The Social Science and Social Media Collaborative
Have established models of social and political processes lost their predictive power?
Recent events, such as incorrect predictions of the 2016 election outcome and the spread of misinformation, present an opportunity to challenge old models with new sources of data.
The abundance of data from social media presents an opportunity to understand social and political trends better.
But first, researchers must address issues concerning the use of this data. Is it representative? Are users honest about their thoughts? Is the collection and processing of the data unbiased and accurate?
This study incorporates three parallel projects to address these issues and harness the opportunity to use new data to gain a better understanding of social and political phenomena.
Methodology
Political Communication
Political communication patterns and their effects on political choices and behavior in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections
Parenting
Each of the three projects have specific substantive focus areas, but are linked through the use of data science methods, big data resources, and the use of high performance computing.
What’s New
Real-time analysis shows that the first debate shifted attitudes among Twitter users towards Biden and the second solidified them
In new research Lisa Singh, Ceren Budak, Kornraphop Kawintiranon and Stuart Soroka analyzed real-time responses of Twitter uses to the first and second presidential debates. Read more on The LSE US Centre’s daily blog on American Politics and Policy.
Measurement Convergence Meeting Held Online
S3MC researchers working on The Future of Quantitative Research in Social Science: Integrating Social Science and Computer Science Methods project held their second workshop about social media methodology in September. To learn more about this meeting or the project...
Misinformation and the Impact of Social Media in Elections
Lisa Singh and Ceren Budak presented virtually for an event hosted by the McCourt school's Massive Data Institute and the Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics) about the impact of misinformation in the 2016 election and what it could mean for the...
New Book: Words That Matter
What do voters really learn from the media about presidential candidates? A new book based on research from the S3MC Political Communication project, Words That Matter: How the News Media Environment Allowed Trump to Win the Presidency, offers in-depth analysis and...
Jonathan Ladd interviewed for The Science of Politics podcast
In advance of the May release of Words That Matter: How the News and Social Media Shaped the Presidential Campaign, Jonathan Ladd spoke with Matt Grossman on his podcast The Science of Politics. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying media coverage...
S3MC Researchers Awarded NSF Convergence Research Grant
Members of the S3MC research team were awarded a $3.4 million National Science Foundation Convergence Research grant that will allow them to build on the innovative and interdisciplinary work conducted as part of S3MC. These grants were awarded to teams proposing...