93560 - Information and Big Data (Lm)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to train students in a mixed approach to the analysis of digital data applied to the world of information and journalism. To this end, quantitative and qualitative methodologies will be proposed, particular attention will be paid to the study of social networks as a support for data-driven social investigation. At the end of the course, students will: - master quantitative and qualitative analysis methodologies; - have an in-depth knowledge of the role played by big data in conditioning and orienting the flow of news; - know how to analyse structured and unstructured data, adopt the main visualisation methods and tools; - know how to apply theoretical skills in the realisation of data-driven journalistic products; - be able to filter, sort and group data in the awareness of the importance of preliminary analyses.

Course contents

WARNING. This course is about to change its title or training objectives. In the transitional phase, the title and training objectives for the 2021/2022 academic year remain, but it is essential to read the contents of the syllabus. The course introduces the analysis of public opinion using various quantitative methods, based on both big data from social networks and survey data.

The first part of the course presents in a discursive manner the main hypotheses and analyses elaborated in the field of socio-political studies concerning the cleavages or divisive issues along which national public opinions are led to take a position (statism/liberalism, globalism/nationalism, climate change, immigration, civil rights). As well as the factors influencing the formation of such opinions and voting choices, including: the 'ascribed' characteristics of voters (gender, age, education, family), their place in the social structure (defined by class, religious, territorial affiliations), their long-term political predispositions (location on the left-right axis, party identifications, values), their assessment of the objects of competition (incumbent government, parties, leaders).
The second part of the course introduces the basic categories and methodological canons of empirical research with coded data (so-called quantitative analysis) concerning social and political phenomena: definition of the questions, the hypotheses and the concepts specifying them, the indicators for detecting the properties being analysed; modalities of conducting sample surveys (polls), with particular attention to the formulation of questionnaires, the sampling plan and administration techniques; how to present survey results and analysis using the main statistical techniques (monovariate, bivariate, multivariate analysis); how to quantitatively analyse textual data taken from social networks with particular attention to the communication of leaders and the reactions of their followers using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.
In the third part, participants will be asked to choose a topic from those addressed in the first part, to find scientific literature dealing with it with empirical data and to present the questions, hypotheses and results of the analyses in a professional manner. The verbal presentation, carried out with the aid of PowerPoint cards, and the related classroom discussion may form the basis for the final paper.

This course has as its natural extension the 'Communication Laboratory' (again, this is a transitional designation) in which the hypotheses and methods learnt are applied through techniques and software for analysing survey data and textual data from social networks.

Readings/Bibliography

Harold D. Clarke, David Sanders, Marianne C. Stewart, and Paul Whiteley (2004). Political Choice in Britain, Oxford University Press, pp. 2-35.

Inglehart, Ronald F. 2020. Cultural Evolution: People’s Motivations Are Changing, and Reshaping the World. Oxford University Press, Introduction. cap. 1, 2-5,

D. Sunshine Hillygus, The Practice of Survey Research, 2012

Piergiorgio Corbetta, Luigi Ceccarini (2010). Le variabili socio-demografiche: generazione, genere, istruzione [e famiglia, escluso], in: Paolo Bellucci, Paolo Segatti (a cura di). Votare in Italia, 1968-2008, Bologna, il Mulino, 2011, pp. 83-148.

Marco Maraffi, Hans Schadee, Cristiano Vezzoni, Gabriele Ballarino (2010). Le fratture sociali: classe, religione, territorio. in: Paolo Bellucci, Paolo Segatti (a cura di), pp. 149-186.

Fisher, Justin et al. 2018. The Routledge Handbook of Elections, Voting Behavior and Public Opinion. Routledge London, part III, pp. 121-203

Vassallo, Salvatore, and Marco Valbruzzi. 2018. “I partiti della Grande Recessione contro i partiti della Grande Depressione. Un nuovo cleavage o un’altra bolla?” Stato e Mercato: 87–116.

Mudde, Cas. 2004. “The Populist Zeitgeist.” Government and Opposition 39(4): 541–63.

Inglehart, Ronald F. 2020. Cultural Evolution. Oxford University Press, Introduction. capp. 9, 10,

Kriesi, Hanspeter et al. 2006. “Globalization and the Transformation of the National Political Space: Six European Countries Compared.” European Journal of Political Research 45(6): 921–56.

Liesbet Hooghe e Gary Marks. 2018. «Cleavage theory meets Europe’s crises: Lipset, Rokkan, and the transnational cleavage». Journal of European Public Policy 25 (1): 109–35.

Teaching methods

The course consists of fifteen working sessions in which students will be invited to actively participate. Approximately ten of these sessions will consist of classic lectures. In the remaining five sessions, students will be required to present and discuss, in turn, some of the reference texts and set out the hypotheses around which they intend to elaborate the final paper. All classes will be held in presence.

Assessment methods

Each student must write a paper (maximum 10,000 characters) on one of the topics covered in the course, basing their analysis on the relevant scientific literature. Students who are guilty of plagiarism - i.e. if parts of the paper are transcribed from other documents of any kind that are not correctly referenced - will be excluded from the course and will not be admitted to the examination. The final grade will be based on the evaluation of the paper and its discussion as well as an oral interview covering all course content as usual. Attendance is not compulsory. The syllabus, reference texts and tests are identical for attending and non-attending students.

Teaching tools

Video projector, cloud sharing of course materials, sharing of some of the video-recorded lectures.

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Vassallo