IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jforec/v43y2024i5p1607-1614.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do search queries predict violence against women? A forecasting model based on Google Trends

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolás Gonzálvez‐Gallego
  • María Concepción Pérez‐Cárceles
  • Laura Nieto‐Torrejón

Abstract

This paper introduces a new indicator for reported intimate partner violence against women based on search query time series from Google Trends. This indicator is built up from the relative popularity of three topic‐related keywords. We propose a predictive model based on this specific Google index that is assessed relative to two alternative models: the first one includes the lagged variable, while the second one considers fatalities as a predictor. This comparative analysis is run in two different samples, whether the reported cases are a direct consequence of a violent direct or not. Our results show that the predictive model based on Google data significantly outperforms the other two models, regardless the sample and the forecast horizon. Then, using information gathered from Google queries may improve the allocation and management of resources and services to protect women against this form of violence and to improve risk assessment.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolás Gonzálvez‐Gallego & María Concepción Pérez‐Cárceles & Laura Nieto‐Torrejón, 2024. "Do search queries predict violence against women? A forecasting model based on Google Trends," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1607-1614, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jforec:v:43:y:2024:i:5:p:1607-1614
    DOI: 10.1002/for.3102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/for.3102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/for.3102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. D’Amuri, Francesco & Marcucci, Juri, 2017. "The predictive power of Google searches in forecasting US unemployment," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 801-816.
    2. Andrea Freyer Dugas & Mehdi Jalalpour & Yulia Gel & Scott Levin & Fred Torcaso & Takeru Igusa & Richard E Rothman, 2013. "Influenza Forecasting with Google Flu Trends," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-7, February.
    3. Levent Bulut, 2018. "Google Trends and the forecasting performance of exchange rate models," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 303-315, April.
    4. Diebold, Francis X & Mariano, Roberto S, 2002. "Comparing Predictive Accuracy," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 134-144, January.
    5. Hyunyoung Choi & Hal Varian, 2012. "Predicting the Present with Google Trends," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(s1), pages 2-9, June.
    6. Jeremy Ginsberg & Matthew H. Mohebbi & Rajan S. Patel & Lynnette Brammer & Mark S. Smolinski & Larry Brilliant, 2009. "Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data," Nature, Nature, vol. 457(7232), pages 1012-1014, February.
    7. Harvey, David & Leybourne, Stephen & Newbold, Paul, 1997. "Testing the equality of prediction mean squared errors," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 281-291, June.
    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. Götz, Thomas B. & Knetsch, Thomas A., 2019. "Google data in bridge equation models for German GDP," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 45-66.
    2. Larson, William D. & Sinclair, Tara M., 2022. "Nowcasting unemployment insurance claims in the time of COVID-19," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 635-647.
    3. David Coble & Pablo Pincheira, 2021. "Forecasting building permits with Google Trends," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(6), pages 3315-3345, December.
    4. Ulrich Gunter & Irem Önder & Stefan Gindl, 2019. "Exploring the predictive ability of LIKES of posts on the Facebook pages of four major city DMOs in Austria," Tourism Economics, , vol. 25(3), pages 375-401, May.
    5. Takumi Ito & Motoki Masuda & Ayaka Naito & Fumiko Takeda, 2021. "Application of Google Trends‐based sentiment index in exchange rate prediction," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(7), pages 1154-1178, November.
    6. Konstantinos N. Konstantakis & Despoina Paraskeuopoulou & Panayotis G. Michaelides & Efthymios G. Tsionas, 2021. "Bank deposits and Google searches in a crisis economy: Bayesian non‐linear evidence for Greece (2009–2015)," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5408-5424, October.
    7. Rodrigo Mulero & Alfredo García-Hiernaux, 2021. "Forecasting Spanish unemployment with Google Trends and dimension reduction techniques," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 329-349, September.
    8. Aaronson, Daniel & Brave, Scott A. & Butters, R. Andrew & Fogarty, Michael & Sacks, Daniel W. & Seo, Boyoung, 2022. "Forecasting unemployment insurance claims in realtime with Google Trends," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 567-581.
    9. Lolić, Ivana & Matošec, Marina & Sorić, Petar, 2024. "DIY google trends indicators in social sciences: A methodological note," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Jichang Dong & Wei Dai & Ying Liu & Lean Yu & Jie Wang, 2019. "Forecasting Chinese Stock Market Prices using Baidu Search Index with a Learning-Based Data Collection Method," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(05), pages 1605-1629, September.
    11. Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding, 2021. "In crisis, we pray: Religiosity and the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 541-583.
    12. Vosen, Simeon & Schmidt, Torsten, 2012. "A monthly consumption indicator for Germany based on Internet search query data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 19(7), pages 683-687.
    13. Fantazzini, Dean, 2020. "Short-term forecasting of the COVID-19 pandemic using Google Trends data: Evidence from 158 countries," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 59, pages 33-54.
    14. Abay,Kibrom A. & Hirfrfot,Kibrom Tafere & Woldemichael,Andinet, 2020. "Winners and Losers from COVID-19 : Global Evidence from Google Search," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9268, The World Bank.
    15. Caperna, Giulio & Colagrossi, Marco & Geraci, Andrea & Mazzarella, Gianluca, 2022. "A babel of web-searches: Googling unemployment during the pandemic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. Stig Vinther Møller & Thomas Pedersen & Erik Christian Montes Schütte & Allan Timmermann, 2024. "Search and Predictability of Prices in the Housing Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(1), pages 415-438, January.
    17. Dean Fantazzini & Julia Pushchelenko & Alexey Mironenkov & Alexey Kurbatskii, 2021. "Forecasting Internal Migration in Russia Using Google Trends: Evidence from Moscow and Saint Petersburg," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-30, October.
    18. Sarun Kamolthip, 2021. "Macroeconomic Forecasting with LSTM and Mixed Frequency Time Series Data," PIER Discussion Papers 165, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    19. Zhongchen Song & Tom Coupé, 2023. "Predicting Chinese consumption series with Baidu," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 429-463, July.
    20. Coble, David & Pincheira, Pablo, 2017. "Nowcasting Building Permits with Google Trends," MPRA Paper 76514, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:jforec:v:43:y:2024:i:5:p:1607-1614. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/2966 .

    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.