On the dynamics of reporting data: A case study of UFO sightings

Fernando J. Antonio, Andreia S. Itami, Jônatas F. Dalmedico and Renio S. Mendes

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2022, vol. 603, issue C

Abstract: There are a growing number of large databases online. In this study, we used data from 80,332 cases of UFO sightings reported from 1906 to 2014 as a tool for investigating the human behavior in reporting events and how a time lag influences the patterns of reporting events. We identified that new reports were sensitive to media broadcasting and daytime hours. This last pattern was ruled by different reporting mechanisms distinguishing daytime and night hours with an evident phase transition in the rank distribution. Also, we verified that more than 41% of the sightings reported supposedly happened in perfect o’clock hours, indicating that observers have a strong preference for rounder numbers, a result that could be relevant for investigations of experimental data collected by humans in mechanical and analog measuring instruments.

Keywords: Human reporting events; Phase transition; Rounding numbers; Rank distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:603:y:2022:i:c:s0378437122005295

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2022.127807

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