Online workshop "Using Search Volume Data to Predict Protest Mobilization: Application in the US Context"
Presenter: Dr. Jais Adam-Troian, Lecturer at the Department of Psychology at Keele University
Abstract: Protest mobilization is a key driver of social and political change within societies. Yet, the study of the psychosocial drivers of protest mobilization remains limited by methodological constraints, favoring a quasi-exclusive use of archival and/or survey data. In this talk we will present a novel methodological approach relying on Search Volume Data (i.e. Google Trends indices) to study the dynamics of protest mobilization with regards to its social psychological determinants. In social identity perspective, the main factor mobilizing individuals into collective action remains the extent to which they feel identified with a protesting group (i.e., social identification). Although the link between social identification and collective action is well-established, current evidence relies mostly on self-report data. We will show how we combined real-life protest counts in the US (2017-2020) with online search data (Google Trends) for pronouns indicating a 'group' mindset (first-person plural pronouns; e.g. 'we', 'us'). We will also present a step-by-step method for robust causal estimation drawing upon time series, multiverse and mixed model analyses which allowed us to predict both protest and protester counts over time. Finally, we will briefly discuss in what ways this method matters for the ecological study and quantification of protest mobilization dynamics.
Password: 244965
Date and time: February 15, 5 p.m.
Hope to see you and your PhD students at the seminar!