FYI: data vs. theory driven research -- check out King et al. (2017).
Published by Frank C.S. Liu,
King, G., Pan, J., & Roberts, M. E. (2017). How the Chinese government fabricates social media posts for strategic distraction, not engaged argument. American Political Science Review, 111(3), 484–501. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055417000144