, ensuring data quality. We introduce a response-time based approach, built on an analysis of the relationship between a survey item and a related external variable, to cross-national research. Using PISA 2015 data from 58 countries/economies, we analyze patterns of correlations between the enjoyment of science and science test scores across response time. We focus on C/IE responding towards the beginning of the response time spectrum. Results indicate rather diligent responding in Eastern Asia and a part of Northern Europe. Yet in other regions (e.g., part of Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe), C/IE responding might be distorting the data. We provide other researchers with information regarding when and to what extent C/IE responding can occur across countries. We enhance the understanding of heterogeneity in reporting behavior across countries.
{"title":"Response Times and Self-Reporting: Response Patterns Across Countries and World Regions Using Data From a Large Scale Computer-Based Assessment","authors":"Hana Vonkova, Ondrej Papajoanu, Martin Bosko","doi":"10.1177/08944393251322160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251322160","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding reporting behavior in questionnaires is a key issue in enhancing cross-national data comparability and policy decisions. Computers help improve the analysis of careless or insufficient effort (C/IE) responding by logging response times and other response behavior, ensuring data quality. We introduce a response-time based approach, built on an analysis of the relationship between a survey item and a related external variable, to cross-national research. Using PISA 2015 data from 58 countries/economies, we analyze patterns of correlations between the enjoyment of science and science test scores across response time. We focus on C/IE responding towards the beginning of the response time spectrum. Results indicate rather diligent responding in Eastern Asia and a part of Northern Europe. Yet in other regions (e.g., part of Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe), C/IE responding might be distorting the data. We provide other researchers with information regarding when and to what extent C/IE responding can occur across countries. We enhance the understanding of heterogeneity in reporting behavior across countries.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143528373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-24DOI: 10.1177/08944393251320059
Brandon C. Bouchillon
Research indicates that prejudice has been growing in America. Citizens feel increasingly threatened by immigrants, and hate crimes against immigrant groups have risen. Declining interpersonal contact has also made it more difficult to address prejudice directly. This study examines whether nonpolitical social media groups can foster connections that reduce prejudice. These groups allow users to connect on the basis of shared interests, enabling diverse individuals to form close relationships which may improve attitudes toward immigrants. Using a national web survey matched to U.S. Census percentages for sex, race, ethnicity, age, and region of residence ( N = 1500), along with a two-wave panel conducted over six weeks ( N = 752), results indicate that blatant prejudice is more prevalent than subtle prejudice. Respondents were more likely to feel threatened by immigrants than to withhold positive emotions from them. As a remedy, social connectedness in nonpolitical groups was associated with diminished blatant prejudice and lower levels of global prejudice, a measure that includes both subtle and blatant components. Findings suggest that feeling connected with different people remotely can improve attitudes toward racial and ethnic diversity, helping individuals feel less threatened by immigrants and less prejudiced overall.
{"title":"Anything but Politics: Connectedness in Networked Social Groups for Addressing Prejudice","authors":"Brandon C. Bouchillon","doi":"10.1177/08944393251320059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251320059","url":null,"abstract":"Research indicates that prejudice has been growing in America. Citizens feel increasingly threatened by immigrants, and hate crimes against immigrant groups have risen. Declining interpersonal contact has also made it more difficult to address prejudice directly. This study examines whether nonpolitical social media groups can foster connections that reduce prejudice. These groups allow users to connect on the basis of shared interests, enabling diverse individuals to form close relationships which may improve attitudes toward immigrants. Using a national web survey matched to U.S. Census percentages for sex, race, ethnicity, age, and region of residence ( N = 1500), along with a two-wave panel conducted over six weeks ( N = 752), results indicate that blatant prejudice is more prevalent than subtle prejudice. Respondents were more likely to feel threatened by immigrants than to withhold positive emotions from them. As a remedy, social connectedness in nonpolitical groups was associated with diminished blatant prejudice and lower levels of global prejudice, a measure that includes both subtle and blatant components. Findings suggest that feeling connected with different people remotely can improve attitudes toward racial and ethnic diversity, helping individuals feel less threatened by immigrants and less prejudiced overall.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143485778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-12DOI: 10.1177/08944393251320063
Davide Tosi, Marco Chiappa, Dario Pizzul
As the application of artificial intelligence in various domains and sectors grows, politics—especially political communication—is no exception. However, academic considerations on the topic remain limited, partly due to its novelty. To contribute to the ongoing discussions at the intersection of AI and political campaigns, this research report presents the development and use of an AI chatbot employed by an Italian candidate during the 2024 European Parliament elections. The aim of this work is to engage with the technical aspects of the tool’s development and implementation by outlining the challenges and strategies involved in creating an AI chatbot that supports a political campaign using OpenAI APIs. Furthermore, this report offers reflections on the role of AI in politics and communication, focusing on the concepts of intermediation and participation, also addressing issues of compliance and trustworthiness of these new AI tools.
{"title":"AI Chatbots in Political Campaigns: A Practical Experience in the EU’s 2024 Parliament Elections","authors":"Davide Tosi, Marco Chiappa, Dario Pizzul","doi":"10.1177/08944393251320063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251320063","url":null,"abstract":"As the application of artificial intelligence in various domains and sectors grows, politics—especially political communication—is no exception. However, academic considerations on the topic remain limited, partly due to its novelty. To contribute to the ongoing discussions at the intersection of AI and political campaigns, this research report presents the development and use of an AI chatbot employed by an Italian candidate during the 2024 European Parliament elections. The aim of this work is to engage with the technical aspects of the tool’s development and implementation by outlining the challenges and strategies involved in creating an AI chatbot that supports a political campaign using OpenAI APIs. Furthermore, this report offers reflections on the role of AI in politics and communication, focusing on the concepts of intermediation and participation, also addressing issues of compliance and trustworthiness of these new AI tools.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143393448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-07DOI: 10.1177/08944393251319740
Mridha Md. Shiblee Noman, Md. Sayeed Al-Zaman
The intersection of politics and religion in India has gained significant scholarly attention, particularly since the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rise to power in 2014. The increasing impact of social media on Indian politics has intensified this concern. However, it is yet to be fully explored how social media was used for religiopolitical purposes during the Indian election in 2024. We computationally analyzed 3082 Facebook posts using BERTopic, word embedding, and cluster analysis to understand how politicians, political candidates, political organizations, and political parties intertwined religion and politics during the 2024 Lok Sabha election. We identified the presence of religiopolitical propaganda, primarily aimed at reviving and recreating Hindu nationalist history and targeting religious minorities, mainly Muslims. The major topics of the posts included ideological legacy, political landscape, party and leadership, celebrations, crime and justice, local politics and governance, politicized demographic trends, public engagements, spiritual and philosophical themes, and the misrepresented reservation issue. The interconnectedness of these issues suggests that the BJP and its allies concentrated on religious matters, from Hindu–Muslim debates to reservations for Muslims and the inauguration of Hindu temples. Data from non-political entities, such as influencers, as well as cross-platform analysis from Twitter and YouTube, can extend and enrich these insights.
{"title":"The Use of Religion Online by Indian Political Entities During the 2024 Lok Sabha Election: Religiopolitical Propaganda on Social Media?","authors":"Mridha Md. Shiblee Noman, Md. Sayeed Al-Zaman","doi":"10.1177/08944393251319740","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251319740","url":null,"abstract":"The intersection of politics and religion in India has gained significant scholarly attention, particularly since the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rise to power in 2014. The increasing impact of social media on Indian politics has intensified this concern. However, it is yet to be fully explored how social media was used for religiopolitical purposes during the Indian election in 2024. We computationally analyzed 3082 Facebook posts using BERTopic, word embedding, and cluster analysis to understand how politicians, political candidates, political organizations, and political parties intertwined religion and politics during the 2024 Lok Sabha election. We identified the presence of religiopolitical propaganda, primarily aimed at reviving and recreating Hindu nationalist history and targeting religious minorities, mainly Muslims. The major topics of the posts included ideological legacy, political landscape, party and leadership, celebrations, crime and justice, local politics and governance, politicized demographic trends, public engagements, spiritual and philosophical themes, and the misrepresented reservation issue. The interconnectedness of these issues suggests that the BJP and its allies concentrated on religious matters, from Hindu–Muslim debates to reservations for Muslims and the inauguration of Hindu temples. Data from non-political entities, such as influencers, as well as cross-platform analysis from Twitter and YouTube, can extend and enrich these insights.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143367358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-30DOI: 10.1177/08944393251315915
Maya Kagan, Uzi Ben-Shalom, Michal Mahat-Shamir
Social media has become an integral part of daily life, shaping behaviors, self-perception, and emotional well-being. However, its addictive use raises concerns about its potential to aggravate psychological challenges, particularly in the context of societal expectations of masculinity. The current report presents a study exploring the pathways through which social media addiction contributes to masculine depression, specifically examining the roles of physical appearance comparison, self-esteem, and emotional control among men. By investigating these relationships, it aims to provide insights into the psychological consequences of social media addiction for men. Structured questionnaires were administered to 849 Israeli men aged 18 and older. Employing a moderated sequential mediation model with social media addiction as the independent variable, physical appearance comparison and self-esteem as mediators, and masculine depression as the dependent variable, this study also investigates emotional control as a moderator in the associations between social media addiction, physical appearance comparison, self-esteem, and masculine depression. The analysis, conducted using model 89 PROCESS v4.2 macro, reveals that conforming to the masculine norm of emotional control intensifies men’s vulnerability to distress resulting from maladaptive behaviors such as social media addiction, which can lead to masculine depression. Furthermore, addiction to social media can trigger masculine depression via psychosocial factors such as physical appearance comparison and low self-esteem, which have yet to be explored in the context of masculine depression. These findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions that address the societal pressures of masculinity and the psychological repercussions of excessive social media use among men. They also emphasize the necessity of raising awareness about these issues among both the public and therapists.
{"title":"The Role of Physical Appearance Comparison, Self-Esteem, and Emotional Control in the Association Between Social Media Addiction and Masculine Depression","authors":"Maya Kagan, Uzi Ben-Shalom, Michal Mahat-Shamir","doi":"10.1177/08944393251315915","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251315915","url":null,"abstract":"Social media has become an integral part of daily life, shaping behaviors, self-perception, and emotional well-being. However, its addictive use raises concerns about its potential to aggravate psychological challenges, particularly in the context of societal expectations of masculinity. The current report presents a study exploring the pathways through which social media addiction contributes to masculine depression, specifically examining the roles of physical appearance comparison, self-esteem, and emotional control among men. By investigating these relationships, it aims to provide insights into the psychological consequences of social media addiction for men. Structured questionnaires were administered to 849 Israeli men aged 18 and older. Employing a moderated sequential mediation model with social media addiction as the independent variable, physical appearance comparison and self-esteem as mediators, and masculine depression as the dependent variable, this study also investigates emotional control as a moderator in the associations between social media addiction, physical appearance comparison, self-esteem, and masculine depression. The analysis, conducted using model 89 PROCESS v4.2 macro, reveals that conforming to the masculine norm of emotional control intensifies men’s vulnerability to distress resulting from maladaptive behaviors such as social media addiction, which can lead to masculine depression. Furthermore, addiction to social media can trigger masculine depression via psychosocial factors such as physical appearance comparison and low self-esteem, which have yet to be explored in the context of masculine depression. These findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions that address the societal pressures of masculinity and the psychological repercussions of excessive social media use among men. They also emphasize the necessity of raising awareness about these issues among both the public and therapists.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"122 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143071509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-20DOI: 10.1177/08944393251315917
Bastián González-Bustamante
This paper describes the creation of a novel dataset on ministerial turnover and resignation calls in 12 presidential cabinets in Latin America from the mid-1970s to the early 2020s. The indicators on resignation calls and reallocations of cabinet members are entirely novel. Both constitute a relevant empirical contribution not only to the study of political dynamics in presidential systems and cabinet politics but also to public opinion and public policy topics. We focus on the creation of the dataset using optical recognition algorithms on press report archives together with machine learning models. The models permitted the training of ensemble semi-supervised classifiers over a period of almost 50 years. Subsequently, we provide a number of measurement validity checks to cross-validate the dataset by comparing it with similar existing data and an exploratory analysis.
{"title":"Machine Learning and Political Events: Application of a Semi-supervised Approach to Produce a Dataset on Presidential Cabinets","authors":"Bastián González-Bustamante","doi":"10.1177/08944393251315917","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251315917","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes the creation of a novel dataset on ministerial turnover and resignation calls in 12 presidential cabinets in Latin America from the mid-1970s to the early 2020s. The indicators on resignation calls and reallocations of cabinet members are entirely novel. Both constitute a relevant empirical contribution not only to the study of political dynamics in presidential systems and cabinet politics but also to public opinion and public policy topics. We focus on the creation of the dataset using optical recognition algorithms on press report archives together with machine learning models. The models permitted the training of ensemble semi-supervised classifiers over a period of almost 50 years. Subsequently, we provide a number of measurement validity checks to cross-validate the dataset by comparing it with similar existing data and an exploratory analysis.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142991146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-24DOI: 10.1177/08944393241311586
Shang Chen, Xuefei Xu, Qingfei Min, Lin Liu
As companies come to appreciate social media’s economic advantages, it has transformed into a dichotomous social-commercial landscape. In this specific situation, followers evaluate social media influencers that play both the friend and marketer roles in the decision-making process. This study creates a dual-role trust model based on the role theory to investigate trust processes across different roles. More importantly, this study goes deeper into examining the potential paradoxical positive and negative moderating roles of perceived friendship in the dual-role trust mechanism. The structural equation model approach is first conducted to test our hypotheses using a survey of 465 TikTok respondents. Next, the study model’s hypotheses are further tested using a post hoc analysis to see if they change based on followers’ regulatory focus. The findings support perceived friendship’s complementary and replacement functions in a dual role-based trust mechanism, as well as the transfer of trust between dual roles. There is a discussion of the implications for theory and practice.
{"title":"A Dual-Role Trust Model for Social Media Influencers: The Paradox of Perceived Friendship","authors":"Shang Chen, Xuefei Xu, Qingfei Min, Lin Liu","doi":"10.1177/08944393241311586","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393241311586","url":null,"abstract":"As companies come to appreciate social media’s economic advantages, it has transformed into a dichotomous social-commercial landscape. In this specific situation, followers evaluate social media influencers that play both the friend and marketer roles in the decision-making process. This study creates a dual-role trust model based on the role theory to investigate trust processes across different roles. More importantly, this study goes deeper into examining the potential paradoxical positive and negative moderating roles of perceived friendship in the dual-role trust mechanism. The structural equation model approach is first conducted to test our hypotheses using a survey of 465 TikTok respondents. Next, the study model’s hypotheses are further tested using a post hoc analysis to see if they change based on followers’ regulatory focus. The findings support perceived friendship’s complementary and replacement functions in a dual role-based trust mechanism, as well as the transfer of trust between dual roles. There is a discussion of the implications for theory and practice.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142879968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-18DOI: 10.1177/08944393241308509
Jason Kosakow, Pierce Greenberg
Despite well-documented challenges, researchers across the social sciences continue to rely on email to recruit research participants. However, few studies examine how different communication strategies impact email open and conversion rates, especially among surveys of establishments. Our paper aims to fill that gap by examining whether motivation-based appeals—which we develop from respondents’ reasons for participating—outperform a communication approach based on social exchange theory. Our study identified the top three motivations why current panel members participate in the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Business Survey: (1) access to data and other benefits, (2) the ability to influence economic policy, and (3) to help make their communities better. Then, we crafted email subject lines and messages to match those three motivations and a version based on tenets of social exchange theory. Our results find that the social exchange version outperforms the motivation-based appeals in both email open and conversion rates—with a stronger influence on conversion rates. We discuss the implications of these results for how social science researchers communicate with potential research participants by email.
{"title":"Testing Motivation-Based vs. Social Exchange Communication Strategies in Email Survey Recruitment","authors":"Jason Kosakow, Pierce Greenberg","doi":"10.1177/08944393241308509","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393241308509","url":null,"abstract":"Despite well-documented challenges, researchers across the social sciences continue to rely on email to recruit research participants. However, few studies examine how different communication strategies impact email open and conversion rates, especially among surveys of establishments. Our paper aims to fill that gap by examining whether motivation-based appeals—which we develop from respondents’ reasons for participating—outperform a communication approach based on social exchange theory. Our study identified the top three motivations why current panel members participate in the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Business Survey: (1) access to data and other benefits, (2) the ability to influence economic policy, and (3) to help make their communities better. Then, we crafted email subject lines and messages to match those three motivations and a version based on tenets of social exchange theory. Our results find that the social exchange version outperforms the motivation-based appeals in both email open and conversion rates—with a stronger influence on conversion rates. We discuss the implications of these results for how social science researchers communicate with potential research participants by email.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142841942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-09DOI: 10.1177/08944393241305776
Henning Silber, Johannes Breuer, Barbara Felderer, Frederic Gerdon, Patrick Stammann, Jessica Daikeler, Florian Keusch, Bernd Weiß
Digital trace data are increasingly used in the social sciences. Given the risks associated with data access via application programming interfaces (APIs) as well as ethical discussions around the use of such data, data donations have been proposed as a methodologically reliable and ethically sound way of collecting digital trace data. While data donations have many advantages, study participants may be reluctant to share their data, for example, due to privacy concerns. To assess which factors in a data donation request are relevant for participants’ acceptance and decisions, we conducted a vignette experiment investigating the general acceptability and personal willingness to donate various data types (i.e., data from GPS, web browsing, LinkedIn/Xing, Facebook, and TikTok) for research purposes. The preregistered study was implemented in the probability-based German Internet Panel (GIP) and gathered responses from n = 3821 participants. Results show that people rate the general acceptability of data donation requests higher than their own willingness to donate data. Regarding the different data types, respondents indicated that they would be more willing to donate their LinkedIn/Xing, TikTok, and GPS data compared to web browsing and Facebook data. In contrast, information about whether the donated data would be shared with other researchers and data security did not affect the responses to the respective donation scenarios. Based on these results, we discuss implications for studies employing data donations.
{"title":"Asking for Traces: A Vignette Study on Acceptability Norms and Personal Willingness to Donate Digital Trace Data","authors":"Henning Silber, Johannes Breuer, Barbara Felderer, Frederic Gerdon, Patrick Stammann, Jessica Daikeler, Florian Keusch, Bernd Weiß","doi":"10.1177/08944393241305776","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393241305776","url":null,"abstract":"Digital trace data are increasingly used in the social sciences. Given the risks associated with data access via application programming interfaces (APIs) as well as ethical discussions around the use of such data, data donations have been proposed as a methodologically reliable and ethically sound way of collecting digital trace data. While data donations have many advantages, study participants may be reluctant to share their data, for example, due to privacy concerns. To assess which factors in a data donation request are relevant for participants’ acceptance and decisions, we conducted a vignette experiment investigating the general acceptability and personal willingness to donate various data types (i.e., data from GPS, web browsing, LinkedIn/Xing, Facebook, and TikTok) for research purposes. The preregistered study was implemented in the probability-based German Internet Panel (GIP) and gathered responses from n = 3821 participants. Results show that people rate the general acceptability of data donation requests higher than their own willingness to donate data. Regarding the different data types, respondents indicated that they would be more willing to donate their LinkedIn/Xing, TikTok, and GPS data compared to web browsing and Facebook data. In contrast, information about whether the donated data would be shared with other researchers and data security did not affect the responses to the respective donation scenarios. Based on these results, we discuss implications for studies employing data donations.","PeriodicalId":49509,"journal":{"name":"Social Science Computer Review","volume":"83 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142796796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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