Hey everyone! I'm diving into my master's thesis in psychology here in Germany, focusing on how digital media is shaping substance use trends among teens. Specifically, I want to analyze platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram over the last 3-5 years to see if drug-related content has gone up. My plan is to use keywords and hashtags related to different substances, like cannabis and ecstasy, to guide my research. The catch? I have zero programming or data science skills. I've read a bit about scraping and APIs, but I'm unsure if my project is actually doable. Can anyone offer some insights? Is this kind of analysis realistic? Will it cost a fortune or require fancy tools? How complicated is it for a total newbie? Are there research services or partners that could help? Or maybe someone here is interested in working together? I know this is a big topic, so I'd appreciate any direction or advice you can share. Thanks a ton!
1 Answer
The main hurdle isn't really the technicalities but the legal and organizational aspects. You’d need to scrape metadata from TikTok for every relevant video posted in the last five years containing certain keywords. Just the compute power required for that can get super pricey. Also, there's a chance you might get flagged by TikTok’s security and banned, which could really hinder your project. You could try reaching out to Bytedance for special access, but that's a long shot.
Thanks for your honest take! I really appreciate the heads-up!