How to Identify Hot Topics in Psychology Using Topic Modeling

Bittermann, André; Fischer, Andreas

doi:10.1027/2151-2604/a000318

Cited by 43 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation, Bittermann and Fischer (2018) studied the emergence of "hot topics" in psychology in German-speaking countries from 1980 to 2016. Based on 314, 573 English and German article abstracts listed in PSYNDEX and relying on the APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, they investigated associations between topics uncovered and the terms provided by the thesaurus.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the field of psychology: Trends in research topics 1995–2015

et al. 2021

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We map the topic structure of psychology utilizing a sample of over 500,000 abstracts of research articles and conference proceedings spanning two decades (1995–2015). To do so, we apply structural topic models to examine three research questions: (i) What are the discipline’s most prevalent research topics? (ii) How did the scientific discourse in psychology change over the last decades, especially since the advent of neurosciences? (iii) And was this change carried by high impact (HI) or less prestigious journals? Our results reveal that topics related to natural sciences are trending, while their ’counterparts’ leaning to humanities are declining in popularity. Those trends are even more pronounced in the leading outlets of the field. Furthermore, our findings indicate a continued interest in methodological topics accompanied by the ascent of neurosciences and related methods and technologies (e.g. fMRI’s). At the same time, other established approaches (e.g. psychoanalysis) become less popular and indicate a relative decline of topics related to the social sciences and the humanities.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the field of psychology: Trends in research topics 1995–2015

et al. 2021

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“…Therefore, our research focused on answering what research methods are being used, how these methods are being used and for what topics in practice (i.e., journal publications) in order to provide a general perspective of method used in psychology publication. We synthesised the collected data into the following format: research topic [areas of scientific discourse in a field or the current needs of a population (Bittermann and Fischer, 2018 )], method [data-gathering tools (Nieuwenhuis, 2016 )], sampling [elements chosen from a population to partake in research (Ritchie et al, 2009 )], data collection [techniques and research strategy (Maree, 2016 )], and data analysis [discovering information by examining bodies of data (Ktepi, 2016 )]. A systematised review of recent articles (2013 to 2017) collected from five different journals in the field of psychological research was conducted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Research Methods in Psychological Research: A Systematised Review

Scholtz

Klerk

Beer

2020

Front. Res. Metr. Anal.

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Research methods play an imperative role in research quality as well as educating young researchers, however, the application thereof is unclear which can be detrimental to the field of psychology. Therefore, this systematised review aimed to determine what research methods are being used, how these methods are being used and for what topics in the field. Our review of 999 articles from five journals over a period of 5 years indicated that psychology research is conducted in 10 topics via predominantly quantitative research methods. Of these 10 topics, social psychology was the most popular. The remainder of the conducted methodology is described. It was also found that articles lacked rigour and transparency in the used methodology which has implications for replicability. In conclusion this article, provides an overview of all reported methodologies used in a sample of psychology journals. It highlights the popularity and application of methods and designs throughout the article sample as well as an unexpected lack of rigour with regard to most aspects of methodology. Possible sample bias should be considered when interpreting the results of this study. It is recommended that future research should utilise the results of this study to determine the possible impact on the field of psychology as a science and to further investigation into the use of research methods. Results should prompt the following future research into: a lack or rigour and its implication on replication, the use of certain methods above others, publication bias and choice of sampling method.

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“…LDA differs from other clustering techniques as it produces a probabilistic assignment of keywords to topics and topics to documents. As a result, it reflects the nature of scientific publications more appropriately than dichotomized assignments (Bittermann & Fischer, 2018; Blei, 2012; Griffiths & Steyvers, 2004). To ensure the stability of the results, we followed the proposed procedure of Mantyla et al (2018), ran the LDA with multiple repetitions ( n = 100), and clustered the results with a k ‐medoids approach to identify distinct topic clusters.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the jungle: A bibliometric analysis of research into construal level theory

Adler

Sarstedt

2021

Psychology and Marketing

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Construal level theory (CLT) offers a valuable framework to explain the mechanisms that trigger evaluations, predictions, and behaviors by linking the degree of mental abstraction (the construal level) to psychological distance. CLT‐related research has produced numerous publications in a variety of domains, impeding an ongoing overview of the research field and limiting its advancement. Addressing this concern, our paper presents the results of a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of CLT‐related research. This analysis identifies leading authors and the networks in which they operate. We find that a well‐connected, stable core of prominent authors predominantly shaped CLT research and was responsible for its expansion. In addition, we used topic modeling to identify latent topics and research trends, with the results showing that CLT research has expanded into more interdisciplinary and applied contexts. Specifically, although CLT's relevance for consumer research has amplified and applications in areas such as climate change and sustainability have surged, the classic areas of CLT research, such as planning fallacy and impulse control, have lost momentum. Building upon the results of our topic analysis, we identify future research paths and specifically call for a more comprehensive societal focus in CLT‐related research.

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How to Identify Hot Topics in Psychology Using Topic Modeling

Cited by 43 publications

References 33 publications

Mapping the field of psychology: Trends in research topics 1995–2015

Mapping the field of psychology: Trends in research topics 1995–2015

The Use of Research Methods in Psychological Research: A Systematised Review

Mapping the jungle: A bibliometric analysis of research into construal level theory

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