The Document Analysis Lab (DOCU Lab) aims to develop the analysis of texts and documents using automated (and non-automated) tools in the field of social and political research. The DOCU Lab intends to refine the qualitative and quantitative techniques most commonly used in the comparative analysis of political phenomena and explore the potential of data mining in a domain where it is currently used only marginally: the analysis of texts related to public decision-making processes. Experimentation with the use of machine learning methods can lead to clear practical benefits for decision-makers and public institutions. This laboratory will be able to benefit from experiments already conducted on the computerized analysis of large volumes of texts within the DSRS and from existing institutional collaborations with scholars, universities, and research centers in Italy and abroad. (changes highlighted)
Coordinator
- Prof.ssa Simona Piattoni
Members of the Department affiliated with DOCU Lab
- Alberto Acerbi
- Emanuela Bozzini
- Marco Brunazzo
- Vincent Della Sala
- Alessia Donà
- Stefano Palestini
- Simona Piattoni (coordinatrice)
- Katia Pilati
- Arlo Poletti
- Mario Quaranta
- Daniela Sicurelli
Events
Upcoming events
September 12, 2025
The European Union and the Changing Global Political Economy
Past events
Prof. Jeffery Checkel, European University Institute - October 24, 2023
Process Tracing: To Deepen or to Broaden - and Why It Matters
In recent years, our research and teaching on process analytics have grown by leaps and bounds. If such analytics are about the collection and analysis of data on processes and dynamics, then we have made important advances in the analysis part. This is most clearly seen in the growing literature on Bayesian process tracing, which has given us a deeper, getting-closer-to-the-truth method. Yet, to do those analytics well requires rich, high-quality data; process tracing needs to think harder about this data collection. This means a greater focus on within-process-tracing methods and research ethics. Finally, we need to broaden how we collect and analyse our data by developing a robust interpretive form of process analytics. The next stage in developing process analytics should thus focus on broadening – its epistemological basis, the front-end data collection, its research ethics. This agenda will give students of process methods a richer, more ethically grounded, meta-theoretically plural set of tools for measuring and accessing all that cool stuff out there in the social world.
Prof. Cathie Jo Martin, Boston University - February 21 and 28, 2024
February 21, 2024 - Book presentation
Education for All? Literature, Culture and Education Development in Britain and Denmark, Cambridge University Press, 2023
Chair: Katia Pilati, University of Trento
Presenter: Arlo Poletti, University of Trento
Discussant: Yuxin Zhang, University of Trento
February 28, 2024 – DOCU Lab Seminar
Narratives of Schooling. Culture, computational methods, and cross-national variation
This seminar will consider the use of computational analysis in a mixed-methods research design. Computational analyses of literature are particularly useful in studying historical cultural frames and the ways that culture contributes to cross-national differences in institutional and policy development. This seminar will therefore focus on how to use computational methods in a research designs focusing on the study cultural influences.
April 22–May 12, 2024
Prof. Francesco Giumelli, Department of International Relations and International Organization University of Groningen
April 15–22, 2024
Claudius Wagemann, University of Frankfurt
Book presentation: And the ship sails on... Germany and Italy in Turbulent Times, Villa Vigoni Verlag 2023.