Generalizing from social media data: a formal theory approach

ABSTRACT

Researchers increasingly draw on social media data to answer big questions about social patterns and dynamics. However, as with any data source, social media data present both opportunities and significant challenges. One major critique of social media data is that the data are not generalizable outside of the platforms from which the data originate. Problems of generalizability stem from non-universal participation rates on various platforms, demographically biased samples, as well as limited access to data based on infrastructural constraints and/or user privacy practices. We suggest that instead of empirical generalizability, social media data are theoretically generalizable in the formal theory tradition. Through a case example in which we use YouTube comments to test and extend a key tenet of identity theory, we show how social media data can instantiate theoretical variables and thus generalize to theoretical propositions. Mediated through formal theory, social media data maintain the capacity to address broad social questions while upholding methodological integrity.

KEYWORDS:

• Generalizability
• social media
• formal theory
• research methods
• big data

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jenny L. Davis (@Jenny_L_Davis) is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the School of Sociology at the Australian National University. Her work merges social psychology with technology studies.

Tony P. Love (@TonyPLove) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Kentucky and Honorary Lecturer in the School of Sociology at the Australian National University. He studies criminology, social psychology, and research methods. Dr. Davis and Dr. Love collaborate in an ongoing project about role-taking processes (role-taking.com).

Notes

1 see any issue of Information, Communication & Society, New Media & Society, Social Media + Society and the myriad other journals dedicated to the study of social media practice.

2 We thank Phoenicia Fares for her continued collaboration on the identity theory-collective identity project.

3 Original videos can be found here: WatchMojo “5 Facts” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWIBTH7tJR8) Bite Size Vegan “Vegan Diet Debunked!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6cAOx09bb8)