Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Communication and Candidate Strategy in U.S. Senate Elections

这一博士论文研究项目涉及对1992-1998年期间美国参议院竞选活动的抽样州进行的内容分析。所获得的数据被用来调查政治背景对候选人的沟通和竞选策略的影响。时间序列模型被用来捕捉竞选活动的动态性质，这是由于对手之间的互动和候选人对有限竞选资源的顺序分配所产生的。研究包括在这段时间内每个选举年的13个州，竞选内容度量是通过对当地报纸对竞选活动的报道的内容分析得出的。从9月1日到选举日期间报道竞选活动的所有报道都是加密的。当地报纸对竞选活动的报道来自Lexis/Nexis上的全文来源。调查提供了对候选人选择与选民沟通的信息中存在的信息的系统研究。本研究旨在阐明影响竞选沟通内容的因素。研究中概述的模型提供了制定竞选类型的机会，该类型表明以问题为导向的竞选活动的规范期望何时将得到满足，并确定了产生对党派线索、性格特征和工作表现事项的重视的条件。

This Doctoral Dissertation Research project involves a content analysis of U.S. senate campaigns from a sample of states for the period 1992-1998. The data obtained are used to investigate the influence of the political context on candidate's communication and campaign strategy. A time series model is used to capture the dynamic nature of campaigns that results from the interaction between opponents and from candidates'sequential allocation of limited campaign resources.Thirteen states from each election year during the period are included in the study and campaign content measures are derived from a content analysis of local newspaper coverage of campaigns. All stories that cover the campaign between September 1st and election day are coded. Local newspaper coverage of the campaigns is obtained from the full-text sources available on Lexis/Nexis.The investigation provides a systematic study of information present in messages that candidates choose to communicate with voters. This research promises to explicate the factors that influence the content of campaign communication. The model outlined in the research affords the opportunity to develop a typology of campaigns that suggests when the normative expectation of issue-oriented campaigning will be fulfilled, and also identifies the conditions that produce an emphasis on partisan cues, character traits, and matters of job performance.