Martijn Schoonvelde
Biographic Data
| ID | 4274347 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Martijn Schoonvelde |
| GIVEN NAMES | Martijn |
| FAMILY NAME | Schoonvelde |
| SIGNATURE | SCHOONVELDE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4370-2654 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 240 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Responding or responsiveness? How politicisation influences the European Commission's policy formulation
Does politicisation have an impact on how the European Commission puts forward policy proposals? A large body of research has addressed this question from a responsiveness angle, assessing the degree to which the EU’s policy outputs align with public opinion. We complement this with a procedural approach that assesses how politicisation affects the input, throughput, and output stages of Commission policy formulation. We distinguish between respo…
JST and rJST: Joint estimation of sentiment and topics in textual data using a semi-supervised approach
This paper demonstrates the performance of the Joint Sentiment Topic model (JST) and the reversed Joint Sentiment Topic model (rJST) in measuring sentiment in political speeches, comparing them against a set of popular methods for sentiment analysis: widely used off-the-shelf sentiment dictionaries; an embeddings-enhanced dictionary approach; Latent Semantic Scaling, a semi-supervised approach; and a zero-shot transformer-based approach using a l…
Unpacking the European Commission's fiscal policy response to crisis: Mapping and explaining economic ideas in the European Semester 2011–2022
In this paper, we examine how and why the European Commission's ideas on fiscal policy have changed over the course of the European Semester. Empirically, we rely on a semi-supervised scaling approach to identify economic ideas as they appear in Semester documents from the aftermath of the financial crisis onwards (2011-2022). Our findings demonstrate a gradual shift in ideas from an ordoliberal to a Keynesian direction, especially during the ove…
Three Gaps in Computational Text Analysis Methods for Social Sciences: A Research Agenda
We identify three gaps that limit the utility and obstruct the progress of computational text analysis methods (CTAM) for social science research. First, we contend that CTAM development has prioritized technological over validity concerns, giving limited attention to the operationalization of social scientific measurements. Second, we identify a mismatch between CTAMs’ focus on extracting specific contents and document-level patterns, and social…
Home Field Advantage? EU–ACP Economic Partnership Agreement Meeting Locations and Textual Tone
The European Union's Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group are touted as a new form of equitable engagement. However, many argue that the EPAs simply substitute a different form of political and economic domination. In this paper, we consider if the siting of meetings has a substantive impact on EPA outcomes or media reporting thereof. Using a difference‐in‐difference like approach…
Errors have been made, others will be blamed: Issue engagement and blame shifting in prime minister speeches during the economic crisis in Europe
This article investigates prime ministers’ communication strategies during the most recent economic crisis in Europe. It argues that when electoral risk is high but governments’ policy options are severely limited, prime ministers will use specific communication strategies to mitigate electoral risks. Two such communication strategies are analysed – issue engagement and blame shifting – by applying state‐of‐the‐art quantitative text analysis meth…
Undermining, defusing or defending European integration? Assessing public communication of European executives in times of EU politicisation
How do mainstream political executives cue their politicised constituencies on European integration? Moving beyond static expectations that EU politicisation induces executives to either undermine, defuse or defend integration, this article theorises executives’ incentives under different configurations of public and partisan Euroscepticism in their home countries. Expectations are tested on the sentiment and complexity that executives attach to …
Diagnosing Gender Bias in Image Recognition Systems
Image recognition systems offer the promise to learn from images at scale without requiring expert knowledge. However, past research suggests that machine learning systems often produce biased output. In this article, we evaluate potential gender biases of commercial image recognition platforms using photographs of U.S. members of Congress and a large number of Twitter images posted by these politicians. Our crowdsourced validation shows that com…
Friends with text as data benefits: Assessing and extending the use of automated text analysis in political science and political psychology
Applications of automated text analysis measuring topics, ideology, sentiment or even personality are booming in fields like political science and political psychology. These developments are to be applauded as they bring about novel insights about politics using new sources of (unstructured) data. However, a divide exists between work in both disciplines using text as data. In this paper we argue in favor of more integration across disciplinary …
It Takes Three: How Mass Media Coverage Conditions Public Responsiveness to Policy Outputs in the United States
Objective Democratic governance requires that policy outcomes and public demand for policy be linked. While studies have shown empirical support for such a relationship in various policy domains, empirical evidence also indicates that the public is relatively unaware of policy outputs. This raises a puzzle: Why do policy outputs influence public attitudes if the public knows little about them? Methods This study seeks to address this paradox by e…
No Longer Lost in Translation: Evidence that Google Translate Works for Comparative Bag-of-Words Text Applications
Automated text analysis allows researchers to analyze large quantities of text. Yet, comparative researchers are presented with a big challenge: across countries people speak different languages. To address this issue, some analysts have suggested using Google Translate to convert all texts into English before starting the analysis (Lucas et al. 2015). But in doing so, do we get lost in translation? This paper evaluates the usefulness of machine …
Model selection in observational media effects research: A systematic review and validation of effects
Manipulated vs. Measured: Using an Experimental Benchmark to Investigate the Performance of Self-Reported Media Exposure
Media exposure is one of the most important concepts in the social sciences, and yet scholars have struggled with how to operationalize it for decades. Some researchers have focused on the effects of variously worded self-report measures. Others advocate the use of aggregate and/or behavioral data that does not rely on a person’s ability to accurately recall exposure. Our study illustrates how an experimental design can be used to improve measure…
Studying Media Events in the European Social Surveys Across Research Designs, Countries, Time, Issues, and Outcomes
Scholars often study isolated media effects using one method at one time point in one country. We seek to generalise the research in this area by examining hundreds of press-worthy events across dozens of countries at various points in time with an array of techniques and outcome measures. In particular, we merge a database containing thousands of events with five waves of the European Social Survey to conduct analyses across countries and indivi…
Media Freedom and the Institutional Underpinnings of Political Knowledge—corrigendum
Media Freedom and the Institutional Underpinnings of Political Knowledge
Recent empirical workin the study of political sophistication finds that citizens’ knowledge of politics is not only a function of their individual characteristics but also depends on the supply of information from their environment (the ‘information environment’). Yet this literature does not address the question of how the information environment may be shaped by institutional factors. This article aims to fill this void. It first argues that t…
No Longer Lost in Translation: Evidence that Google Translate Works for Comparative Bag-of-Words Text Applications
Automated text analysis allows researchers to analyze large quantities of text. Yet, comparative researchers are presented with a big challenge: across countries people speak different languages. To address this issue, some analysts have suggested using Google Translate to convert all texts into English before starting the analysis (Lucas et al. 2015). But in doing so, do we get lost in translation? This paper evaluates the usefulness of machine …
Errors have been made, others will be blamed: Issue engagement and blame shifting in prime minister speeches during the economic crisis in Europe
This article investigates prime ministers’ communication strategies during the most recent economic crisis in Europe. It argues that when electoral risk is high but governments’ policy options are severely limited, prime ministers will use specific communication strategies to mitigate electoral risks. Two such communication strategies are analysed – issue engagement and blame shifting – by applying state‐of‐the‐art quantitative text analysis meth…
Undermining, defusing or defending European integration? Assessing public communication of European executives in times of EU politicisation
How do mainstream political executives cue their politicised constituencies on European integration? Moving beyond static expectations that EU politicisation induces executives to either undermine, defuse or defend integration, this article theorises executives’ incentives under different configurations of public and partisan Euroscepticism in their home countries. Expectations are tested on the sentiment and complexity that executives attach to …
Three Gaps in Computational Text Analysis Methods for Social Sciences: A Research Agenda
We identify three gaps that limit the utility and obstruct the progress of computational text analysis methods (CTAM) for social science research. First, we contend that CTAM development has prioritized technological over validity concerns, giving limited attention to the operationalization of social scientific measurements. Second, we identify a mismatch between CTAMs’ focus on extracting specific contents and document-level patterns, and social…
Media Freedom and the Institutional Underpinnings of Political Knowledge
Recent empirical workin the study of political sophistication finds that citizens’ knowledge of politics is not only a function of their individual characteristics but also depends on the supply of information from their environment (the ‘information environment’). Yet this literature does not address the question of how the information environment may be shaped by institutional factors. This article aims to fill this void. It first argues that t…
Diagnosing Gender Bias in Image Recognition Systems
Image recognition systems offer the promise to learn from images at scale without requiring expert knowledge. However, past research suggests that machine learning systems often produce biased output. In this article, we evaluate potential gender biases of commercial image recognition platforms using photographs of U.S. members of Congress and a large number of Twitter images posted by these politicians. Our crowdsourced validation shows that com…
It Takes Three: How Mass Media Coverage Conditions Public Responsiveness to Policy Outputs in the United States
Objective Democratic governance requires that policy outcomes and public demand for policy be linked. While studies have shown empirical support for such a relationship in various policy domains, empirical evidence also indicates that the public is relatively unaware of policy outputs. This raises a puzzle: Why do policy outputs influence public attitudes if the public knows little about them? Methods This study seeks to address this paradox by e…
Manipulated vs. Measured: Using an Experimental Benchmark to Investigate the Performance of Self-Reported Media Exposure
Media exposure is one of the most important concepts in the social sciences, and yet scholars have struggled with how to operationalize it for decades. Some researchers have focused on the effects of variously worded self-report measures. Others advocate the use of aggregate and/or behavioral data that does not rely on a person’s ability to accurately recall exposure. Our study illustrates how an experimental design can be used to improve measure…
Unpacking the European Commission's fiscal policy response to crisis: Mapping and explaining economic ideas in the European Semester 2011–2022
In this paper, we examine how and why the European Commission's ideas on fiscal policy have changed over the course of the European Semester. Empirically, we rely on a semi-supervised scaling approach to identify economic ideas as they appear in Semester documents from the aftermath of the financial crisis onwards (2011-2022). Our findings demonstrate a gradual shift in ideas from an ordoliberal to a Keynesian direction, especially during the ove…
Friends with text as data benefits: Assessing and extending the use of automated text analysis in political science and political psychology
Applications of automated text analysis measuring topics, ideology, sentiment or even personality are booming in fields like political science and political psychology. These developments are to be applauded as they bring about novel insights about politics using new sources of (unstructured) data. However, a divide exists between work in both disciplines using text as data. In this paper we argue in favor of more integration across disciplinary …
Studying Media Events in the European Social Surveys Across Research Designs, Countries, Time, Issues, and Outcomes
Scholars often study isolated media effects using one method at one time point in one country. We seek to generalise the research in this area by examining hundreds of press-worthy events across dozens of countries at various points in time with an array of techniques and outcome measures. In particular, we merge a database containing thousands of events with five waves of the European Social Survey to conduct analyses across countries and indivi…
Media Freedom and the Institutional Underpinnings of Political Knowledge—corrigendum
Media Freedom and the Institutional Underpinnings of Political Knowledge
Recent empirical workin the study of political sophistication finds that citizens’ knowledge of politics is not only a function of their individual characteristics but also depends on the supply of information from their environment (the ‘information environment’). Yet this literature does not address the question of how the information environment may be shaped by institutional factors. This article aims to fill this void. It first argues that t…
Studying Media Events in the European Social Surveys Across Research Designs, Countries, Time, Issues, and Outcomes
Scholars often study isolated media effects using one method at one time point in one country. We seek to generalise the research in this area by examining hundreds of press-worthy events across dozens of countries at various points in time with an array of techniques and outcome measures. In particular, we merge a database containing thousands of events with five waves of the European Social Survey to conduct analyses across countries and indivi…
Manipulated vs. Measured: Using an Experimental Benchmark to Investigate the Performance of Self-Reported Media Exposure
Media exposure is one of the most important concepts in the social sciences, and yet scholars have struggled with how to operationalize it for decades. Some researchers have focused on the effects of variously worded self-report measures. Others advocate the use of aggregate and/or behavioral data that does not rely on a person’s ability to accurately recall exposure. Our study illustrates how an experimental design can be used to improve measure…
Model selection in observational media effects research: A systematic review and validation of effects
It Takes Three: How Mass Media Coverage Conditions Public Responsiveness to Policy Outputs in the United States
Objective Democratic governance requires that policy outcomes and public demand for policy be linked. While studies have shown empirical support for such a relationship in various policy domains, empirical evidence also indicates that the public is relatively unaware of policy outputs. This raises a puzzle: Why do policy outputs influence public attitudes if the public knows little about them? Methods This study seeks to address this paradox by e…
No Longer Lost in Translation: Evidence that Google Translate Works for Comparative Bag-of-Words Text Applications
Automated text analysis allows researchers to analyze large quantities of text. Yet, comparative researchers are presented with a big challenge: across countries people speak different languages. To address this issue, some analysts have suggested using Google Translate to convert all texts into English before starting the analysis (Lucas et al. 2015). But in doing so, do we get lost in translation? This paper evaluates the usefulness of machine …
Friends with text as data benefits: Assessing and extending the use of automated text analysis in political science and political psychology
Applications of automated text analysis measuring topics, ideology, sentiment or even personality are booming in fields like political science and political psychology. These developments are to be applauded as they bring about novel insights about politics using new sources of (unstructured) data. However, a divide exists between work in both disciplines using text as data. In this paper we argue in favor of more integration across disciplinary …
Errors have been made, others will be blamed: Issue engagement and blame shifting in prime minister speeches during the economic crisis in Europe
This article investigates prime ministers’ communication strategies during the most recent economic crisis in Europe. It argues that when electoral risk is high but governments’ policy options are severely limited, prime ministers will use specific communication strategies to mitigate electoral risks. Two such communication strategies are analysed – issue engagement and blame shifting – by applying state‐of‐the‐art quantitative text analysis meth…
Undermining, defusing or defending European integration? Assessing public communication of European executives in times of EU politicisation
How do mainstream political executives cue their politicised constituencies on European integration? Moving beyond static expectations that EU politicisation induces executives to either undermine, defuse or defend integration, this article theorises executives’ incentives under different configurations of public and partisan Euroscepticism in their home countries. Expectations are tested on the sentiment and complexity that executives attach to …
Diagnosing Gender Bias in Image Recognition Systems
Image recognition systems offer the promise to learn from images at scale without requiring expert knowledge. However, past research suggests that machine learning systems often produce biased output. In this article, we evaluate potential gender biases of commercial image recognition platforms using photographs of U.S. members of Congress and a large number of Twitter images posted by these politicians. Our crowdsourced validation shows that com…
Three Gaps in Computational Text Analysis Methods for Social Sciences: A Research Agenda
We identify three gaps that limit the utility and obstruct the progress of computational text analysis methods (CTAM) for social science research. First, we contend that CTAM development has prioritized technological over validity concerns, giving limited attention to the operationalization of social scientific measurements. Second, we identify a mismatch between CTAMs’ focus on extracting specific contents and document-level patterns, and social…
Home Field Advantage? EU–ACP Economic Partnership Agreement Meeting Locations and Textual Tone
The European Union's Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group are touted as a new form of equitable engagement. However, many argue that the EPAs simply substitute a different form of political and economic domination. In this paper, we consider if the siting of meetings has a substantive impact on EPA outcomes or media reporting thereof. Using a difference‐in‐difference like approach…
JST and rJST: Joint estimation of sentiment and topics in textual data using a semi-supervised approach
This paper demonstrates the performance of the Joint Sentiment Topic model (JST) and the reversed Joint Sentiment Topic model (rJST) in measuring sentiment in political speeches, comparing them against a set of popular methods for sentiment analysis: widely used off-the-shelf sentiment dictionaries; an embeddings-enhanced dictionary approach; Latent Semantic Scaling, a semi-supervised approach; and a zero-shot transformer-based approach using a l…
Unpacking the European Commission's fiscal policy response to crisis: Mapping and explaining economic ideas in the European Semester 2011–2022
In this paper, we examine how and why the European Commission's ideas on fiscal policy have changed over the course of the European Semester. Empirically, we rely on a semi-supervised scaling approach to identify economic ideas as they appear in Semester documents from the aftermath of the financial crisis onwards (2011-2022). Our findings demonstrate a gradual shift in ideas from an ordoliberal to a Keynesian direction, especially during the ove…
Responding or responsiveness? How politicisation influences the European Commission's policy formulation
Does politicisation have an impact on how the European Commission puts forward policy proposals? A large body of research has addressed this question from a responsiveness angle, assessing the degree to which the EU’s policy outputs align with public opinion. We complement this with a procedural approach that assesses how politicisation affects the input, throughput, and output stages of Commission policy formulation. We distinguish between respo…
Politics (9 works) · Political science (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · European union (5 works) · Psychology (5 works)