This assignment started out by reading 2 abstracts describing how internet-based data can be used to answer research questions. Following this, we had to choose to answer one question from a list, and complete its associated activities. I chose “Can Tweets Provide Data about Heart Disease?”, which involved reading 2 articles. After this, we had to create a discussion board post, answering the question we chose by referring to information from the articles, and explaining why we chose to answer that specific article.
The first abstract discussed using social media to study large patterns of behavior. It discussed that having access to massive social media datasets has allowed population structure and human behavior to be measured on a large scale. The second abstract discusses the connection between large amounts of data and public health. It says that information can be translated into societal well-being, and that it may be challenging, but possible.
As mentioned previously, for this assignment, the question I chose to explore was “Can Tweets Provide Data about Heart Disease?”.
After reading the two articles, the answer I have for this question is simply yes. The Eichstaedt et al.’s (2015) article was a research article discussing the question. In the study, they examined the tweets from people from 1347 US counties, measured for “anger, anxiety, positive and negative emotions, positive and negative social relationships, and engagement and disengagement”, and measured heart disease mortality rates in each county.
According to the Penn News’ (2015) article, expressions of negative emotion like anger or stress were associated with higher heart disease risk within each county. They also found that positive emotions such as excitement and optimism are related to lower risk levels for heart disease.
I chose to answer this question because I had truly no idea that Twitter or a social media site like that could help predict who may contract heart disease. However, it caught my eye and I thought it sounded super interesting. If a social media platform is able to detect signs that help predict future disease, it is big news, and maybe it can be used to help detect signs of other negative future outcomes.
Reflecting on this assignment, the first thing I want to say is that I once again appreciate the choice the students were given. There was a list of 8 questions, and we got to choose which one we wanted to learn about and answer. Having the choice made me more excited about learning, and more engaged throughout the reading and discussion board process. It is nice that there seems to have been at least one assignment per week that we received a choice like this.
Additionally, I found the topic I explored to very very interesting. Honestly, I really had not considered the possibility of social media posts being related to disease prevalence rates before. However, thinking about it, it really is a brilliant idea, and showcases the point of the assignment, that data can be used to answer research questions. Especially when this may help identify things related to disease, it is not only interesting, but important to learn more about this topic.
I also appreciated the simplicity of the assignment. Professor Gernsbacher mentioned in an email that since we may be stressed because of finals coming up, she made this unit easier compared to the other units, so we would be able to succeed while not being overly stressed. It was a very classy move by the professor, and it did not go unnoticed by me. The students appreciate this move for sure.
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