Analysing the sentiments about the education system trough Twitter

Abstract

This paper applies Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as well as data analysis to gain a better understanding of the existing perception on the education system. 45,278 tweets were downloaded and processed. Using a lexicon-based approach, examining the most frequently used words, and estimating similarities between terms, we detected that a predominantly negative perception of the education system exists in most of the analysed countries. A positive perception is identified in certain low-income nations. Men exhibit a more positive sentiment than women as well as a higher subjectivity in some countries. The countries that exhibit the most positive perceptions India, Canada, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa and Kenya are also those that manifest the highest subjectivity.