Using Social Media In Research

Twitter has become one of the most important online spaces for political communication practice and research. Through a hand-coded content analysis, this study compares how British and Dutch Parliamentary candidates used Twitter during the 2010 general elections. We found that Dutch politicians were more likely to use Twitter than UK candidates and on average tweeted over twice as much as their British counterparts. Dutch candidates were also more likely to embrace the interactive potential of Twitter, and it appeared that the public responded to this by engaging in further dialogue. We attribute the more conservative approach of British candidates compared to the Netherlands to historic differences in the appropriation of social media by national elites, and differing levels of discipline imposed from the central party machines.

The objective of this study was to develop and validate a self-reporting scale to measure injury risk behaviors among pedestrians of all ages. The Pedestrian Behavior Scale (PBS) was developed that included 47 items enabling respondents to evaluate the frequency with which they had different types of pedestrian behaviors. The validation study was carried out on 343 participants (126 men and 217 women) between the ages of 15 and 78. Factor analyses were used to differentiate between 4 axes. Factor 1, “transgression”, included items concerning offence of legal rules and errors. Factor 2 included “lapses” items. Factor 3 comprised “aggressive behavior” items and factor 4 included “positive behavior” items. A revised version of the PBS with 20 items was produced by selecting those items that loaded most strongly on the four factors. The 20-item version had good internal reliability. The effects of demographic and mobility variables on the PBS scores were investigated. This instrument will be useful in measuring the frequency of these different types of behaviors among the pedestrians who are most at risk, analyzing the psychological factors used to predict PBS scores and thus better adapt preventive actions to the different populations of vulnerable road users of all ages.

Of approximately 40 billion photos posted on Instagram, only 282 million are selfies-just 0.7%. Thus, for all its zeitgeisty appeal, the selfie is in fact a niche phenomenon in the larger context of Instagram genres. Noting this fact, we identified an opportunity to engage with scholars from all over the world with the challenge of proposing new theories and approaches capable of unlocking the full socio-anthropological potential of Instagram. As the articles collected in this special issue testify, Instagram has an enormous impact on people's everyday lives on many levels, socially, culturally, economically and politically, and so, indubitably, it deserves rigorous academic attention. Given the scale and complexity of these impacts, studying Instagram poses different kinds of challenges and many gaps are still to be filled. With this special issue we don't claim to resolve all the issues noted above. More modestly, our goal is to kick-start a fruitful conversation among social media scholars interested in furthering Instagram studies.

Taking into account that universities assume students will have at least some basic knowledge of
the use of computers and the Internet, we hypothesize that the command of ICT skills by freshmen
could have an influence on their educational attainment. To test this hypothesis an online
questionnaire was used, which was answered by a representative sample of 1,529 freshmen studying
at a large university. Two explanatory models were developed. First, using regression analysis
the predictive power of the academic pathways model for the educational attainment of freshmen
was tested. Second, the personal knowledge management model was developed in order to discover
whether ICT competences contribute to the prediction of educational attainment and, if so,
to what extent. Educational attainment was measured in terms of persistence of study choice at
the end of the academic year, attained study efficiency at the end of the academic year, and GPA
(Grade Point Average) at the end of the academic year. Three types of ICT skills were included in
the second model: ICT social contact skills, basic ICT skills, and maintenance skills. Four factors
are very powerful in predicting a student’s educational attainment: the GPA in secondary school,
the number of hours spent weekly on the study of maths in secondary school, the study of classical
languages in secondary school, and any ambivalent feelings about the chosen study subject.
Contrary to our expectations, ICT social contact skills and basic ICT skills do not provide a better
prediction of educational attainment, whereas maintenance skills do; however, the latter predict a
lower attainment.

The US federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program was created to fund transportation projects that have the potential to contribute to the attainment or maintenance of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. This study evaluates a random sample of eight suburban bicycle and pedestrian facilities funded by the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program in the Chicago metro area. Users of these facilities were randomly sampled using a “time-based” user sampling approach and surveyed in intercept mode to implement a recall-based evaluation design. A random intercept logit model was used to explain variations in the propensity to switch from single occupant vehicle use to bicycling or walking, using attributes of users and sites. The analysis shows relatively low usage levels but that substitution of motorized modes have resulted, potentially leading to improved air quality outcomes.

Bicycling is an underutilized and marginalized mode of transportation. The neglect of bicycle funding and infrastructure has led to an increasingly unsafe environment for cyclists. Cities are on the forefront of addressing cycling issues and are most likely to encounter and ultimately have to fix the problems facing cyclists. The lack of cycling facilities is a serious issue, but expanding opportunities for cyclists produces many benefits not only for individuals but society as a whole. Austin Texas has been designated a Silver level bicycle friendly city with a favorable bicycling environment when compared to other U.S. cities. Therefore this study describes the attitudes and opinions of cyclists in Austin, Texas regarding the effectiveness of the city of Austin in addressing factors important to increasing bicycle transportation options.

Bicycling issues identified through a literature review resulted in a set of categories that formed the basis of a survey. The survey was distributed electronically to cyclists throughout Austin.

But as the results of this study highlight, in the eyes of its own cyclists, Austin still has a lot of work to do to make cycling a more viable transportation option. Cyclists are most concerned about Austin's improvement in the following areas: bicycle lanes and paths, connecting existing bicycle facilities and bicycles with public transportation, traffic enforcement of motorists, cyclist education, large-scale land use, and finally commuting and utilitarian cycling. In addition to discussing the problems associated with the afore mentioned categories, recommendations for overcoming these barriers will be provided. Addressing these issues has the greatest potential for making a safer and more convenient bicycling environment, thus improving bicycle transportation options for Austinites.

The status and role of Italy’s dialetti (dialects) in contemporary Italian society are contested among both citizens and sociolinguists, and their nuanced uses have begun to circulate (with commentary) around social media. This report adopts a citizen sociolinguistic approach (Rymes & Leone, this volume) to analyze a single controversial case about the Roman dialect via YouTube and Facebook, drawing on social media users’ metacommentary and recontextualizations (Rymes, 2012) of an interview with two young women at the beach. Rather than attempting to identify static and isolated characteristics of the Roman dialect based on this interview, this report analyzes the social values and linguistic characteristics that citizen sociolinguists attribute to these young women’s particular ways of speaking, acting, and being.

In research conducted using Twitter data, informed consent has taken the back seat. This literature review examines the perspectives of users, researchers and research ethics boards to provide nuance and context to the issue. Users are generally unaware that their data can be taken for research purposes and that they have agreed to be studied within the platform's terms of service. This is concerning for both researchers and users alike, as it continues to blur the line of public and private information. Users want to be informed when they are being studied. When informed consent is not obtained, researchers are not respecting the data and the humans who created it. If researchers were required to obtain informed consent when engaging with Twitter data, the resulting research would be more ethical and protect everyone involved: the researcher, the user, and the university.

This study explored multiple factors related to the distance learning experiences of soldier-students who engaged in distance learning while deployed to a combat area.  Data was gathered from 144 participants who completed an online questionnaire.  Fifty-two factors potentially affecting the dependent variable of course completion were examined through a systems theory lens at the macro, mezzo, and micro levels.  Nearly all factors found to have significant differences in those soldier-students who completed their distance learning course and those who did not complete their course were found in the higher education domain at the mezzo and micro levels.  These factors included the Instructor behaviors of frequent contact and flexibility, student satisfaction, and program completion.  In addition, half of this study’s participants reported experiencing role conflict as a result of their decision to study while deployed.  The results of this study suggest the value of future research focused on role conflict, in both the higher education and military domains, for those soldier-students that simultaneously engage in distance learning and combat deployment.

This short note tells the story of an experiment aiming to fool the data collection system of the ResearchGate site. The note reports of a very successful experiment. However, such a success is perhaps better news for ResearchGate competitors than ResearchGate itself.

I conclude with some humble advice for the site, politely asking them to rethink their strategy of ranks, competition and metrics.