Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Abstract
Internet and social media data provide new sources of information for examining social issues, but their potential for scholars interested in religion remains unclear. Focusing on cross-national religion data, we test the validity of measures drawn from Google and Twitter against well-known existing data. We find that Google Trend (GT) searches for the dominant religions’ major holidays, along with “Buddhism,” can be validated against traditional sources. We also find that GT and traditional measures account for similar amounts of variation, and the GT measures do not differ substantially from established ones for explaining several cross-national outcomes (e.g., fertility, circumcision, and alcohol use), as well as new ones (e.g., interest in religious buildings and sex). The Twitter measures do not perform as well. Our study provides insight into best practices for generating and using these measures, and offers evidence that internet-generated data can replicate existing measures that are less accessible and more expensive.
Included in
Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons
Comments
This article received the Distinguished Sociology of Religion Journal Article Award from the Association for the Sociology of Religion, 2023
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Sociology of Religion following peer review. The version of record “Amy Adamczyk, Jacqueline Scott, Steven Hitlin, Using Internet-Derived Data to Measure Religion: Understanding How Google Can Provide Insight into Cross-National Religious Differences,” Sociology of Religion, Volume 83, Issue 2, Summer 2022, Pages 222–251 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article-abstract/83/2/222/6365730