Education Division Scholarship

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2023

Keywords

quantitative ethnography, epistemic network analysis, epistemic frames, political discourse, artificial neural networks, complex adaptive systems, parallax

Abstract

This paper extends a developing analytic framework for political discourse that takes place over digital social media. Earlier presentations of the framework have furnished a rationale for applying the conceptual framework of epistemic frame theory and the tools of quantitative ethnography for political discourse analysis. They have provided early existence proofs of the viability of epistemic network analysis (ENA) for rudimentary models of social media threads that involve political content. The current theoretical paper moves significantly beyond this foundation. It summarizes and deepens the explanation of the constructs of discursive transactions, response grammars, and epistemic frames in political discourse. It proposes and supports three modeling tools for building a productive science of political discourse. The first modeling tool involves both ENA and a mathematical means for extending ENA’s key explanatory and predictive potential to display dyadic connections between constructs. The second involves complex adaptive system (CAS) theory. The third involves the application of artificial neural networks. Each of these three tools provides valuable modeling affordances which the other two do not. Collectively, these three approaches hold promise to contribute to the science of political discourse by deepening our understanding and supporting potential repair of profoundly disturbing trends in political conversations that are unfolding globally.

Publication Title

Springer, Cham

ISBN

978-3-031-47014-1

Volume

Vol1895

First Page

275

Last Page

289

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47014-1_19

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