Methodological Rigour in Algorithm Application: An Illustration of Topic Modelling Algorithm
Malmi Amadoru

TL;DR
This paper discusses the importance of methodological rigour in applying topic modelling algorithms, providing guidelines to ensure transparency and trustworthiness in computational research.
Contribution
It offers a set of guidelines for rigorous application of topic modelling algorithms, aiding researchers, reviewers, and editors in ensuring methodological quality.
Findings
Presented a structured set of guidelines for topic modelling application.
Illustrated the application process through an example.
Contributed to the discourse on rigour in computational research methods.
Abstract
The rise of advanced computational algorithms has opened new avenues for computationally intensive research approaches to theory development. However, the opacity of these algorithms and lack of transparency and rigour in their application pose methodological challenges, potentially undermining trust in research. The discourse on methodological rigour in this new genre of research is still emerging. Against this backdrop, I attempt to offer guidance on methodological rigour, particularly in the context of topic modelling algorithms. By illustrating the application of the structural topic modelling algorithm and presenting a set of guidelines, I discuss how to ensure rigour in topic modelling studies. Although the guidelines are for the application of topic modelling algorithms, they can be applied to other algorithms with context-specific adjustments. The guidelines are helpful,…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsComputational and Text Analysis Methods · Qualitative Research Methods and Applications · Topic Modeling
