The third Data Science and Analytics Seminar Series held at Sabancı University on November 20, 2024 was realized with the presentation of Dr. Mert Moral from the Sabancı University Political Science and International Relations Program.
Mert Moral made a presentation entitled “On the Impact of Earthquakes on Voter Behavior in the May 2023 Turkish Parliamentary and Presidential Elections.”
In his presentation, Mert Moral shared his research on the impact of the February 2023 earthquakes on voter behavior in light of various data sources. Moral’s research, which focuses on the May 2023 elections held after the February 2023 earthquakes, analyzes critical elements such as the perceived intensity of the earthquakes, voter registration, and election results. The study aims to examine the changes in voting rates in the region and the possible effects on the election results by integrating different data sources.
During his presentation, Moral highlighted the innovative methods used in the study. These methods include the use of satellite-based nighttime lighting data to assess socioeconomic activities and advanced algorithms to match affected neighborhoods with comparable controls. It also provides detailed findings on how earthquakes affect voter behavior, using advanced analytical tools to process and interpret the data, including earthquake intensity measurements and comparisons with official election records. In particular, analyses of the density of collapsed buildings and the mobility of voters in the region provide important clues about the social impacts of disasters.
Drawing attention to the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration from a data science perspective, Mert Moral emphasized both the methodological challenges and the value of the results obtained for the social sciences. The seminar once again demonstrated the capacity of data science and analytics to solve real-world problems. The presentation showed the importance of data science in understanding and managing social events as an interdisciplinary study that brings together political science, data analytics, and geospatial studies.