Theme 4: Quantitative research

How Negative Becomes Less Negative”: Understanding the Effects of Comment Valence and Response Sidedness in Social Media

1. Which quantitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

I chose the article “How Negative Becomes Less Negative”: Understanding the Effects of Comment Valence and Response Sidedness in Social Media by Hyejoon Rim and Doori Song. The article presents a study that explores the influence of the public’s negative comments regarding a corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign in social media and how to best respond to them. The quantitative research methods that were used in this article was an online survey as well as an online experiment with a total of 124 participants. When the participants had answered the online survey they were randomly assigned one of four experimental conditions; positive comments on a CSR-campaign by Coca-Cola in social media, negative comments on the CSR-campaign, a one-sided response from the responsible company (i.e. a response that emphasize the company’s sincere motives for investing resources for the sake of the society) and, lastly, a two-sided response from the responsible company (i.e. a response that acknowledge the company’s return on investments, such as publicity and profits by supporting the community). The experiment was however a stimuli and not an actual real case. A benefit of using online surveys as a research method is that the collected data is easy to compare and analyze, as well as the opportunity to collect much data in a short amount of time. One of the limitations, however, is the lack of a deeper understanding in why the participants answered in a particular way. The lack of follow-up and open-ended questions is also a limitation with this method.

2. Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the quantitative method or methods have been improved?

One important methodological problem with this study, according to me, was that the participants were assigned a specific condition in which they were about to complete the experiment. Therefore the participant entered a role where they were either all positive or all negative. In reality it is rarely that black or white, comments are more often mixed and range from positive and negative. There is also different degrees of positivity and negativity which I think should have been taken into consideration in this study. I think it would have been better to let the participants decide themselves if they perceived the campaign in a positive or negative way. Or perhaps, maybe a qualitative method would have been better to use in this study, for example by interviewing people who actually have commented on a real CSR-campaign in social media, as well as interviewing the responsible company.

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3. Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?

One of the benefits of using quantitative methods in a study is that you can collect a large amount of data for statistical use. The collected data are often easy to measure and analyze, as well as the easiness to compare and categorize the answers among the participants. The end result of studies using quantitative methods is often developed models and theories based on the results. However, a limitation of using quantitative methods is the lack of including “the bigger picture” and the context of the study. A deeper understanding of the subject that was studied, for example secondary data and the participants followed-up comments on their answers, is hard to present in numbers and diagrams. Another limitation worth mentioning is the large sample of the population that needs to be studied in order to deliver as accurate result as possible. Quantitative methods are often used when the aim is to study questions of what, when and who.

4. Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?
One of the benefits of using qualitative methods is that it is easier to include the context of the study as well as gaining a deeper understanding in why people think or feel in a specific way, for example by using followed-up questions. However, it is more difficult to compare the results among the participants and it is more time-consuming to collect large amount of data which limits the accuracy of the result. A challenge could also be that people might interpret the same question in different ways. Qualitative methods are often used when the aim is to study questions of how and why.

Rim, H. & Song, D. (2016) How Negative Becomes Less Negative”: Understanding the Effects of Comment Valence and Response Sidedness in Social Media. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.focus.lib.kth.se/doi/10.1111/jcom.12205/full