When I look into the 2016 presidential candidates, the comments below every news post seem to be biased (either apparently or potentially). I try not to think these data should be discredited because of the obvious political stance, but what can we do with them in any research? What do they reflect, for example?
In this particular online news report, when candidate number 3 is "mocked," a large number of users who support him flooded in and left comments. In this case their political is made exceptionally clear thanks to profile picture generator. Of all the 74 comments, 40 of them (excluding 8 by the same users) are by users whose profile pictures say loudly 'number 3.'
**And now the election is over (01/16); it turned out that candidate 3 got 12.84% of all votes. It seems that the comments, the threads, and posts on the internet neither correspond with the polls nor reflect the actual voting. Even though it may seem self-evident that the overwhelmingly supportive comments do not predict anything, I can't help wonder, then, what can we gain from them. (18 de enero)
http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/1553460
I would be cautious about using such comments for research purposes. There are people out there who are paid to post slanted comments that undercut the positions of their opponents. Do not threat them as legitimate representations of public sentiment.
Thank you for your reply, Michael! Yes, I do notice that the comments are unrepresentative as what they show is very much different from what the polls do. But wouldn't that mean the comments on political matters are not to be analyzed? Or what other way can we look at them? Can they be of any use in terms of, if not the election, the society in general?
When you make a judgement you are already bias towards the comments.
Each comment is authentic in its own right. To be more concrete on my point, each facial feature is unique in its own right.... we should not have the same lips, eyes or nose of a certain standard...
Thank you for your comment, Jyh Wee Sew! I understand that my expectations of comments and what results I might get from looking into them can be biased in the first place as I was indeed hoping to find something representative, e.g. candidates' approval ratings.
But I've come to realized that when it comes to comments on political matters, they offer something beyond my expectations, and that's why my question is, what are the (other) things we can possibly reap from these comments that seem to be biased in terms of political stance. To be more precise, what approach would you take, or from what perspective would you treat, examine, or analyze these comments?
We can profile the various shades in from a series of comments as they may not be just black and white; east or west; democrat or republican, straight or gay. Between the extremes they are various political spectrums. The findings becomes useful to sway opinions or win the less extreme opponents over. For exampe we see Trump adding momentum by tackling issues without necessary for us to take to any sides. Even within the same political party fractions exist and opportunities to persuade are intact.
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