Dr. Vasja Vehovar, Živa Šubelj, Dr. Andraž Petrovčič, and Dr. Jošt Bartol have published a review article titled »A scoping review of survey questions assessing online hate speech« in Computers in Human Behavior Reports.
Online hate speech is a major challenge for contemporary society, and its significance is increasing with digitalisation and the expansion of internet use. To limit its spread, researchers have developed various approaches to detecting and analysing hateful content online. At the same time, it is also important to understand how individuals perceive online hate speech and how they experience it. Survey research is particularly useful in this regard, as it offers insight into people’s subjective views.
However, existing survey research on online hate speech remains fragmented, and standardised tools for measuring perceptions of the phenomenon are still lacking. To address this gap, the authors of the mentioned study conducted a scoping review of survey questions used in academic research on online hate speech. Their goal was to map the field and provide guidance for future research.
Through this review, they identified 122 academic publications, which together included 127 individual studies and 579 survey questions covering different aspects of online hate speech. They analysed these questions according to their methodological and substantive characteristics.
The results revealed a wide range of measurement approaches. Most questions used ordinal five-point response scales, which is particularly true for multi-item questions. The authors also observed that most questions and scales were newly developed but insufficiently tested, and that studies often provided only a limited description of the methodological process. They further found that questions most often addressed online hate speech in general, rather than focusing on specific personal characteristics such as race or nationality. When categorised by topic, the questions most frequently addressed reactions and coping strategies, perception, victimisation, and exposure to online hate speech.
Based on their findings, the authors proposed nine guidelines for future survey research on online hate speech. They also created a database of all identified survey questions, which is freely available at https://osf.io/mw4f6/.
The study was financed by research projects J5-3100 (Evaluating probability and nonprobability online panels) and V5-2330 (Analysis of online hate speech and disinformation in Slovenia and development of a proposal for action) and the research programme P5-0399 (Internet research).