Images as Data for Social Science Research: An Introduction to Convolutional Neural Nets for Image Classification

Nora Webb Williams, Andreu Casas, John D. Wilkerson

Research output: Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook

Abstract

Images play a crucial role in shaping and reflecting political life. Digitization has vastly increased the presence of such images in daily life, creating valuable new research opportunities for social scientists. We show how recent innovations in computer vision methods can substantially lower the costs of using images as data. We introduce readers to the deep learning algorithms commonly used for object recognition, facial recognition, and visual sentiment analysis. We then provide guidance and specific instructions for scholars interested in using these methods in their own research.
Original languageEnglish (US)
PublisherCambridge University Press
Number of pages86
ISBN (Electronic)9781108860741
ISBN (Print)9781108816854
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 13 2020

Publication series

NameElements in Quantitative and Computational Methods for the Social Sciences

Keywords

  • Convolutional neural nets
  • Images as data
  • Machine learning
  • Political methodology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Computer Science
  • General Social Sciences

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