Diagnosing Electoral Integrity

Author(s):  
Michael Latner

Chapter 4 considers the sources of systematic evidence that are available to diagnose problems of American elections. Many claims and counterclaims about alleged malpractice are often heard in partisan debate and journalistic commentary—but during an era of low trust in the legacy news and isolating bubbles in social media, what could help to sort out fact from fiction? What are the pros and cons of alternative sources of evidence? This chapter compares electoral performance data on issues of voter registration permissiveness, ballot access, system security, and gerrymandering from several expert indices, institutional measures, and mass surveys.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kulvinder Kaur ◽  
Pawan Kumar

PurposeThe rise in the use of Internet technologies and social media has shifted the marketing practices from offline to online. This study aims to determine the pros and cons of social media marketing in the beauty and wellness industry.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth interviews were conducted with the owners and marketing executives of beauty and wellness centers to understand the use of popular social media platforms in this industry and their pros and cons.FindingsThe researchers identified eight merits and seven demerits of social media in the beauty and wellness industry. Every respondent is happy and satisfied with social media use, particularly Instagram and Facebook. Irrespective of the demerits, they have shown the intention to increase its usage in the future. The merits override demerits; thus, social media is a blessing for this industry from the owners' perspective.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is exploratory and is confined to just one industry. Research implication is that the visual nature of social media makes it a powerful tool for the promotion of the beauty and wellness industry.Practical implicationsThe study's findings will be beneficial for small-scale businesses as it will push them to take advantage of this low-cost marketing tool.Social implicationsSocial media marketing is helpful for communication and marketing purposes for society.Originality/valueThe beauty and wellness industry remained unfocused by researchers because it is highly unorganized, fragmented and not regulated, yet has huge growth potential. This research will provide a closer look at this industry as well as social media marketing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Graham ◽  
Julia Schwanholz

Digital transformation changes the relationship between citizens and politics. The observation of this nexus is highly relevant for representative democracy. After the successful 2008 Obama campaign, a vast body of research that explores how and why politicians use social media has emerged. However, we still know very little about how social media are being adopted and used in-between elections, and still less yet about what this means for political representation. Therefore, this special issue brings together innovative research that focuses on how the use of social media is impacting upon the relationship between politicians and political parties, and citizens. First, we discuss some pros and cons of this transformation in the context of the relevant literature and, especially, in relation to Stephen Coleman’s concept of ‘direct representation’. Finally, we discuss the findings and merits of the contributions and what the issue adds to our understanding of the phenomenon to the state of research.


Author(s):  
Saliha Akhtar

Research has shown that clinical research continues to have difficulty recruiting participants. This problem is expected to increase as the number of clinical trials increases and as there continues to be more focus on complex diseases and treatments. Researchers have typically relied on traditional recruitment methods to recruit participants, which revolve around the physicians and their support staff having the primary role to locate and recruit these participants. However, with individuals using online platforms such as social media to retrieve information, this creates an opportunity for research site personnel to use it as a way to relay information on clinical trial opportunities. Studies that have used social media as a way to recruit participants are discussed. Furthermore, pros and cons of social media for recruitment, along with recommendations that future researchers should consider when deciding whether to implement this type of strategy in their clinical trials will be shared. In general, clinical trial recruitment strategies need to shift to an approach that is not only more targeted, but also has a larger reach. By evaluating the success of studies that have used social recruitment strategies so far, it is evident that future researchers can also achieve recruitment success through social media. Moreover, social media could be a promising new avenue for clinical trial recruitment that allows for a more positive experience for both investigative site personnel and potential participants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. 2040012
Author(s):  
Dalal Saad ALShaer ◽  
Allam Hamdan ◽  
Anjum Razzaque

This study aims to investigate the role of social media on consumer behaviour in the restaurants industry of Bahrain. The objectives of this research were to assess importance of social media as a marketing tool for Bahrain’s restaurants for influencing consumer purchase decision-making. Such an objective was reached by the scholars who randomly collected data from 224 respondents in Bahrain, who use social media, using a survey instrument. The findings of the descriptive analysis revealed that social media affects consumers’ decision-making, such that the consumers use the social media to study new products, services, and particularly new brands. Also, ongoing consumer discussions reveal how social media exposes the pros and cons of products, services, and brands, so consumers are comfortable with their online decisions, since they can select broads before settling on what is the best price, quality, etc. Moreover, the social media speeds the spread of information unlike any other mass media; ensuring that new knowledge reaches consumers, hence enhancing competition among retailers in the restaurant industry. This study concludes that social media plays a vital role in promoting consumer welfare and decision-making.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Göbel

Does online political involvement reinforce or compensate participatory deficiencies at the polls? Extant survey evidence portrays online participation as a weapon of the strong, wielded by a highly politically involved, white, and affluent subset of the American electorate. Surveys face systematic sampling and measurement errors in the domain of political participation, though. In this study, I revisit this question using individual voter registration records that I integrate with observed Twitter activity. Based on a large sample that reflects Florida’s voting-eligible population, I find that political involvement on Twitter is prevalent across the electorate and extends to those most likely to abstain from voting. Moreover, race and income, which are salient dividing lines in voting, do not structure social media-based political participation. These results challenge reinforcement theory and substantiate social media’s compensatory potential for more inclusive representation. I discuss implications for political representation and future research examining political involvement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Nelson ◽  
Susan T. Iannaccone

The use of social media in clinical trials, for recruiting and retention as well as for collecting data, has become increasingly common. However, little has been documented in respect to the guidelines for its use and the possible effects it may have on clinical trials. In this review, we provide an overview of the guidance that has been published and muse the pros and cons of the use of social media in trials for rare disease.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document