Research on Web Search Behavior: How Online Query Data Inform Social Psychology

Kaisheng Lai; Yan Xin Lee; Hao Chen; Rongjun Yu

doi:10.1089/cyber.2017.0261

Research on Web Search Behavior: How Online Query Data Inform Social Psychology

Kaisheng Lai
, Yan Xin Lee
, Hao Chen^*
, Rongjun Yu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The widespread use of web searches in daily life has allowed researchers to study people's online social and psychological behavior. Using web search data has advantages in terms of data objectivity, ecological validity, temporal resolution, and unique application value. This review integrates existing studies on web search data that have explored topics including sexual behavior, suicidal behavior, mental health, social prejudice, social inequality, public responses to policies, and other psychosocial issues. These studies are categorized as descriptive, correlational, inferential, predictive, and policy evaluation research. The integration of theory-based hypothesis testing in future web search research will result in even stronger contributions to social psychology.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	596-602
Number of pages	7
Journal	Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
Volume	20
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2017.0261
Publication status	Published - Oct 2017

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

User-Defined Keywords

big data
Google
social psychology
web search

Access to Document

10.1089/cyber.2017.0261

Cite this

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title = "Research on Web Search Behavior: How Online Query Data Inform Social Psychology",

abstract = "The widespread use of web searches in daily life has allowed researchers to study people's online social and psychological behavior. Using web search data has advantages in terms of data objectivity, ecological validity, temporal resolution, and unique application value. This review integrates existing studies on web search data that have explored topics including sexual behavior, suicidal behavior, mental health, social prejudice, social inequality, public responses to policies, and other psychosocial issues. These studies are categorized as descriptive, correlational, inferential, predictive, and policy evaluation research. The integration of theory-based hypothesis testing in future web search research will result in even stronger contributions to social psychology.",

keywords = "big data, Google, social psychology, web search",

author = "Kaisheng Lai and Lee, \{Yan Xin\} and Hao Chen and Rongjun Yu",

note = "Funding Information: This research is supported by the MOE Tier 2 (MOE2016-T2-1-105) to R.Y., the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71532005, No. 71731004), and National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 15BSH034) to Guangdong Key Laboratory for Big Data Analysis and Simulation of Public Opinion. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Copyright 2017, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2017.",

year = "2017",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1089/cyber.2017.0261",

language = "English",

volume = "20",

pages = "596--602",

journal = "Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking",

issn = "2152-2715",

publisher = "Mary Ann Liebert Inc.",

number = "10",

}

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T2 - How Online Query Data Inform Social Psychology

AU - Lai, Kaisheng

AU - Lee, Yan Xin

AU - Chen, Hao

AU - Yu, Rongjun

N1 - Funding Information: This research is supported by the MOE Tier 2 (MOE2016-T2-1-105) to R.Y., the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71532005, No. 71731004), and National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 15BSH034) to Guangdong Key Laboratory for Big Data Analysis and Simulation of Public Opinion. Publisher Copyright: © Copyright 2017, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2017.

PY - 2017/10

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N2 - The widespread use of web searches in daily life has allowed researchers to study people's online social and psychological behavior. Using web search data has advantages in terms of data objectivity, ecological validity, temporal resolution, and unique application value. This review integrates existing studies on web search data that have explored topics including sexual behavior, suicidal behavior, mental health, social prejudice, social inequality, public responses to policies, and other psychosocial issues. These studies are categorized as descriptive, correlational, inferential, predictive, and policy evaluation research. The integration of theory-based hypothesis testing in future web search research will result in even stronger contributions to social psychology.

AB - The widespread use of web searches in daily life has allowed researchers to study people's online social and psychological behavior. Using web search data has advantages in terms of data objectivity, ecological validity, temporal resolution, and unique application value. This review integrates existing studies on web search data that have explored topics including sexual behavior, suicidal behavior, mental health, social prejudice, social inequality, public responses to policies, and other psychosocial issues. These studies are categorized as descriptive, correlational, inferential, predictive, and policy evaluation research. The integration of theory-based hypothesis testing in future web search research will result in even stronger contributions to social psychology.

KW - big data

KW - Google

KW - social psychology

KW - web search

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85031760809

U2 - 10.1089/cyber.2017.0261

DO - 10.1089/cyber.2017.0261

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29039705

AN - SCOPUS:85031760809

SN - 2152-2715

VL - 20

SP - 596

EP - 602

JO - Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

JF - Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

IS - 10

ER -

Research on Web Search Behavior: How Online Query Data Inform Social Psychology

Abstract

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