scholarly journals Model Choices in Observational Media Effects Research: A Systematic Review and Validation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Banducci ◽  
Martijn Schoonvelde ◽  
Daniel Stevens ◽  
Jennifer Jerit ◽  
Jason Barabas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Media Effects ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Effects Of Media ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship

Media effects research has produced mixed findings about the size and direction of the relationship between media consumption and public attitudes (e.g., Bartels, 1993). We investigate the extent to which model choices contribute to these inconsistent findings. Taking a comparative approach, we first review the use of different models in contemporary studies and their main findings. In order to extend and validate this review, we consider the implications for national election studies attempting to measure media effects in election campaigns and recreate these models with the British Election Study 2005-10 panel data. We compare the direction and size of effects of media content on attitude change across: between-subjects, within- elections models, in which the effects of individual-level variance in media exposure and content are assessed; within-subjects, within-elections models, which compare the effects of variance in media content for the same individual; and within-subjects, between-elections models that allow us to analyze the links between media content and exposure with attitude change over time. Our review shows some notable differences between models in terms of significance of effects (but not effect sizes). We corroborate this finding in the British campaign analysis. We conclude that to check the robustness of claims of media effects in observational data, where possible researchers should examine different model choices when evaluating media effects.

Some Media Matter More Than Others: Investigating Media Effects on Attitudes toward and Perceptions of Immigration in Sweden

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1238-1264
Author(s):  
Nora Theorin ◽  
Jesper Strömbäck
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
Effects Of Media ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigration

Over the last decade, issues related to immigration have become increasingly salient across Western democracies. This increasing salience has made it more important to understand people’s attitudes toward immigration, including the effects of media use on those attitudes. Differentiating between attitudes toward different types of immigration, attitudes toward immigration from different parts of the world, and perceptions of immigration’s impact, this article investigates the effects of media use on attitudes toward and perceptions of immigration in Sweden. Based on a three-year, three-wave panel study, it investigates the effects of media use on the individual level. Among other things, results show that there are limited effects of using traditional news media but more substantial effects on people’s immigration attitudes of using anti-immigration, right-wing alternative media and pro-immigration, left-wing alternative media. These findings imply that it is highly relevant to account for media use, especially alternative media use, when studying public attitudes toward immigration. Further, we find that variations in people’s immigration attitudes, to a high degree, depend on the type of immigration and on where migrants are coming from. This finding underlines the importance of measuring both of these aspects when the aim is understanding general attitudes toward immigration and/or key predictors behind immigration attitudes.

Stereotyping of Muslims in Germany: How the Presumed Influence of Media Stereotypes on Others Influences Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions Toward Muslims

2020 ◽  
pp. 107769902092360
Author(s):  
Katharina Sommer ◽  
Rinaldo Kühne
Keyword(s):  
Media Effects ◽  
Behavioral Intentions ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Media Influence ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Online Experiment ◽  
Behavioral Consequences ◽  
Effects Of Media ◽  
The Relationship

The study investigates the influence of media stereotypes on the degree of presumed media influence on others and the resulting effects for people’s own attitudes toward a minority. We examine how the presumption of negative effects of media stereotypes on others can lead to a correction of one’s own attitude toward Muslims. In an online experiment, we test the relationship among media stereotyping, presumed media effects, and attitudinal and behavioral consequences. The results show that one’s own attitude toward Muslims is corrected when people presume a negative influence of media stereotypes about Muslims on other people.

A Typology of Media Effects

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanto Iyengar
Keyword(s):  
Media Effects ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Selective Exposure ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
News Programs

This chapter discusses the progression of mass media effects research from early preoccupation with attitude change through minimal effects paradigms to the current resurgence in persuasion research. Implications of contemporary changes in the media environment on media effects research are considered. After surveying and classifying definitions of media effects, the chapter discusses how fundamental transformations in the media environment brought about by information technology may work to reshape scholarly understandings of the relationship between news sources and audiences. The availability of multiple sources makes it possible for consumers to be more selective in their exposure to news programs. Selective exposure means that people with limited interest in politics may bypass the news entirely, while the more attentive may tailor their exposure to suit their political preferences. Both these trends imply a weakening of persuasion effects.

scholarly journals What satisfaction with democracy? A global analysis of “satisfaction with democracy” measures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Devine
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Key Indicator ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

Asking citizens ‘the way democracy works’ is the basis of a wide literature on the support citizens have for their political institutions, and is one of the most common survey items in political science. Moreover, it is a key indicator for the purported global decline in legitimacy. Yet, its trends, levels and dynamics are still debated, and conclusions may be erroneous. In this paper, we compile a unique global dataset between 1973 and 2018 encompassing all major cross-national datasets and national election studies in 12 countries to study the dynamics and consistency of SWD measures globally. Our results show that while trends and between-country differences in democratic satisfaction are largely similar, the levels of satisfaction vary substantially between survey projects, and both trends and levels vary significantly in several widely studied countries. We show that this has consequences at the individual level: opting for one survey over another may alter our conclusions about the relationship between key demographics and SWD. Thus, researchers studying SWD should endeavour to consult diverse survey sources and should be cautious about their conclusions when they do not, especially when it comes to making claims about changes in SWD over time.

The Media and the Fostering of Political (Dis)Trust

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Barthel ◽  
Patricia Moy
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Media Effects ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Presentation Formats ◽  
The Media ◽  
Normative Significance ◽  
Vital Component ◽  
The Relationship

Citizens’ trust in government, a vital component of any functioning democracy, can be affected by media content, but these media effects depend on numerous factors. This chapter first illustrates the normative significance of political trust, then reviews its various conceptualizations and operationalizations. It reviews the key empirical linkages between media and political trust, focusing on differences in medium, modality, presentation formats, and mechanisms of influence. The relationship between media use and political trust is discussed in light of an evolving landscape – one in which the media are no longer centralized, content consumers also produce messages, and media and politics are inextricably linked. The chapter calls for additional research on the effects of new media and emerging political cultures on political trust.

Applying Latent Growth Models to the Analysis of Media Effects

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schemer ◽  
Jörg Matthes ◽  
Werner Wirth
Keyword(s):  
Media Effects ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Latent Growth ◽  
Random Effects Models ◽  
Latent Growth Models ◽  
Asylum Law ◽  
Effects Of Media

The present article demonstrates the use of random-effects models, such as latent growth models (LGM), for the estimation of media effects on attitudes in longitudinal designs. On the basis of data from a three-wave panel study on the asylum law campaign in Switzerland, we show that the attitude change process can be modeled more appropriately relying on LGM compared to conventional procedures. Specifically, we demonstrate that LGM is likely to unmask media effects that were not obtained with conventional autoregressive fixed-effects models (ARM). In fact, applying LGM reveals moderate effects of media use on political attitudes toward the asylum law in the course of the campaign.

Smartphones and Their Increased Importance in U.S. Presidential Elections

2019 ◽  
pp. 1203-1223
Author(s):  
Ramona Sue McNeal ◽  
Mary Schmeida ◽  
Lisa Dotterweich Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
Multivariate Regression Analysis ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship

Early researchers had predicted that the Internet might help to encourage political participation through its ability to make political information more accessible. Unfortunately, disparities in Internet access made it unlikely that the Internet would have much of an impact on voter turnout. Telecommunication technology has evolved and among these new advances is smartphones, which help to increase Internet access. The purpose of this chapter is to examine this argument by exploring the relationship between smartphone ownership and voting. This topic is explored using multivariate regression analysis and individual level data from the 2012 American National Election Studies. Findings suggest that smartphones are helping to increase voter turnout through their ability to facilitate other online activities such as visiting candidate websites and taking part in political discussion through social networking sites.

Smartphones and their Increased Importance in U.S. Presidential Elections

2017 ◽  
pp. 283-303
Author(s):  
Ramona Sue McNeal ◽  
Mary Schmeida ◽  
Lisa Dotterweich Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
Multivariate Regression Analysis ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship

Early researchers had predicted that the Internet might help to encourage political participation through its ability to make political information more accessible. Unfortunately, disparities in Internet access made it unlikely that the Internet would have much of an impact on voter turnout. Telecommunication technology has evolved and among these new advances is smartphones, which help to increase Internet access. The purpose of this chapter is to examine this argument by exploring the relationship between smartphone ownership and voting. This topic is explored using multivariate regression analysis and individual level data from the 2012 American National Election Studies. Findings suggest that smartphones are helping to increase voter turnout through their ability to facilitate other online activities such as visiting candidate websites and taking part in political discussion through social networking sites.

scholarly journals What Satisfaction with Democracy? A Global Analysis of “Satisfaction with Democracy” Measures

2021 ◽  
pp. 106591292110096
Author(s):  
Viktor Orri Valgarðsson ◽  
Daniel Devine
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Key Indicator ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

Asking citizens “the way democracy works” is the basis of a wide literature on the support citizens have for their political institutions and is one of the most common survey items in political science. Moreover, it is a key indicator for the purported global decline in legitimacy. Yet, its trends, levels, and dynamics are still debated, and conclusions may be erroneous. In this paper, we compile a unique global dataset between 1973 and 2018 encompassing all major cross-national datasets and national election studies in twelve countries to study the dynamics and consistency of “satisfaction with democracy” (SWD) measures globally. Our results show that while trends and between-country differences in democratic satisfaction are largely similar, the levels of satisfaction vary substantially between survey projects, and both trends and levels vary significantly in several widely studied countries. We show that this has consequences at the individual level: opting for one survey over another may alter our conclusions about the relationship between key demographics and SWD. Thus, researchers studying SWD should endeavor to consult diverse survey sources and should be cautious about their conclusions when they do not, especially when it comes to making claims about changes in SWD over time.

Internet as a context: Exploring its impacts on scientific optimism in China

2020 ◽  
pp. 026666692096563
Author(s):  
Chen Luo ◽  
Jia Shang ◽  
Yuchun Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Scientific Attitude ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Internet Penetration ◽  
The Relationship

The Internet brings new opportunities and challenges to scientific development and science communication. Previous studies overwhelmingly focused on individual-level Internet factors but overlooked the potential explanatory strength of Internet context. This study addresses the existing gap by examining how the Internet influences Chinese people’s scientific optimism from a comprehensive perspective (Internet as a medium and Internet as a context). Multilevel models were built based on individual-provincial merged data. The results indicate that (1) the Internet context impairs scientific optimism while Internet exposure has no significant effect. (2) The relationship between individual Internet exposure and scientific optimism varies by province. As a quantitative indicator of Internet context, Internet penetration mitigates the weakening effect of individual Internet exposure on scientific optimism. This research provides empirical evidence on scientific attitude formation in the non-Western environment and expands the analytic approach of public attitudes toward science.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document