Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

Media Bias and Collective Action: Mapping Twitter to Traditional Forms of Collective Action Research

Mon, August 18, 10:30am to 12:10pm, TBA

Abstract

Social movement scholars are familiar with a paradox within their research. We are heavily reliant on data sources that are inherently biased (such as newspapers see Dixon and Martin 2012; Eisinger 1973; McAdam 1982; Soule 1997). Over the years, considerable efforts have been made to develop strategies to address missing data and reporting biases (see Earl et al. 2004 for a review of this literature), but limitations still remain. In part due to these limitations, Social Movement scholars have adopted an ecological approach and have become more careful in their claims of generalizability. The advent of new data sources through social media outlets may provide researchers with far more than new data to analyze, but also provide a means to overcome to a greater degree the methodological implications of such studies.

Authors