Qin Li, Ph.D.

Dr. Qin Li is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Communication at University of Missouri, where she is affiliated with Political Communication Institute (PCI) and The Media and Diversity Center (MDC). She completed her PhD in Communication at The Ohio State University, focusing on Political Communication and Computational Social Science.

Her research investigates how emerging media and technologies contribute to information disorders and facilitate identity-based group communication, undermining democracy and reinforcing inequality. Speicifically, she asks 1) how the polluted information environment within and beyond social media impacts the public’s beliefs, attitudes, and behavior, 2) the role of political strategic communication (e.g., rallies, campaigns) in contributing to misperceptions, and 3) how elites, influencers, and ordinary citizens leverage communication technologies to construct collective identity and form defensive publics using identity-based disinformation as a strategic communication strategy. In her work, she frequently uses web + app tracking data, social media data, panel surveys, geographic data, AI/machine learning models, and network science methods to provide theory-driven insights from real-world data.

Her work has appeared in flagship disciplinary and multidisciplinary journals including Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Political Communication, and PLOS ONE. Her novel theoretical contribution on theoritizing the role of dyadic and network trust in information processing and political belief formation has been recognized through Lynda Lee Kaid Outstanding Dissertation Award at National Communication Association’s Political Communication Division.

See research, CV, or Google Scholar for more information about her work and experience.