Potential Applications of Sentiment Analysis in Educational Research and Practice – Is SITE the Friendliest Conference?

Despite the widespread use of sentiment analysis by many disciplines, it has been a largely underused tool in educational contexts. The purpose of this paper is to explore some potential uses for sentiment analysis in educational settings and to present a sample study using the approach. Using sentiment analysis, we compare the “friendliness” of two educational technology conferences and use these data to answer the question: Is SITE the friendliest conference? We then expand the discussion to consider how education researchers and practitioners may fruitfully use sentiment analysis. “Sentiment is wherever you go” Mitch Albom “It is as healthy to enjoy sentiment as to enjoy jam” Gilbert K. Chesterton