Evaluation of computerized text analysis in an Internet breast cancer support group

Although support groups are widely available on the Internet, little is known about the conversations in them. We hypothesized that automatic text analysis may be a powerful tool helping to understand what is communicated in these groups. In an exploratory study, the postings of nine women participa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers in human behavior 2005-03, Vol.21 (2), p.361-376
Main Authors: Alpers, Georg W., Winzelberg, Andrew J., Classen, Catherine, Roberts, Heidi, Dev, Parvati, Koopman, Cheryl, Barr Taylor, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Breast cancer
Emotional writing, Internet
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Miscellaneous
Newsgroup
Psychology and medicine
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Support group
Text analysis
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Summary:Although support groups are widely available on the Internet, little is known about the conversations in them. We hypothesized that automatic text analysis may be a powerful tool helping to understand what is communicated in these groups. In an exploratory study, the postings of nine women participating in a semi-structured breast cancer support group program were analyzed with a human rater and with Pennebaker and Francis' text analysis software (LIWC). The computer scores on most of the selected word categories and human ratings were moderately correlated. This indicates concurrent validity of the LIWC. An indication for construct validity was found by comparing the LIWC scores of the on-line group with those of other texts. Automated text analysis should be further developed for on-line discussions where they may serve as a useful tool for group moderators and researchers.
ISSN:0747-5632
1873-7692
DOI:10.1016/j.chb.2004.02.008