Subjective versus objective questions: Perception of question subjectivity in social Q&A

Zhe Liu*, Bernard J. Jansen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent research has indicated that social networking sites are being adopted as venues for online information-seeking. In order to understand questioner’s intention in social Q&A environments and to better facilitate such behaviors, we define two types of questions: subjective information-seeking questions and objective information seeking ones. To enable automatic detection on question subjectivity, we propose a predictive model that can accurately distinguish between the two classes of questions. By applying the classifier on a larger dataset, we present a comprehensive analysis to compare questions with subjective and objective orientations, in terms of their length, response speed, as well as the characteristics of their respondents. We find that the two types of questions exhibited very different characteristics. Also, we noticed that question subjectivity plays a significant role in attracting responses from strangers. Our results validate the expected benefits of differentiating questions according to their subjectivity orientations, and provide valuable insights for future design and development of tools that can assist the information seeking process under social context.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSocial Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction - 8th International Conference, SBP 2015, Proceedings
EditorsKevin Xu, Nitin Agarwal, Nathaniel Osgood
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages131-140
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9783319162676
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event8th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction, SBP 2015 - Washington, United States
Duration: 31 Mar 20153 Apr 2015

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume9021
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference8th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction, SBP 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWashington
Period31/03/153/04/15

Keywords

  • Information seeking
  • Social Q&A
  • Social network
  • Social search
  • Twitter

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