Where and When Can We Use Google Trends to Measure Issue Salience

Bibliographic Data

ID6100558
AuthorsJonathan Mellon (0000-0001-6754-203X, University of Oxford, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume46
Issue2
Pages280-290
Publication date2013-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePS Political Science & Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1049-0965 • E-ISSN: 1537-5935
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1049096513000279
OpenAlexW2020562792
LanguageEN
Citations received53
References cited6

Google search data have several major advantages over traditional survey data. First, the high costs of running frequent surveys mean that most survey questions are only asked occasionally making comparisons over time difficult. By contrast, Google Trends provides information on search trends measured weekly. Second, there are many countries where surveys are only conducted sporadically, whereas Google search data are available anywhere in the world where sufficient numbers of people use its search engine. The Google Trends website allows researchers to download data for almost all countries at no cost and to download time series of any search term's popularity over time (provided enough people have searched for it). For these reasons, Google Trends is an attractive data source for social scientists

Advertising · Business · Data science · Download · Information retrieval · Internet privacy · Political science · Popularity · Statistics · Survey data collection · World Wide Web · Computer Science · COVID-19 epidemiological studies · Data-Driven Disease Surveillance · Survey Methodology and Nonresponse

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