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Black and white photo of Hanna Bäck. Photo.

Hanna Bäck

Professor

Black and white photo of Hanna Bäck. Photo.

Methodological challenges of experiments in social media

Author

  • Emma Bäck
  • Nils Gustafsson
  • Hanna Bäck

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Unpublished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