An evaluation framework for analytical methods of integrating electronic word-of-mouth information: Position paper

Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation framework for analytical methods of integrating eWOM Information. This framework involves a communication model that assumes a set of human subjective probabilities called an belief source and includes two translation processes: (1) encoding the belief source into a representation to communicate with a computer; these encoded messages are called eWOM messages, and (2) in the computer, decoding the eWOM messages to estimate the probabilities in the belief source. The efficiency of reducing the difficulty of describing the belief source and the accuracy of reconstructing the belief source are quantitated using this model. The evaluation processes are illustrated with an analytical method of integrating eWOM messages for probabilistic classification problems. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.