Computational Communication Research - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2021

Abstract Computational communication science (CCS) is embraced by many as a fruitful methodological approach to studying communication in the digital era. However, theoretical advances have not been considered equally important in CCS. Specifically, we observe an emphasis on mid-range and micro theories that misses a larger discussion on how macro-theoretical frameworks can serve CCS scholarship. With this arti Read More

Abstract Measurement noise differs by instrument and limits the validity and reliability of findings. Researchers collecting reaction time data introduce noise in the form of response time latency from hardware and software, even when collecting data on standardized computer-based experimental equipment. Reaction time is a measure with broad application for studying cognitive processing in communication researc Read More

Abstract Most common methods for automatic text analysis in communication science ignore syntactic information, focusing on the occurrence and co-occurrence of individual words, and sometimes n-grams. This is remarkably effective for some purposes, but poses a limitation for fine-grained analyses into semantic relations such as who does what to whom and according to what source. One tested, effective method f Read More

Abstract Party competition in Western Europe is increasingly focused on “issue competition”, which is the selective emphasis on issues by parties. The aim of this paper is to contribute methodologically to the increasing number of studies that deal with different aspects of parties’ issue competition and communication. We systematically compare the value and shortcomings of three exploratory text representation appro Read More