Citizen Political Knowledge and Accountability: Panel Survey Evidence on Devolved Government in Kenya

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Ochieng' Opalo
Keyword(s):  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Panel Survey

TV Debates in Media Contexts: How and When Do TV Debates Have an Effect on Learning Processes?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiko Wagner ◽  
Elena Werner
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Learning Effect ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
The Media ◽  
Panel Survey Data

This chapter examines the effect of TV debates on political knowledge conditioned by the media context. We argue that TV debates take place in a wider media context and the extent of citizens’ learning processes about issue positions depends also on the informational context in general. We test four hypotheses: while the first three hypotheses concern the conditional impact of media issue coverage and debate content, the last hypothesis addresses the differences between incumbent and challenger. Using media content analyses and panel survey data, our results confirm the hypotheses that (1) when an issue is addressed in a TV debate, viewers tend to develop a perception of the parties’ positions on this issue, but (2) only if this issue has not been addressed extensively in the media beforehand. This learning effect about parties’ positions is bigger for the opposition party.

Fueling civil disobedience in democracy: WhatsApp news use, political knowledge, and illegal political protest

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110478
Author(s):  
Homero Gil de Zúñiga ◽  
Manuel Goyanes
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Panel Survey Data ◽  
News Use

Prior scholarship has consistently shown that informed citizens tend to better understand government actions, expectations, and priorities, potentially mitigating radicalism such as partaking in illegal protest. However, the role of social media may prove this relationship to be challenging, with an increasingly pervasive use of applications such as WhatsApp for information and mobilization. Findings from a two-wave US panel survey data show that WhatsApp news is negatively associated to political knowledge and positively associated to illegal protest. Less politically knowledgeable citizens also tend to engage in illegal protest more frequently. Results also suggest an influential role of political knowledge in mediating the effects of WhatsApp news over illegal protests. Those who consume more news on WhatsApp tend to know less about politics which, in turn, positively relates to unlawful political protest activities. This study suggests that WhatsApp affordances provide fertile paths to nurture illegal political protest participation.

scholarly journals Spiral of Political Learning: The Reciprocal Relationship of News Media Use and Political Knowledge Among Adolescents

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1078-1094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Moeller ◽  
Claes de Vreese
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Political Learning ◽  
Reciprocal Influence ◽  
Curve Modeling ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
News Use

This study investigates the dynamics of the reciprocal influence of political knowledge and attentive news use. News media are an important source for political information and contribute to political learning. Yet, this process is optimized with increasing levels of pre-existing knowledge about the political world. In extant literature, mutual interdependence is often suggested, but empirical proof is scarce. We propose to conceptualize the relationship of knowledge and news use as an upward spiral. The model is tested on data from a three-wave panel survey among 888 adolescents using growth curve modeling. The results support the model of a spiral of political learning. Interestingly, the influence of political knowledge on news use is estimated to be higher than the other way round.

scholarly journals Do Online Voter Guides Empower Citizens? Evidence from a Field Experiment with Digital Trace Data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Munzert ◽  
Andrew Markus Guess ◽  
Pablo Barberá ◽  
JungHwan Yang
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Trace Data ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Voting Advice Applications

Voting Advice Applications (VAAs), which provide citizens with information on the party that best represents their political preferences, are often cited as evidence of the empowering capabilities of digital tools. Aside from the informational benefits of these voter guides, observational studies have suggested a strong effect on political participation and vote choice. However, existing impact evaluations have been limited by a reliance on convenience samples, lack of random assignment, or both. This raises questions about self-selection and the precise mechanisms underlying how voters learn about politics. Here, we provide evidence from a field experiment with survey outcomes conducted with a sample of over 1,000 German citizens in the 2017 federal election campaign. Using linked panel survey and digital trace data combined with a randomized encouragement to complete a VAA, we are able to assess respondents’ compliance with treatment as well as to observe how the use of this tool affects political behavior, attitudes, media consumption, political knowledge, and even social media activity. Our findings reveal that the overwhelming consensus in favor of positive effects on turnout and vote choice should be treated with caution, as we find no such effects. Rather, we show that the actual virtue of VAAs in a complex online information environment is in increasing knowledge about parties’ positions on issues - exactly the kind of information these tools were designed to provide.

Information Hubs or Drains?

2017 ◽  
pp. 157-178
Author(s):  
Terri L. Towner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Hard Copy ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Online Newspapers ◽  
Knowledge Levels ◽  
Online Sources

This chapter investigates the link between young adults' attention to campaign information on offline and online media and their knowledge about political facts and candidate issues. The findings, based on a unique, three-wave panel survey conducted during the 2012 U.S. presidential election, show that attention to campaign information on offline sources, such as television, hard-copy newspapers, and radio, was not significantly related to political knowledge. Instead, young adults' attention to online sources played a more important role. Specifically, political knowledge levels were significantly and positively linked to attention to campaign information in online newspapers and television campaign websites. In contrast, attention to campaign information on social media, particularly Facebook and Google+, was negatively related to political knowledge levels during the fall campaign period. Therefore, this study suggests that certain forms of online media serve as a drain on political knowledge whereas attention to other digital outlets can serve as hubs of information.

Information Hubs or Drains?

2020 ◽  
pp. 112-134
Author(s):  
Terri L. Towner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Hard Copy ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Online Newspapers ◽  
Knowledge Levels ◽  
Online Sources

This chapter investigates the link between young adults' attention to campaign information on offline and online media and their knowledge about political facts and candidate issues. The findings, based on a unique, three-wave panel survey conducted during the 2012 U.S. presidential election, show that attention to campaign information on offline sources, such as television, hard-copy newspapers, and radio, was not significantly related to political knowledge. Instead, young adults' attention to online sources played a more important role. Specifically, political knowledge levels were significantly and positively linked to attention to campaign information in online newspapers and television campaign websites. In contrast, attention to campaign information on social media, particularly Facebook and Google+, was negatively related to political knowledge levels during the fall campaign period. Therefore, this study suggests that certain forms of online media serve as a drain on political knowledge whereas attention to other digital outlets can serve as hubs of information.

News finds me perception and democracy: Effects on political knowledge, political interest, and voting

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1253-1271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homero Gil de Zúñiga ◽  
Trevor Diehl
Keyword(s):  
Political Knowledge ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Information Networks ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
The Public ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Relationship

Recent scholarship suggests that overreliance on social networks for news and public affairs is associated with the belief that one no longer needs to actively seek information. Instead, individuals perceive that the “news will find me” (NFM) and detach from the regular habit of traditional news consumption. This study examines effects of the NFM perception on political knowledge, political interest, and electoral participation. Drawing on a nationally representative panel survey from the United States ( N = 997), this study finds that the NFM perception is negatively associated with both political knowledge and political interest across two time periods. The NFM perception also leads to negative, indirect effects on voting as the relationship is mediated through lower reported levels of political knowledge and interest in politics. The findings add to current conversations about the ability of personalized information networks to adequately inform and engage the public.

Facing the Challenge of Democracy

2011 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Party Polarization

Citizens are political simpletons—that is only a modest exaggeration of a common characterization of voters. Certainly, there is no shortage of evidence of citizens' limited political knowledge, even about matters of the highest importance, along with inconsistencies in their thinking, some glaring by any standard. But this picture of citizens all too often approaches caricature. This book brings together leading political scientists who offer new insights into the political thinking of the public, the causes of party polarization, the motivations for political participation, and the paradoxical relationship between turnout and democratic representation. These studies propel a foundational argument about democracy. Voters can only do as well as the alternatives on offer. These alternatives are constrained by third players, in particular activists, interest groups, and financial contributors. The result: voters often appear to be shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent because the alternatives they must choose between are shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent.

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