11/09/2025 (Thursday) 13:00-14:00 E21-G002
“Uncleaned” Data: How to analyse digital media data without using Python or other AI tools
Abstract:
With the development of AI and data analytic programs such as Python, many scholars have found that these tools are useful for their research. However, I will explain how and why it may be better to NOT use such tools, and instead work directly with “uncleaned” data. To do so, I will first give an overview of past studies using digital media data, explaining how uncleaned data analysis yielded important (i.e., publishable) findings. Then I will present data and preliminary findings from a study of a parent-led, WeChat group for “marriage seeking” (xiangqin). It will be shown how WeChat posts from this group were collected during a one-month period of observation, how these posts were coded, and how data can be used to write papers using a variety of analytic techniques, including discourse analysis and multimodal semiotic analysis.
Bio:
Todd Sandel is Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Macau. He serves as the Communication Department’s Coordinator of the Doctoral and Undergraduate Programmes and the university’s Chair of the Ethics Sub-Panel on Human Subjects (IRB). He is also associate editor of Communication Monographs, immediate past chair of the Language and Social Interaction Division of the International Communication Association (ICA), and editorial board member of the many high-ranked journals, including: Chinese Journal of Communication, Discourse, Context & Media, and Journal of Communication. His research focuses on studies of social media (e.g., China, Belarus, Bhutan), intercultural communication, and cross-border migration (e.g., Indonesia, Macao SAR, mainland China). Recent work has been published in such journals as Asian Studies Review, Information, Communication & Society, International Journal of Multilingualism, and Gender, Place & Culture.
