Collaborative Research: Using Web Data to Study the Nature and Consequences of U.S. Congressional Campaigns

协作研究：使用网络数据研究美国国会竞选活动的性质和后果

• 批准号: 1022902
• 负责人: Michael Parkin
• 金额: $ 3.22万
• 依托单位: Oberlin College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-15 至 2011-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1022902&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Using; Web; Data

Electoral campaigns are a defining feature of democratic polities. Yet, scholarship on electoral campaigns, particularly on the content of campaign communications, remains disjointed. In recent work, the investigators offer a theory of U.S. congressional campaign communications that brings together several distinct literatures (e.g., work on negative campaigns, candidate image, position taking). They tested the theory with data from content analyses of 736 candidates? campaign websites from 2002 through 2006.With the support of a National Science Foundation grant (SES-0822819 and SES-0822782), the investigators extended their data during the 2008 congressional campaign. With the current project, they extend their data collection to the 2010 campaign. As before, they code sites over the course of the campaign, archive sites, and implement a survey of website designers. Unlike past efforts-and in response to the interest the data has generated-the investigators explicitly solicited input on the coding scheme. Moreover, they significantly broadened the project by exploring the consequences of campaigns. They implemented experimental studies of how campaign strategies influence voters, and coded official congressional websites to explore their responsiveness (i.e. the extent to which officeholders live up to the promises they make during campaigns). In the end, the investigators constructed a publicly available data set that includes coding of nearly 1,600 House and Senate campaign websites and more than 160 official congressional websites, over nine points in time (i.e., 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010 for the campaign data and 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 for the official sites). These data include extensive information on each candidate's background, district, and campaign as well as data on television advertisements and media coverage. Furthermore, the investigators will collect experimental data on campaign effects on voters and survey data that capture the motivations of website designers.In addition to enabling scholars to track the evolution of the Internet over time, the data offer researchers a unique opportunity to test theories of campaigns and their effects on voters and representatives. Unlike other unmediated sources of campaign communication-such as television advertisements and debates-virtually all candidates launch campaign websites and all representatives have official websites. This allows for analyses on a representative sample of candidates and representatives, rather than a sample biased towards competitive, well-funded campaigns (as is the case with advertisements, media coverage) or certain representatives. Websites also enable politicians to present a holistic picture of their behaviors rather than short soundbites or selected roll call votes. The project has clear intellectual merit and offers many contributions to broad societal knowledge. The collection of new data can be used to significantly extend an understanding of political campaigns, voter decision-making, and representation. It will enable researchers beyond the investigators to test theories of campaigns on a new medium, with a representative sample of congressional races. An enhanced understanding of campaigns and their effects on voters can ultimately be used as a basis for reforms that could improve campaign quality. The project also will increase individuals' abilities to evaluate the connections between campaign behaviors and subsequent actions taken by elected representatives. Additionally, the data will enable scholars and pundits to make informed statements about how campaigns work on the Web. With each election cycle, more and more journalists and pundits comment on Web campaigning; however, the lack of systematic study means that there is no way to evaluate these comments or construct broad statements about the Web (and how it compares to other media and evolves over time). Finally, the project will involve students who will learn how to conduct research and be able to use the data in their own work. In the end, the project uniquely brings together data on three key components of democratic polities: campaigns, voting, and representation.

竞选活动是民主政体的一个决定性特征。然而，关于竞选活动的学术研究，特别是关于竞选宣传内容的学术研究，仍然脱节。 在最近的工作中，调查人员提供了一个美国国会竞选传播的理论，汇集了几个不同的文献（例如，在负面竞选活动、候选人形象、立场方面的工作）。 他们用736名候选人的内容分析数据测试了这一理论。在国家科学基金会的资助下（SES-0822819和SES-0822782），调查人员在2008年国会竞选期间扩展了他们的数据。 在目前的项目中，他们将数据收集扩展到2010年的活动。和以前一样，他们在竞选过程中对网站进行编码，对网站进行存档，并对网站设计师进行调查。与过去的努力不同的是，为了回应数据所产生的兴趣，研究人员明确地征求了对编码方案的输入。此外，他们通过探索运动的后果大大扩大了项目。他们对竞选策略如何影响选民进行了实验研究，并对国会官方网站进行了编码，以探索他们的反应（即官员在多大程度上履行了他们在竞选期间做出的承诺）。 最后，调查人员构建了一个公开的数据集，其中包括近1,600个众议院和参议院竞选网站和160多个官方国会网站的编码，超过9个时间点（即，2002年、2004年、2006年、2008年和2010年的活动数据，2003年、2005年、2007年和2009年的官方网站数据）。 这些数据包括每个候选人的背景、选区和竞选活动的广泛信息，以及电视广告和媒体报道的数据。 此外，研究人员还将收集有关竞选活动对选民影响的实验数据，以及捕捉网站设计者动机的调查数据。这些数据不仅使学者能够跟踪互联网随时间的演变，还为研究人员提供了一个独特的机会，以检验竞选理论及其对选民和代表的影响。 与其他未经中介的竞选传播来源（如电视广告和辩论）不同，几乎所有候选人都推出竞选网站，所有代表都有官方网站。 这样就可以对候选人和代表的代表性样本进行分析，而不是对偏向于竞争性强、资金充足的竞选活动（如广告、媒体报道）或某些代表的样本进行分析。 网站还使政治家能够全面地展示他们的行为，而不是简短的录音或选择性的唱名投票。该项目具有明显的智力价值，并为广泛的社会知识做出了许多贡献。新数据的收集可以用来大大扩展对政治运动，选民决策和代表性的理解。它将使调查人员以外的研究人员能够在一种新的媒介上测试竞选理论，并以国会竞选为代表样本。提高对竞选活动及其对选民影响的认识，最终可以作为改革的基础，提高竞选质量。该项目还将提高个人评估竞选行为与当选代表随后采取的行动之间联系的能力。 此外，这些数据将使学者和权威人士能够就网络上的竞选活动如何运作做出明智的陈述。随着每个选举周期，越来越多的记者和专家对网络竞选活动发表评论;然而，缺乏系统的研究意味着没有办法评估这些评论或构建关于网络的广泛声明（以及它与其他媒体的比较以及随着时间的推移如何演变）。最后，该项目将涉及学生谁将学习如何进行研究，并能够在自己的工作中使用的数据。最后，该项目独特地汇集了民主政体三个关键组成部分的数据：竞选，投票和代表。