Facebook Data Mining Application for an Automated Tracer Study

Abstract

Tracer studies are relevant in the investigation of the rapport between highereducation and work. They give quantitative data on employment and career,the character of work and related competency, and professional orientation andexperiences of the graduates. With the advancement of technology, this studyattempted to create a Facebook data mining application for an automatedtracer study that will classify the graduates of University of the ImmaculateConception ITE program and provide statistics regarding the location and thenature of employment of the graduates. These graduates are currently registeredon Facebook. The study considered certain data mining concepts in automatingthe tracer study in Facebook by using a 4D software engineering process model.Furthermore, it utilized the ID3 algorithm to identify a graduate of the UIC. Thedeveloped program was designed to identify whether a graduate’s work is in line with Information Technology (IT) or not using lexical analysis. Challenges were encountered with the accuracy of the output of the system due to certain factorsinherent in Facebook. The study recommends that further research should beconducted to improve the accuracy of the data mining application in particularand to serve the institution in general. Keywords: Information technology, data mining, ID3, tracer study, social networkingwebsite, Facebook, 4d software engineering, lexical analysis, Philippines