Data Science Methodology
Our experts produce new methodologies to further understand how social media affects politics and democracy. From developing and deploying code, CSMaP researchers create new ways to quantify social media interactions and its effects.
Academic Research
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Working Paper
Survey Professionalism: New Evidence from Web Browsing Data
Working Paper, August 2024
Online panels have become an important resource for research in political science, but the financial compensation involved incentivizes respondents to become “survey professionals”, which raises concerns about data quality. We provide evidence on survey professionalism using behavioral web browsing data from three U.S. samples, recruited via Lucid, YouGov, and Facebook (total n = 3,886). Survey professionalism is common but varies across samples: By our most conservative measure, we identify 1.7% of respondents on Facebook, 7.9% of respondents on YouGov, and 34.3% of respondents on Lucid as survey professionals. However, evidence that professionals lower data quality is limited: they do not systematically differ demographically or politically from non-professionals and do not respond more randomly—although they are somewhat more likely to speed, to straightline, and to take questionnaires repeatedly. While concerns are warranted, we conclude that survey professionals do not, by and large, distort inferences of research based on online panels.
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Working Paper
Reports & Analysis
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Analysis
Are Influence Campaigns Trolling Your Social Media Feeds?
Now, there are ways to find out. New data shows that machine learning can identify content created by online political influence operations.
October 13, 2020
News & Commentary
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Policy
CSMaP Joins Letter Urging Meta to Maintain CrowdTangle
The letter, signed by more than 50 organizations and individuals, urges Meta to maintain full functionality of CrowdTangle, a critical tool used to investigate the flow of information on its platforms.
May 7, 2024
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News
Jennifer Allen and Christopher Barrie to Join CSMaP and NYU Faculty
At CSMaP, Allen and Barrie will serve as core faculty members leading research projects on urgent topics related to digital media and democracy.
May 1, 2024