Using Internet search engines to estimate word frequency.

@article{citeulike:481243, abstract = {The present research investigated Internet search engines as a rapid, cost-effective alternative for estimating word frequencies. Frequency estimates for 382 words were obtained and compared across four methods: (1) Internet search engines, (2) the Kucera and Francis (1967) analysis of a traditional linguistic corpus, (3) the CELEX English linguistic database (Baayen, Piepenbrock, \& Gulikers, 1995), and (4) participant ratings of familiarity. The results showed that Internet search engines produced frequency estimates that were highly consistent with those reported by Kucera and Francis and those calculated from CELEX, highly consistent across search engines, and very reliable over a 6-month period of time. Additional results suggested that Internet search engines are an excellent option when traditional word frequency analyses do not contain the necessary data (e.g., estimates for forenames and slang). In contrast, participants' familiarity judgments did not correspond well with the more objective estimates of word frequency. Researchers are advised to use search engines with large databases (e.g., AltaVista) to ensure the greatest representativeness of the frequency estimates.}, address = {Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0345, USA. irene.blair@colorado.edu}, author = {Blair, I. V. and Urland, G. R. and Ma, J. E. }, citeulike-article-id = {481243}, issn = {0743-3808}, journal = {Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput}, keywords = {google, internet, probability, psychology, statistics, word\_frequency}, month = {May}, number = {2}, pages = {286--290}, posted-at = {2006-01-26 04:30:53}, priority = {1}, title = {Using Internet search engines to estimate word frequency.}, url = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12109025}, volume = {34}, year = {2002} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:481243 L3 - citeulike-article-id:481243 TI - Using Internet search engines to estimate word frequency. JF - Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput VL - 34 IS - 2 SP - 286 EP - 290 AD - Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0345, USA. irene.blair@colorado.edu SN - 0743-3808 N2 - The present research investigated Internet search engines as a rapid, cost-effective alternative for estimating word frequencies. Frequency estimates for 382 words were obtained and compared across four methods: (1) Internet search engines, (2) the Kucera and Francis (1967) analysis of a traditional linguistic corpus, (3) the CELEX English linguistic database (Baayen, Piepenbrock, & Gulikers, 1995), and (4) participant ratings of familiarity. The results showed that Internet search engines produced frequency estimates that were highly consistent with those reported by Kucera and Francis and those calculated from CELEX, highly consistent across search engines, and very reliable over a 6-month period of time. Additional results suggested that Internet search engines are an excellent option when traditional word frequency analyses do not contain the necessary data (e.g., estimates for forenames and slang). In contrast, participants' familiarity judgments did not correspond well with the more objective estimates of word frequency. Researchers are advised to use search engines with large databases (e.g., AltaVista) to ensure the greatest representativeness of the frequency estimates. KW - google KW - internet KW - probability KW - psychology KW - statistics KW - word_frequency AU - Blair, IV AU - Urland, GR AU - Ma, JE PY - 2002/05// UR - http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12109025 ER -