Reliability of Google Trends: Analysis of the Limits and Potential of Web Infoveillance During COVID-19 Pandemic and for Future Research.

Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics
A. Rovetta

Abstract

Background: Alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, government authorities around the world have had to face a growing infodemic capable of causing serious damages to public health and economy. In this context, the use of infoveillance tools has become a primary necessity. Objective: The aim of this study is to test the reliability of a widely used infoveillance tool which is Google Trends. In particular, the paper focuses on the analysis of relative search volumes (RSVs) quantifying their dependence on the day they are collected. Methods: RSVs of the query coronavirus + covid during February 1-December 4, 2020 (period 1), and February 20-May 18, 2020 (period 2), were collected daily by Google Trends from December 8 to 27, 2020. The survey covered Italian regions and cities, and countries and cities worldwide. The search category was set to all categories. Each dataset was analyzed to observe any dependencies of RSVs from the day they were gathered. To do this, by calling i the country, region, or city under investigation and j the day its RSV was collected, a Gaussian distribution X ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 23, 2021·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Alessandro RabioloAlessandro Marchese
Oct 19, 2021·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Andrzej JarynowskiVitaly Belik

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Software Mentioned

XLSTAT
Excel
Trends
Google Trends ( GT
XGBoost
Real
Google Support
Reddit
Google Trends

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