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Ozan Kuru

@ozankuru.bsky.social

270 followers 780 following 49 posts

Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore Bio: https://discovery.nus.edu.sg/18898-ozan-kuru Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=T6KRMogAAAAJ&hl=en ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ozan-Kuru

discovery.nus.edu.sg

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Ozan Kuru @ozankuru.bsky.social · Jan 22

Excited to share this publication @lseimpactblog.bsky.social covering+expanding the arguments from my recent research: Why we need more “critical coordination” in interventions against misinformation – also with implications for intervention science at large. blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Are misinformation interventions different or fundamentally the same?

The growing field of misinformation research has spawned numerous conflicting interventions aimed at minimising its impact. Ozan Kuru argues that by taking a critical perspective on these intervent…

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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Public Opinion Quarterly - POQ @poqjournal.bsky.social · 5d

Do different survey modes affect respondents' discomfort?

As live-video surveys become commonplace, Okon et al. shed light on what this means for data collection.

Read now: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

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doctor eek [free link arc] (alt decorative gourd season) @absolutely-not.bsky.social · 5d

i looked at the methodology for this and it is
a. sex addiction counseling group in texas did a surveymonkey and extrapolated the results to the entire us population which is the sort of research design that earns you an ff on an intro methods class (the extra f is for extra effort), and
b. p-hacked

The Independent @the-independent.com · 6d

Nearly a third of Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says

1 in 3 Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says

www.independent.co.uk

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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 7d

A lot of psych is already conducted with online convenience samples & ppl are probably excited about silicon samples bc it would allow them to crank out more studies for even less 💸

How about we reconsider the idea that sciencey science involves collecting own data.
www.science.org/content/arti...

AI-generated ‘participants’ can lead social science experiments astray, study finds

Data produced by “silicon samples” depends on researchers’ exact choice of models, prompts, and settings

www.science.org

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 8d

YES! THIS on GenAI!

Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:

"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

Large Language Muddle | The Editors

The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...

www.nplusonemag.com

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Amanda Sahar d’Urso @asdurso.bsky.social · 12d

Labels can impact politics. My paper @apsrjournal.bsky.social "What Happens When You Can't Check the Box?" shows when Middle Eastern & North African (MENA) Americans are excluded from identity categories, they assert MENA identity when answering relevant political questions.
doi.org/10.1017/S000...

What Happens When You Can’t Check the Box? Categorization Threat and Public Opinion among Middle Eastern and North African Americans | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core

What Happens When You Can’t Check the Box? Categorization Threat and Public Opinion among Middle Eastern and North African Americans

doi.org

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Nathan Kalmoe (he/him) @nathankalmoe.bsky.social · 11d

Some big implications for journalism, too, where reporters often mistake trending posts as a reasonable reflection of public opinion.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 11d

🤷🏿‍♂️

Cracker Barrel Outrage Was Almost Certainly Driven by Bots, Researchers Say

Doesn't that make more sense than lots of people caring about Cracker Barrel?

gizmodo.com

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Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 13d

Now out in @cpsjournal.bsky.social. In our new article, @denis-cohen.bsky.social @thmskrr.bsky.social and I show that where local rent prices increase more, residents with lower incomes become more likely to support the radical right AfD.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 13d

The Truth is Out There! www.ualberta.ca/en/newtrail/... via @ualbertalaw.bsky.social

Nice piece on my recent book. 🙏

My advice on avoiding harmful bunk:

1) Don’t be too cynical
2) Watch for emotional triggers
3) Read beyond the headline
4) Beware of “sciencey” language
5) Avoid the Galileo gambit

The Truth is Out There, and We Trust It

www.ualberta.ca

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Ozan Kuru @ozankuru.bsky.social · 13d

"While accurate information and social support were shared, a notable part of commercial messages and AH treatments offered for COVID-19 included misleading and unverified claims."

Ozan Kuru @ozankuru.bsky.social · 13d

"these Facebook groups served as digital spaces for AH content by playing a dual role: (1) disseminating information on COVID-19 and AH for both laypeople and experts and (2) providing spiritual connections and commercial content to alleviate anxiety during the pandemic."

Exploring Alternative Health Facebook Groups in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Automated Content Analysis Through Structural Topic Modeling | Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

Alternative health (AH) has an important role in public health across cultures, as the World Health Organization acknowledges. Using structural topic modeling, we analyzed 25,561 posts from public Fac...

www.liebertpub.com

Reposted by Ozan Kuru

Derek Holliday @derekholliday.com · 15d

New in PNAS with @seanjwestwood.bsky.social and @ylelkes.bsky.social: Why depolarization is hard: Evaluating attempts to decrease partisan animosity in America

@prl.bsky.social @pnas.org

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Jamie Cummins @jamiecummins.bsky.social · 20d

Can large language models stand in for human participants?
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.

One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.

THREAD 🧵

The threat of analytic flexibility in using large language models to simulate human data: A call to attention

Social scientists are now using large language models to create "silicon samples" - synthetic datasets intended to stand in for human respondents, aimed at revolutionising human subjects research. How...

arxiv.org

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Magdalena Saldaña @magdalenasaldan.bsky.social · 16d

#NewPaper is out! With #NucleoMEPOP coauthors Claudia Lagos and @karengheza.bsky.social, led by the amazing Isabel Pavez in @jmcquarterly.bsky.social ❤️

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Thread below 👇

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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 20d

Today's ACIP meeting may use VAERS data to make false claims about vaccine injury.

To help sort out what's true from what's false, @stecula.bsky.social and I updated an explainer we wrote several years ago for @us.theconversation.com.

theconversation.com/vaccine-deat...

Vaccine death and side effects database relies on unverified reports – and Trump officials and right-wing media are applying it out of context

Anti-vaccine activists are using the side effect reporting system to spread fear and misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. But the database could also be used as a gauge for public concerns.

theconversation.com

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 17d

Americans who say there's a lot of discrimination against people who are:
In US illegally 57%
Transgender 48%
Gay or lesbian 37%
Black 36%
Muslim 34%
Hispanic 34%
Jewish 30%
Immigrants in US legally 29%
Women 22%
Asian 21%
Religious 17%
Older 16%
Evangelical 13%
White 12%
Men 10%
Atheist 7%

Chart shows Majorities of Americans say many groups in U.S. society face at least some discrimination Large majorities of Americans say numerous groups in the United States face at least some discrimination, including immigrants, transgender people and members of different racial and religious groups. About eight-in-ten (82%) say immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally experience a lot of or some discrimination – including 57% who say they face a lot of discrimination, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults. That is the highest share for any group among 20 included in the survey. Still, there is a widespread belief that many other societal groups also are discriminated against: 77% say people who are transgender face at least some discrimination, with 48% saying this group experiences a lot of discrimination. 74% say Muslims in the U.S. face a lot of or some discrimination, while a similar share (72%) say Jews face at least some discrimination. Roughly a thi

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Taberez A. Neyazi @taberez.bsky.social · 21d

I am pleased to share the latest issue of The International Journal of Press/Politics, which features Special Issue articles from the 2023 #IJPP conference, University of Edinburgh & several open access articles.

Link journals.sagepub.com/toc/HIJ/curr...

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Simon Chauchard @simonchauchard.bsky.social · 29d

Missed it in august! But this (with @sumitra.bsky.social) also is out at @bjpols.bsky.social

We map how religious beliefs and identities affect the endorsement of falsehoods, and use an experiment in India to test. More to do on the contextual drivers of misinfo, but this is a start. Check it :)

British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · Aug 18

NEW -

The Religious Roots of Belief in Misinformation: Experimental Evidence from India - cup.org/472gDEr

- @simonchauchard.bsky.social & @sumitra.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

BJPolS abstract discussing the role of religion in misinformation and polarization, specifically within the context of India. The text highlights methods and findings from a study exploring how religious identities can amplify or reduce the effects of misinformation.

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Chokely Carmichael🥋 @stewartcoles.bsky.social · 23d

New study examines how people evaluate online ads as "political": source cues, message strength (i.e., persuasive intent), and uncongenial messages. All addressed by the politically relevant media model (PRMM) and why asking if a media text is "political" may not be the best measure.

Journal of Experimental Political Science @jepsjournal.bsky.social · 25d

Now Out on First View: "What Drives Perceptions of the Political in Online Advertising?: The Source, Content, and Political Orientation"

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

What Drives Perceptions of the Political in Online Advertising?: The Source, Content, and Political Orientation | Journal of Experimental Political Science | Cambridge Core

What Drives Perceptions of the Political in Online Advertising?: The Source, Content, and Political Orientation

www.cambridge.org

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 23d

I collected some materials on critical AI from my perspective; hope it's useful: olivia.science/ai

"CAIL is as an umbrella for all the prerequisite knowledge required to have an expert-level critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims"

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Nicolas Mattis @nickmattis.bsky.social · Aug 26

New paper on algorithmic gatekeeping & news engagement out at JOC!

Lucien Heitz, @masurphil.bsky.social, @judith-moeller.bsky.social, @vanatteveldt.com & me ran a 1-week long field experiment to test if we can nudge people to read (and learn from) environmental news.

doi.org/10.1093/joc/...

Nudges for news recommenders: prominent article positioning increases selection, engagement, and recall of environmental news, but reducing complexity does not

Abstract. News aggregators inherently constitute choice architectures in which placement and presentation of news articles in the user interface affect how

doi.org

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Margaret R Roller @margaretrroller.bsky.social · 26d

For the first time, a special issue of @poqjournal.bsky.social devoted to #qualitative research! The 2025 special issue: Qualitative Research: Advancing the Social & Behavioral Sciences - Articles using a quality approach to study the vulnerable, sensitive topics & QDA bit.ly/POQQRissue

Public Opinion Quarterly Makes History with This 2025 Special Issue

For the First Time, a Special Issue of Public Opinion Quarterly Devoted to Qualitative Research Qualitative Research: Advancing the Social & Behavioral Sciences Public Opinion Quarterly has bee…

bit.ly

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Golareh Khalilpour — 🕸️🎃 GolAURGHeh Kililgore 👻🦇 @golareh.bsky.social · 27d

ICYMI: If you’re working or are planning on working with Google Trends Data for research, make sure to read this article by @floriankeusch.bsky.social & co-authors. They explore common pitfalls, incl. construct validity and reliability, and show how to improve data quality to enhance robustness.

The (mis)use of Google Trends data in the social sciences - A systematic review, critique, and recommendations

Researchers increasingly use aggregated search data from Google Trends to study a wide range of phenomena. Although this new data source possesses som…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Devina Sarwatay @devinasarwatay.bsky.social · 28d

Fab researchers at the National Literacy Trust launched new research asking: What does AI mean for the future of literacy?

New findings offer insight into how young people & teachers use genAI & whether literacy skills can support a more critical approach

More: literacytrust.org.uk/ai-and-literacy

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Mark Boukes @markboukes.bsky.social · 29d

Why did COVID-19 memes turn politicians into both heroes and clowns?

In our new study of jokes from five European countries, we show how pandemic humor made leaders look powerful — yet, just as lost as the rest of us. Read how politics became a spectacle through humor: doi.org/10.1177/1367...

‘If MPs have immunity, then why are they so afraid of the Coronavirus?’ Political humor during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave in Europe - Delia Dumitrica, Mark Boukes, Delia Chiaro, Anastasiya Fiado...

The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to an unprecedented circulation of online humor, an important part of which referred to politics and politicians. In the current...

doi.org

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LSE Impact Blog @lseimpactblog.bsky.social · Sep 3

💥New: Can we measure trust in scientific publications?
✍️ @jacoates.bsky.social‬

#AcademicSky #OpenScience #PeerReview
blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Can we measure trust in scientific publications? - Impact of Social Sciences

Jonathon Alexis Coates outlines how a constellation of static and dynamic indicators could provide a means for assessing the trustworthiness of published research

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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