In this paper we report research results investigating microblogging as a form of electronic word-of-mouth for sharing consumer opinions concerning brands. We analyzed more than 150,000 microblog postings containing branding comments, sentiments, and opinions. We investigated the overall structure of these microblog postings, the types of expressions, and the movement in positive or negative sentiment. We compared automated methods of classifying sentiment in these microblogs with manual coding. Using a case study approach, we analyzed the range, frequency, timing, and content of tweets in a corporate account. Our research findings show that 19p of microblogs contain mention of a brand. Of the branding microblogs, nearly 20p contained some expression of brand sentiments. Of these, more than 50p were positive and 33p were critical of the company or product. Our comparison of automated and manual coding showed no significant differences between the two approaches. In analyzing microblogs for structure and composition, the linguistic structure of tweets approximate the linguistic patterns of natural language expressions. We find that microblogging is an online tool for customer word of mouth communications and discuss the implications for corporations using microblogging as part of their overall marketing strategy. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Twitter power: Tweets as electronic word of mouth

On Educational psychology: A cognitive view.

Much of the existing literature on the digital divide - the differences between the "haves" and "have nots" regarding access to the Internet - limits its scope to a binary classification of technology use by only considering whether someone does or does not use the Internet. To remedy this shortcoming, in this paper I look at the differences in people's online skills. In order to measure online ability, I assigned search tasks to a random sample of Internet users from a suburban county in the United States. My findings suggest that people search for content in a myriad of ways and there is considerable difference in whether individuals are able to find various types of content on the Web and a large variance in how long it takes to complete online tasks. Age is negatively associated with one's level of Internet skill, experience with the technology is positively related to online skill, and differences in gender do little to explain the variance in the ability of different people to find content online.

Second-Level Digital Divide: Differences in People's Online Skills

Content analysis is a highly fl exible research method that has been widely used in library and information science (LIS) studies with varying research goals and objectives. The research method is applied in qualitative, quantitative, and sometimes mixed modes of research frameworks and employs a wide range of analytical techniques to generate fi ndings and put them into context. This article characterizes content analysis as a systematic, rigorous approach to analyzing documents obtained or generated in the course of research. It briefl y describes the steps involved in content analysis, differentiates between quantitative and qualitative content analysis, and shows that content analysis serves the purposes of both quantitative research and qualitative research. The authors draw on selected LIS studies that have used content analysis to illustrate the concepts addressed in the article. The article also serves as a gateway to methodological books and articles that provide more detail about aspects of content analysis discussed only briefl y in the article.

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/3670/WhiteMarch551.pdf?sequence=2

Content Analysis: A Flexible Methodology

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

This paper presents the first part of the research on user–Web interaction: a multidimensional model, methodology, and general findings. The objectives of this study are three-fold: (1) to explore factors of user–Web interaction in finding factual information and what happens during this interaction; (2) to develop a conceptual framework for studying user–Web interaction; and (3) to apply a process-tracing method for conducting holistic user–Web studies. The proposed model consists of three components: user, interface, and the World Wide Web. User–Web interaction is viewed as a communication process facilitated through an interface. A process-tracing technique has been designed to capture the processes of user-Web interactions. Twenty-four graduate students participated in this study. Prior to the interaction, each participant was given a questionnaire to report his/her computer and Web experience, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (form Y1 and form Y2) to measure affective states, and an individually administered Embedded Figure Test to measure cognitive style. Each participant used the Web to find answers to two factual questions. Both the processes (continuous screen shots) and the concurrent verbalizations of thoughts were recorded in synchronized video–audio data. The findings provided rich information on users’ cognitive, affective and physical behaviors. The proposed model is used to present the findings of user behavior in connections with interfaces and the Web.

Users' interaction with World Wide Web resources: an exploratory study using a holistic approach

This article proposes a model of document selection by real users of a bibliographic retrieval system. It reports on Part 1 of a longitudinal study of decision making on document use by academics during an actual research project. (Part 2 followed up the same users on how the selected documents were actually used in subsequent stages.) The participants are 25 self-selected faculty and graduate students in Agricultural Economics. After a reference interview, the researcher conducted a search of DIALOG databases and prepared a printout. The users selected documents from this printout; they were asked to read and think aloud while selecting documents. Their verbal reports were recorded and analyzed from a utility-theoretic perspective. The following model of the decision-making in the selection process emerged: document information elements (DIEs) in document records provide the information for judging documents on 11 criteria (including topicality, orientation, quality, novelty, and authority); the criteria judgments are combined in an assessment of document value along five dimensions (epistemic, functional, conditional, social, and emotional values), leading to the use decision. This model accounts for the use of personal knowledge and decision strategies applied in the selection process. The model has implications for the design of an intelligent document selection assistant. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

A cognitive model of document use during a research project. Study I. document selection

This project analyzed 541,920 user queries submitted to and executed in an academic Website during a four-year period (May 1997 to May 2001) using a relational data-base. The purpose of the study is three-fold: (1) to understand Web users' query behavior; (2) to identify problems encountered by these Web users; (3) to develop appropriate techniques for optimization of query analysis and mining. The linguistic analyses focus on query structures, lexicon, and word associations using statistical measures such as Zipf distribution and mutual information. A data model with finest granularity is used for data storage and iterative analyses. Patterns and trends of querying behavior are identified and compared with previous studies.

Mining longitudinal web queries: trends and patterns

This article reports on the follow-up study of a two-part project designed to study the decision-making process underlying how academic researchers select documents retrieved from online databases, consult or read, and cite documents during a research project. The participants are 15 of the 25 agricultural economics users who participated in the original study of document-selection conducted in 1992. They were interviewed about subsequent decisions on documents considered relevant and selected in 1992, as well as documents cited in their written products but not in the original searches. Of particular interest in this article are the decision criteria and rules they apply to documents as they progress through the project. The first study in 1992 emphasized the selection processes and resulted in a document selection model; the 1995 study concentrates on the reading and citing decisions. The model derived from this project shows document use as a decision-making process with decisions occurring at three points or stages during a research project: selecting, reading, and citing. It is an expansion of the document selection model developed in the 1992 study, identifies more criteria, and clarifies the criteria and rules that are in use at each stage. The follow-up study not only found that all but one of the criteria identified in selection re-occur in connection with reading and citing decisions, but also identified 14 new criteria. It also found that decision rules applied in selection decisions are applied throughout the project.

A cognitive model of document use during a research project. Study II. Decisions at the reading and citing stages

This two-part study investigates the effect of a 30-minute presentation of Carol Kuhlthau's Information Search Process (ISP) model on students' perceptions of research and research paper anxiety. An experiment was designed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data during a semester. An upper division undergraduate course, Technical and Professional Writing, with four sections participated in the experiment in fall 1999. A survey instrument, the Research Process Survey (RPS), was developed to collect data about students' feelings and thoughts at the onset of their course research project (pretest) and at the completion of the project (posttest). A standard anxiety test (STAI Y-1) was adopted to measure anxiety levels during pretest and posttest sessions and at two additional points between. Two of the four sections heard a guest presentation of the ISP model as treatment after the pretest; the other two sections heard a different guest speak about career experiences as a technical writer (a placebo talk). The results of this experiment are reported in two articles according to the nature of the collected data. This article reports on results of the quantitative analysis. Four hypotheses were proposed to examine the effects on awareness of cognitive aspects, awareness of affective aspects, level of anxiety, and satisfaction with research. One hypothesis was supported. A significant change in anxiety levels was measured (p = 0.5). Although statistical tests did not reject three null hypotheses, positive trends in change as a result of the ISP model were identified. A second article reports on results of qualitative analysis of the texts that participants wrote about a memorable past research experience and about the current research experience.

Peiling Wang

Papers

Users' interaction with World Wide Web resources: an exploratory study using a holistic approach

A cognitive model of document use during a research project. Study I. document selection

Mining longitudinal web queries: trends and patterns

A cognitive model of document use during a research project. Study II. Decisions at the reading and citing stages

Research anxiety and students’ perceptions of research: An experiment.