<p>This study uses Incivility Spirals and
Uses and Gratifications frameworks to explore how people discuss scientific
topics on the social media site Reddit. Specifically, the goals of this project
were to develop a new typology of online messages, examine how different
factors influence online discourse, and determine whether uses and
gratifications vary between Subreddits. The dataset consisted of comments on the
top ten posts of 2019 from r/EverythingScience and r/Science. These Subreddits were examined
because, although they both focus on science, they differ in terms of group
rules and moderator style. Human coders and the text analysis software
Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count were used to evaluate the comments on a
series of dichotomous and continuous variables. These variables were used in a
two-step cluster analysis to identify message typologies. Results indicate that
there were three types of messages in the dataset: Polite Participation,
Emotional Interrogation, and On Topic Information. Further analysis
demonstrated that group norms and the first comment in a conversation impact
the quality of discourse that takes place. Conversations on r/Science (the more
strict Subreddit) that begin with an On Topic Information comment are more
likely to be extremely deliberative, while conversation on r/EverythingScience
that begin with an Emotional Interrogation comment are more likely to result in
incivility spirals. Results also suggest differences in gratifications between
Subreddits, with Redditors using r/Science for productive discussion and
r/EverythingScience for heated debate. Theoretical and practical implications
of these findings are discussed, along with avenues for future research. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12678827 |
| Date | 30 July 2020 |
| Creators | Jessica R Welch (9143522) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Uses_and_Gratifications_of_Scientific_Subreddits_An_Examination_of_Online_Message_Typologies_and_Their_Impact/12678827 |
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