Uncovering public attitudes: utilizing a PCA-based approach to examine anti-immigrant attitudes

Abstract

This research will observe the determinants of public attitudes towards immigrants in Turkey depending on survey questions from 2016 and 2019. The literature suggests the effects of several variables on the perception towards immigrants, with specific emphasis on encounter level and economic conditions. This research aims to test these theories in Turkey's case with migration and observe their effects in time. Although the primary intention is to examine these relations, the paper also claims to utilize unsupervised machine learning methods in variable construction/indexing. Therefore, the other aspect of this research is to utilize Principal Component Analysis in variable construction as opposed to equally weighting different variables. As a combination of quantitative and computational sociology methodologies, this paper will initially answer two forms of questions: one sociological and the other methodological. © 2024 IEEE.