Using Internet Search Data to Produce State-level Measures: The Case of Tea Party Mobilization

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 898-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph DiGrazia
Keyword(s):  
Social Science Research ◽  
State Level ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Movement Mobilization ◽  
Google Search

This study proposes using Internet search data from search engines like Google to produce state-level metrics that are useful in social science research. Generally, state-level research relies on demographic statistics, official statistics produced by government agencies, or aggregated survey data. However, each of these data sources has serious limitations in terms of both the availability of the data and its ability to capture important concepts. This study demonstrates how state-level Google search measures can be produced and then demonstrates the effectiveness of such measures in an empirical case: predicting state-level Tea Party movement mobilization. Drawing on existing studies of the Tea Party movement and theories of right-wing and conservative mobilization, state-level Google search measures for anti-immigrant sentiment and economic distress are developed and compared to traditional metrics that are typically used to measure these concepts, such as the unemployment rate and the international immigration rate in their ability to successfully predict Tea Party event counts. The results show that the Google search measures are effective in predicting Tea Party mobilization in a way that is consistent with existing theory, while the traditional measures are not.

Anxious? Just Google It: Social Ecological Factors of Internet Search Records on Anxiety

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Hamamura ◽  
Christian Shaunlyn Chan
Keyword(s):  
Social Science Research ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Major Disaster ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Google Search

Records of Internet search are increasingly used in social science research. Three studies reported here tested (a) whether population-level anxiety is reflected in Internet search data and (b) the socio-ecological and cultural factors of anxiety. Using data from Japan, we found that the Google search rates of anxiety are associated with self-report anxiety (Study 1), and that the search rates increased following a major disaster (Study 2). These findings suggest that anxiety is searched more often on the Internet when and where people are feeling anxious. However, while search rates of anxiety increased since 2010, there was no sign of worsening anxiety among Japanese in two large national data on self-report anxiety (Study 1). Study 3 used search data to examine an anxiety-related cultural phenomenon. Consistent with a lay belief that is rarely empirically examined, we found that anxiety among Japanese increases in spring when millions in the country make school and career transitions. This pattern was somewhat more pronounced in large cities and was not evident in other negative emotions examined. Together, these findings add to psychologists’ understanding of anxiety particularly its vulnerability to environmental threat and social disconnection. These findings also demonstrate the potential of Internet search data in advancing psychological research, particularly in examining mental processes’ socio-ecological, cultural, and temporal factors.

scholarly journals Tracking U.S. Pertussis Incidence: Correlation of Public Health Surveillance and Google Search Data Varies by State

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher H. Arehart ◽  
Michael Z. David ◽  
Vanja Dukic
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
State Level ◽  
Individual State ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Search Data ◽  
State Models ◽  
Uniform Manner ◽  
Google Search ◽  
The U.S

AbstractThe Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document a raw proxy for counts of pertussis cases in the U.S., and the Project Tycho (PT) database provides an improved source of these weekly data. These data are limited because of reporting delays, variation in state-level surveillance practices, and changes over time in diagnosis methods. We aim to assess whether Google Trends (GT) search data track pertussis incidence relative to PT data and if sociodemographic characteristics explain some variation in the accuracy of state-level models. GT and PT data were used to construct auto-correlation corrected linear models for pertussis incidence in 2004–2011 for the entire U.S. and each individual state. The national model resulted in a moderate correlation (adjusted R2 = 0.2369, p < 0.05), and state models tracked PT data for some but not all states. Sociodemographic variables explained approximately 30% of the variation in performance of individual state-level models. The significant correlation between GT models and public health data suggests that GT is a potentially useful pertussis surveillance tool. However, the variable accuracy of this tool by state suggests GT surveillance cannot be applied in a uniform manner across geographic sub-regions.

Growing Tea With Subnational Roots: Tea Party Affiliation, Factionalism, and GOP Politics in State Legislatures

2021 ◽  
pp. 1532673X2110411
Author(s):  
Stella M. Rouse ◽  
Charles Hunt ◽  
Kristen Essel
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Level ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Original Dataset

Most research has examined the influence of the Tea Party as a social movement or loose organization, but less is known about its influence within legislative party politics, especially at the state level. In this paper, we argue that in this context the Tea Party is primarily an intraparty faction that has caused significant divisions inside the Republican Party. Using an original dataset of legislators across 13 states for the years 2010 to 2013, we examine legislator and district-level characteristics that predict state legislators’ affiliation with the Tea Party. Our results reveal that in some respects legislators affiliated with the Tea Party are a far-right wing of the Republican Party. However, by other measures that capture anti-establishment political sentiment, Tea Party affiliated legislators comprise a factional group attempting to transform the Party in ways that go beyond ideology. These findings have important implications for the future prospects of the GOP.

scholarly journals Co-radicalisation of Islamist and Nativist Extremists in Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Ayhan Kaya ◽  
Jais Adam-Troian
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Threat Model ◽  
Structural Drivers ◽  
Regulation Approach

Abstract A vast amount of social science research has been dedicated to the study of Islamist extremism – in particular, to uncover its psychological and structural drivers. However, the recent revival of extreme-right extremism points to the need to investigate this re-emerging phenomenon. This article highlights some of the characteristics of the extremisation of Islamism in Europe in parallel with the rise of the extremisation of right-wing extremist groups. In doing so, we explore similarities between Islamist and right-wing extremist individuals and groups. The main premise of the article is that a threat-regulation approach fails to understand the role of contextual and structural factors in the political and religious extremisation of individuals. Instead, the article claims that a reciprocal-threat model can better explain extremist violence since it is based on the idea that nativist and Islamist extremist individuals/groups are mutually threatening each other.

scholarly journals Freedom over Fear: Fundamentalist Populism and the Challenge of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-128
Author(s):  
William H. Westermeyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Institutions ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
International Crises ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Party Activists ◽  
Cultural World ◽  
Health Experts

Abstract Although public responses to national and international crises are never without contestations and conflicting truth claims, the COVID-19 pandemic draws attention to the stark political and cultural divisions presented by conservative populism in the age of the Tea Party Movement and Donald Trump. Beginning with research among Tea Party activists in 2010 and continuing through the Trump Administration and “reopen” protests, I have documented a shifting cultural world of right-wing populism. The vivid and symbolically elaborate performance of patriotism and indignation by the Tea Party Movement declined in 2012, being replaced by a more belligerent and less colorful form of populism with Donald Trump. As Trump-inspired protests opposing COVID-19 mitigation policies emerged in 2020, however, Tea Party themes and symbols reemerged as frames for resistance to government restrictions. Yet, despite the shifting styles, there was a constant theme of what I term “fundamentalist populism.” This style illustrates political identities characterized by vilification of opponents, distrust of existing political and social institutions, ideological rigidity, and a rededication to individualism and personal freedom. Ethnographic and documentary research shows how these themes animate a small yet vocal resistance to the science-based and cooperative guidelines prescribed by public health experts

scholarly journals Use Internet search data to accurately track state level influenza epidemics

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shihao Yang ◽  
Shaoyang Ning ◽  
S. C. Kou
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Search Pattern ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Spatial Correlation Structure ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Influenza Activity ◽  
Search Data

AbstractFor epidemics control and prevention, timely insights of potential hot spots are invaluable. Alternative to traditional epidemic surveillance, which often lags behind real time by weeks, big data from the Internet provide important information of the current epidemic trends. Here we present a methodology, ARGOX (Augmented Regression with GOogle data CROSS space), for accurate real-time tracking of state-level influenza epidemics in the United States. ARGOX combines Internet search data at the national, regional and state levels with traditional influenza surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and accounts for both the spatial correlation structure of state-level influenza activities and the evolution of people’s Internet search pattern. ARGOX achieves on average 28% error reduction over the best alternative for real-time state-level influenza estimation for 2014 to 2020. ARGOX is robust and reliable and can be potentially applied to track county- and city-level influenza activity and other infectious diseases.

scholarly journals Detecting Lung Cancer Trends by Leveraging Real-World and Internet-Based Data: Infodemiology Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenjie Xu ◽  
Hongxi Yang ◽  
Li Sun ◽  
Xinxi Cao ◽  
Yabing Hou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
State Level ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Search Volume ◽  
Incidence And Mortality ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Relative Search Volume

BACKGROUND Internet search data on health-related terms can reflect people’s concerns about their health status in near real time, and hence serve as a supplementary metric of disease characteristics. However, studies using internet search data to monitor and predict chronic diseases at a geographically finer state-level scale are sparse. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the associations of internet search volumes for lung cancer with published cancer incidence and mortality data in the United States. METHODS We used Google relative search volumes, which represent the search frequency of specific search terms in Google. We performed cross-sectional analyses of the original and disease metrics at both national and state levels. A smoothed time series of relative search volumes was created to eliminate the effects of irregular changes on the search frequencies and obtain the long-term trends of search volumes for lung cancer at both the national and state levels. We also performed analyses of decomposed Google relative search volume data and disease metrics at the national and state levels. RESULTS The monthly trends of lung cancer-related internet hits were consistent with the trends of reported lung cancer rates at the national level. Ohio had the highest frequency for lung cancer-related search terms. At the state level, the relative search volume was significantly correlated with lung cancer incidence rates in 42 states, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.58 in Virginia to 0.94 in Oregon. Relative search volume was also significantly correlated with mortality in 47 states, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.58 in Oklahoma to 0.94 in North Carolina. Both the incidence and mortality rates of lung cancer were correlated with decomposed relative search volumes in all states excluding Vermont. CONCLUSIONS Internet search behaviors could reflect public awareness of lung cancer. Research on internet search behaviors could be a novel and timely approach to monitor and estimate the prevalence, incidence, and mortality rates of a broader range of cancers and even more health issues.

Information-seeking in the Wake of Tragedy: An Examination of Public Response to Mass Shootings Using Google Search Data

2020 ◽  
pp. 073112142096478
Author(s):  
Daniel Charles Semenza ◽  
John A. Bernau
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Public Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Public Response ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Google Search

Mass shootings are a highly visible form of violence in the United States, although public response to these events varies considerably. Drawing on social problems and collective threat perception literature, we use search data for all Google-using Americans following mass shootings since 2004 to examine how event attributes such as the number of victims, venue, and type of weapon(s) predict public information-seeking related to gun control and gun rights. The results demonstrate that the number of victims, news coverage, school venue, and the use of certain weapons all significantly increase public interest in gun control and gun rights. These key predictors interact with one another to further influence information-seeking behaviors related to both gun control and gun rights. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and the potential for Google Search data in social science research.

scholarly journals Developmental Idealism in Internet Search Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn F. Dorius ◽  
Jeffrey Swindle
Keyword(s):  
Mental Image ◽  
National Development ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Global Development ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Search Queries ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Developmental Idealism ◽  
Google Search

Scholarship on developmental idealism demonstrates that ordinary people around the world tend to perceive the level of development and the specific characteristics of different countries similarly. We build on this literature by examining public perceptions of nations and development in internet search data, which we argue offers insights into public perceptions that survey data do not address. Our analysis finds that developmental idealism is prevalent in international internet search queries about countries. A consistent mental image of national development emerges from the traits publics ascribe to countries in their queries. We find a positive relationship between the sentiment expressed in autocomplete Google search queries about a given country and its position in the global developmental hierarchy. People in diverse places consistently associate positive attributes with countries ranked high on global development indices and negative characteristics with countries ranked low. We also find a positive correlation between the number of search queries about a country and the country's position in indices of global development. These findings illustrate that ordinary people have deeply internalized developmental idealism and that this informs their views about countries worldwide.

Rechtsextremismus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Salzborn
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Right Wing Extremism

Right-wing extremism is an omnipresent topic in academia and the public sphere. But what exactly characterises right-wing extremism? How does it manifest itself? What explanations are there for the emergence of right-wing extremism? How can it be successfully combated? The fourth updated and expanded edition of this volume provides an overview of the state of research into these questions and presents the central controversies in the field of social science research on right-wing extremism. It presents the world view and history of right-wing extremism, the characteristics of its manifestations, such as political parties, movements, the media, music and the Internet, and formulates an overall assessment of contemporary right-wing extremism. In addition, the book discusses explanatory approaches at the point where the following converge and clash: extremism theory and ‘extremism of the centre’; authoritarianism, socialisation and gender; the youth protest axiom and the theories of social movement and social disintegration.

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