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METHODS article

Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Political Science Methodologies
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2024.1453640
This article is part of the Research Topic Methods in political science – Innovation & Developments View all 4 articles

Measurement of Event Data from Text *

Provisionally accepted
Patrick T. Brandt Patrick T. Brandt *Marcus M. Sianan Marcus M. Sianan
  • The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    We examine measurement concerns about computer-aided political event data in the stateof-the-art after 2015. The focus is on how to compare and quantify the mathematical and/or conceptual distance between what a machine codes/classifies from information describing an event and the actual circumstances of the event, or the ground truth. Three primary arguments are made: 1) It is important for users of event data to understand the measurement side of these data to avoid faulty inferences and make better decisions. 2) Avant-garde event data systems are still not free from some of the fundamental problems that plague legacy systems (investigated are theoretical and real-world examples of measurement issues, why they are problematic, how they are dealt with, and what is left to be desired even with newer systems). 3) One of the most crucial goals of event data science is to attain congruence between what is machine-coded/classified versus the ground truth. To support these arguments, the literature is benchmarked against welldocumented sources of measurement error. Guidance is provided on how to make performance comparisons within and across language models, identify opportunities to improve event data systems, and more articulately discuss and present findings in this area of research.

    Keywords: Event data, Political methodology, natural language, politcal conflict, international relations

    Received: 23 Jun 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Brandt and Sianan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Patrick T. Brandt, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, United States

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