Perceptions of advice-giving on Reddit: a pragmatic investigation of moves and upvotes

Lu, Rickey ORCID: 0000-0003-3239-0130 (2024). Perceptions of advice-giving on Reddit: a pragmatic investigation of moves and upvotes. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Turning to the internet to seek, receive, and give advice has become increasingly widespread. One of the most popular online sites where advice interactions routinely occur is Reddit (www.reddit.com). As a predominately public platform, the userbase of Reddit presumably extends beyond only registered contributors. Consequently, it is important to understand advice interactions on Reddit not only from a descriptive perspective (i.e. analyzing how advice-seekers and advice-givers interact on the site), but also how other audiences might perceive or interact with the advice using the platform’s mediated features (e.g. Reddit’s upvote system). Thus, this project investigates Reddit advice-giving formulations in addition to their relationship with Reddit’s upvote system, and how we might perceive and evaluate the quality of advice.

My exploration of advice-giving on Reddit consists of three phases. In phase one, I adopt move analysis (c.f. Swales, 1981, 1990) to explore the types of moves used in Reddit advice-giving. I also extend the theoretical conception of the move into pragmatic perspectives (specifically, the pragmatic model of Spencer-Oatey & Kádár, 2021). In phase two, I explore the association between moves and upvotes using Poisson regression modeling. Finally, phase three of my project involves designing and administering an experiment informed by the findings of my move analysis in order to tease out these results in a more fine-grained manner. Moreover, as the study of advice is not solely situated within linguistics, I also incorporate theories and frameworks from communication studies and psychology to generate an interdisciplinary-informed understanding of advice.

The methodological choices made throughout this project culminates in a research approach that expands the analytical and theoretical boundaries of move analysis as well as our knowledge of advice-giving. At the same time, my methodology brings pragmatic conceptions of the upvote system to the fore, providing insights into what the upvote system means when it is used (or not used) to interact with advice.

My results provide a granular and empirical understanding of both the association between upvotes and moves, along with how different advice-giving moves affect our perceptions of advice. I also advance our understanding of Reddit as a site for computer-mediated communication and our understanding of advice as an interactional process. Therefore, the findings of this project not only concern Reddit, but also have implications for our wider understanding of advice-giving.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):