IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i15p9614-d880531.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the Scientific Topics in the Chinese Government’s Communication about COVID-19: An LDA Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Qihui Xie

    (Department of Public Administration, School of Law and Humanities, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China)

  • Yanan Xue

    (Department of Public Administration, School of Law and Humanities, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China)

  • Zhuojun Zhao

    (Department of Public Administration, School of Law and Humanities, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

The communication of scientific topics can play a key role in the fight against misinformation and has become an important component of governments’ communication regarding COVID-19. This study reviewed the Chinese government’s COVID-19 information sources and identified the patterns of science communication models within them. A corpus of science-related content was collected and coded from 1521 news briefings announced by the Chinese government. An LDA (latent Dirichlet allocation) topic model, correlation analysis, and ANOVA were used to analyze the framing of the scientific topics and their social environmental characteristics. The major findings showed the following: (1) The frames in the Chinese government’s communication of scientific topics about COVID-19 had three purposes—to disseminate knowledge about prevention and control, epidemiological investigations, and the public’s personal health; to make the public understand scientific R&D in Chinese medicine, enterprises, vaccines, treatment options, and medical resources; and to involve citizens, communities, and enterprises in scientific decision making. (2) The frames were correlated with the public and media concerns. (3) The frames varied with the different levels of officials, different types of government agencies, different income regional governments, and different severity levels of the epidemic. (4) The topics concerning sustainability science were more correlated with public and media concern. In addition, we propose several suggestions for building sustainable communication approaches during the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Qihui Xie & Yanan Xue & Zhuojun Zhao, 2022. "Understanding the Scientific Topics in the Chinese Government’s Communication about COVID-19: An LDA Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-24, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9614-:d:880531
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9614/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9614/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hsin-Yu Kuo & Su-Yen Chen & Yu-Ting Lai, 2021. "Investigating COVID-19 News before and after the Soft Lockdown: An Example from Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Hyehyun Hong & Hyo Jung Kim, 2020. "Antecedents and Consequences of Information Overload in the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Attila Jámbor & Péter Czine & Péter Balogh, 2020. "The Impact of the Coronavirus on Agriculture: First Evidence Based on Global Newspapers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-10, June.
    4. Nicu Gavriluță & Virgil Stoica & Gheorghe-Ilie Fârte, 2022. "The Official Website as an Essential E-Governance Tool: A Comparative Analysis of the Romanian Cities’ Websites in 2019 and 2022," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-21, June.
    5. Viet-Phuong La & Thanh-Hang Pham & Manh-Toan Ho & Minh-Hoang Nguyen & Khanh-Linh P. Nguyen & Thu-Trang Vuong & Hong-Kong T. Nguyen & Trung Tran & Quy Khuc & Manh-Tung Ho & Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2020. "Policy Response, Social Media and Science Journalism for the Sustainability of the Public Health System Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak: The Vietnam Lessons," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-27, April.
    6. John Durant, 1999. "Participatory technology assessment and the democratic model of the public understanding of science," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 26(5), pages 313-319, October.
    7. Jian Mou & Gang Ren & Chunxiu Qin & Kerry Kurcz, 2019. "Understanding the topics of export cross-border e-commerce consumers feedback: an LDA approach," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 749-777, December.
    8. Mariana Cernicova-Buca & Adina Palea, 2021. "An Appraisal of Communication Practices Demonstrated by Romanian District Public Health Authorities at the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, February.
    9. Scott Deerwester & Susan T. Dumais & George W. Furnas & Thomas K. Landauer & Richard Harshman, 1990. "Indexing by latent semantic analysis," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 41(6), pages 391-407, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Irina Wedel & Michael Palk & Stefan Voß, 2022. "A Bilingual Comparison of Sentiment and Topics for a Product Event on Twitter," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 1635-1646, October.
    2. Vuong, Quan-Hoang & Huyen, Nguyen Thanh Thanh & Pham, Thanh-Hang & Phuong, Luong Anh & Nguyen, Minh-Hoang, 2020. "Mapping the intellectual and conceptual structure of research on gender issues in the family business: A bibliometric review," OSF Preprints jgnrw, Center for Open Science.
    3. Mohammed Salem Binwahlan, 2023. "Polynomial Networks Model for Arabic Text Summarization," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 10(2), pages 74-84, February.
    4. Boglárka Anna Éliás & Attila Jámbor, 2021. "Food Security and COVID-19: A Systematic Review of the First-Year Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-18, May.
    5. Curci, Ylenia & Mongeau Ospina, Christian A., 2016. "Investigating biofuels through network analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 60-72.
    6. Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling & Nur Amiera binti Md Suhud & Pau Chung Leng & Lee Bak Yeo & Chin Tiong Cheng & Mohd Hamdan Haji Ahmad & Ak Mohd Rafiq Ak Matusin, 2021. "Factors Influencing Asia-Pacific Countries’ Success Level in Curbing COVID-19: A Review Using a Social–Ecological System (SES) Framework," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-27, February.
    7. Ling, Gabriel Hoh Teck & Suhud, Nur Amiera binti Md & Leng, Pau Chung & Yeo, Lee Bak & Cheng, Chin Tiong & Ahmad, Mohd Hamdan Haji & Matusin, AK Mohd Rafiq AK, 2021. "Factors Influencing Asia-Pacific Countries’ Success Level in Curbing COVID-19: A Review Using a Social–Ecological System (SES) Framework," SocArXiv b9f2w, Center for Open Science.
    8. Chao Wei & Senlin Luo & Xincheng Ma & Hao Ren & Ji Zhang & Limin Pan, 2016. "Locally Embedding Autoencoders: A Semi-Supervised Manifold Learning Approach of Document Representation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, January.
    9. Pavla Vrabcová & Hana Urbancová, 2021. "Use of human resources information system in agricultural companies in the Czech Republic," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 67(5), pages 173-180.
    10. Nuria Huete-Alcocer & Miguel Ángel Valero-Tévar, 2021. "Impact of Information Sources on Promoting Tourism in a Rural Region: The Case of the Roman Villa of Noheda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-23, July.
    11. Jae-Eun Lee & Seol-A Kwon, 2021. "A Study on the Public’s Crisis Management Efficacy and Anxiety in a Pandemic Situation—Focusing on the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-17, July.
    12. Ho, Manh-Toan, 2021. "Mindsponge: Some Remarks for Future Research Directions," OSF Preprints ce2y7, Center for Open Science.
    13. Maksym Polyakov & Morteza Chalak & Md. Sayed Iftekhar & Ram Pandit & Sorada Tapsuwan & Fan Zhang & Chunbo Ma, 2018. "Authorship, Collaboration, Topics, and Research Gaps in Environmental and Resource Economics 1991–2015," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(1), pages 217-239, September.
    14. Ding, Ying, 2011. "Community detection: Topological vs. topical," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 498-514.
    15. Klaus Gugler & Florian Szücs & Ulrich Wohak, 2023. "Start-up Acquisitions, Venture Capital and Innovation: A Comparative Study of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp340, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    16. Hiranya Dissanayake & D.B.P.H. Dissabandara & K.L.W. Perera & A.R. Ajward, 2023. "Bibliometric analysis on the Covid-19 impact on corporate sustainability," Journal of Financial Studies, Institute of Financial Studies, vol. 14(8), pages 57-71, June.
    17. Md Nazrul Islam & Md Mofazzal Hossain & Md Shafayet Shahed Ornob, 2024. "Business research on Industry 4.0: a systematic review using topic modelling approach," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, December.
    18. Hai-Anh H. Dang & Cuong Viet Nguyen, 2024. "Agricultural Production as a Coping Strategy during the Covid-19 Pandemic? Evidence from Rural Viet Nam," Working Papers DP-2023-23, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    19. Juan Shi & Kin Keung Lai & Ping Hu & Gang Chen, 2018. "Factors dominating individual information disseminating behavior on social networking sites," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 121-139, June.
    20. Hai-Anh H. Dang & Long T. Giang & Minh N. N. Do, 2021. "Building on Vietnam’s Recent COVID-19 Success: A Job-Focused Analysis of Individual Assessments on Their Finance and the Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-21, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9614-:d:880531. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.