Impact of YouTube on Dissemination of Construction Engineering and Management Knowledge: Opinion-Mining Inquiry

The exponential growth of digital learning platforms has revolutionized knowledge dissemination, yet their efficacy in Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) education remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, this study investigated YouTube’s role in disseminating CEM knowledge with the objectives of identifying main CEM knowledge areas, analyzing overall sentiment polarity, and exploring the discussions occurring in the comment sections of YouTube. Key CEM knowledge areas were identified systematically through in-depth curriculum analysis of the top 50 universities offering CEM-related courses. Construction Management emerged as the primary domain, encompassing 27 related subareas, which were grouped into six main themes using the Delphi approach. For the six themes sentiment analysis and k-means clustering analysis was performed. The study analyzed an extensive data set of 316,226 comments and 61,382 replies, using YouTube’s API for data extraction. For opinion mining across the identified themes, Python libraries were used, including Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK), pandas, and scikit-learn. Sentiment analysis revealed a predominantly positive reception of CEM content on YouTube, indicating positive sentiments for 53.2% comments and 70.1% replies. Cluster analysis uncovered distinct patterns of discussion across themes, revealing a vibrant online learning community. Key discussion foci included appreciation for clear explanations, technical discussions of topics such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), and engagement with industry trends. The analysis revealed global participation and cross-cultural professional development, evidenced by clusters in various languages. Study findings offer substantial empirical support for YouTube’s efficacy as a medium for knowledge dissemination within the field of CEM. These insights carry notable implications for CEM educators, content creators, and industry stakeholders, presenting evidence-based approaches to enhance online educational resources and harmonize content creation with the evolving needs of learners and industry developments.