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Using Online Searches to Measure Discriminatory Attitudes and Radical Right Politics

The médialab seminar is welcoming Friedolin Merhout and Mauro Martinelli (University of Copenhagen) on thursday April 11th, 2024.

Event, Research Seminar

Salle du Conseil, 13 rue de l'Université, 75007 Paris

Abstract

Discriminatory attitudes against racial  and ethnic minorities and their societal sanctioning are a key line of  conflict across societies spurring a sprawling interdisciplinary  literature. This literature has produced valuable insights but is  limited by the prevailing survey methods that introduce well-known but  hard to address biases. In this manuscript, we make the argument for a  new, complementary measurement approach that draws on online search data  instead. We outline challenges with collecting and using this data and  describe a new, hybrid data collection method that overcomes them. As an  illustration, we contrast measures of the prevalence of discriminatory  attitudes in regions across 11 European countries based on two survey  dataset and our new search data- based measure. This shows a discrepancy  between expressed attitudes in surveys compared to observed behavior  online, which we link to the demographic composition of the regions. We  close by demonstrating the criterion validity and value of the  search-based measure as a predictor of regional vote shares of radical  right parties, which do not correlate with the alternative, survey-based  measures.

Bio

Friedolin Merhout is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen and the Director of Graduate Studies (studieleder) for the interdisciplinary MSc in Social Data Science. At UCPH, he is also affiliated with the Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS) and coordinate the Welfare, Inequality, and Mobility research group.

Mauro Martinelli is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen.
He uses digital search data to understand if people tell the truth when answering to surveys, and what are the consequences of survey biases for  policies and forecasting.