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

本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内容分析。所获得的数据用于调查政治背景对候选人的沟通和竞选策略的影响。时间序列模型用于捕捉竞选活动的动态性质，这种动态性质是由对手之间的相互作用和候选人对有限竞选资源的顺序分配造成的。在此期间，每个选举年的13个州都被纳入研究范围，竞选内容措施来自对当地报纸竞选报道的内容分析。所有从9月1日到选举日的竞选报道都是编码的。当地报纸对这些活动的报道可从Lexis/Nexis提供的全文来源获得。这项调查对候选人选择向选民传达的信息进行了系统的研究。本研究有望阐明影响竞选传播内容的因素。研究中概述的模型提供了发展一种竞选类型学的机会，这种类型学表明了什么时候以问题为导向的竞选活动的规范期望将得到满足，并且还确定了产生强调党派线索、性格特征和工作绩效问题的条件。

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.