Hanna Bäck
Professor
Methodological challenges of experiments in social media
Author
Summary, in English
Experiments in social media have rapidly become an important method in social science. However, there are a number of methodological problems connected to this method. One of these is the fact that social media are dominated by a small number of information oligopolists such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Since the service provider has control over the information and the algorithms that structure the information, manipulation in a controlled environment is impossible without cooperation. This presents the researcher with a choice: either you try to cooperate with the service providers or you try to emulate the services in a lab setting. Either choice presents the researcher with a number of challenges. This paper outlines a typology of the methodological problems associated with either choice.
Department/s
- Department of Strategic Communication
- Department of Political Science
Publishing year
2015
Language
English
Document type
Conference paper
Topic
- Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)
- Psychology
- Communication Studies
Keywords
- political communication
- experiments
- social media
- methodology
- methods
Conference name
NordMedia 2015
Conference date
2015-08-13 - 2015-08-15
Conference place
Denmark
Status
Unpublished
Research group
- Politisk kommunikation