Evaluating the computational (“Big Data”) turn in studies of media coverage of climate change,WIREs Climate Change

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Evaluating the computational (“Big Data”) turn in studies of media coverage of climate change
WIREs Climate Change ( IF 9.4 ) Pub Date : 2021-12-26 , DOI: 10.1002/wcc.752
Myanna Lahsen _{1,

2}

Affiliation

Machine-assisted big data (MABD) research is enabling quantitative studies of large-scale social phenomena, including societal responses to climate change. The rise of MABD science is causing both enthusiasm and concerns. Reviewing prominent criticisms of MABD and their relevance for MABD explorations of macro-structural factors shaping media coverage of climate change, this article finds that the quality and contributions of such studies depend on avoiding common pitfalls. The review focuses specifically on MABD studies' attempts to identify and make sense of correlations—or lack thereof—between climate vulnerability and climate coverage in different countries. The review draws on insights from a single, nationally focused, context-attentive, and relatively more qualitative “small data” study in the Global South (Brazil) to shed critical light on assumptions, claims, and policy recommendations made based on the computer-assisted macro-studies. The review illustrates why more narrowly focused and qualitative small data studies are complementary and indispensable. Besides providing vital understanding of causal relationships that elude MABD studies, more narrowly focused and context-sensitive qualitative studies can foster understanding of the consequential mediating roles of place-specific meaning-making and political strategizing in how climate and weather phenomena are framed by social actors and mass media in particular places. These are dimensions that escape the Big Data quantitative methods, but that are vital to sound policy advice, as illustrated by the Small Data research from Brazil.

中文翻译：

评估气候变化媒体报道研究中的计算（“大数据”）转向

机器辅助大数据 (MABD) 研究使大规模社会现象的定量研究成为可能，包括社会对气候变化的反应。MABD 科学的兴起引起了人们的热情和担忧。本文回顾了对 MABD 的突出批评及其与 MABD 探索影响媒体对气候变化报道的宏观结构因素的相关性，本文发现此类研究的质量和贡献取决于避免常见的陷阱。该审查特别关注 MABD 研究试图识别和理解不同国家气候脆弱性和气候覆盖之间的相关性或缺乏相关性。该审查借鉴了一个单一的、以国家为重点、关注背景的见解，以及在全球南方（巴西）进行的相对更定性的“小数据”研究，以批判性地阐明基于计算机辅助宏观研究的假设、主张和政策建议。该评论说明了为什么更狭隘和定性的小数据研究是互补和不可或缺的。除了提供对 MABD 研究无法理解的因果关系的重要理解之外，更集中和上下文敏感的定性研究可以促进对特定地点的意义构建和政治战略在社会行为者如何构建气候和天气现象中的间接中介作用的理解和特定地方的大众媒体。这些维度避开了大数据定量方法，但对于合理的政策建议至关重要，

更新日期：2021-12-26

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