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: 1023291
• 负责人: Martin Kifer
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: High Point University
• 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 2012-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1023291&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.

竞选活动是民主政治的一个显著特征。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研究，仍然是脱节的。在最近的工作中，研究人员提出了一种美国国会竞选传播理论，该理论汇集了几种不同的文献（例如，关于负面竞选，候选人形象，立场采取的工作）。他们用736名候选人的内容分析数据来检验这一理论。2002年到2006年的竞选网站。在国家科学基金会拨款（SES-0822819和SES-0822782）的支持下，研究人员在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年的竞选活动。和以前一样，他们在活动过程中编写网站代码，存档网站，并对网站设计师进行调查。与以往不同的是，为了回应数据产生的兴趣，研究人员明确征求了编码方案的意见。此外，他们通过探索运动的后果，大大拓宽了这个项目。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，以探索他们的响应性（即公职人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可用的数据集，其中包括近1600个参众两院竞选网站和160多个国会官方网站的编码，超过9个时间点（即竞选数据为2002年、2004年、2006年、2008年和2010年，官方网站为2003年、2005年、2007年和2009年）。这些数据包括每位候选人的背景、地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，调查人员将收集关于竞选对选民的影响的实验数据，以及捕捉网站设计师动机的调查数据。除了使学者能够追踪互联网随时间的演变之外，这些数据还为研究人员提供了一个独特的机会来检验竞选理论及其对选民和代表的影响。与电视广告和辩论等其他无中介的竞选传播渠道不同，几乎所有候选人都有竞选网站，所有代表都有官方网站。这允许对候选人和代表的代表性样本进行分析，而不是偏向于竞争性的，资金充足的竞选活动（如广告，媒体报道）或某些代表的样本。网站还使政治家们能够全面展示他们的行为，而不是简短的录音或精选的点名投票。该项目具有明显的智力价值，并为广泛的社会知识提供了许多贡献。新数据的收集可以用来极大地扩展对政治竞选、选民决策和代表的理解。它将使研究人员能够超越调查人员，以具有代表性的国会竞选样本，在一种新的媒体上测试竞选理论。加强对竞选活动及其对选民的影响的了解，最终可以作为提高竞选质量的改革基础。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对网络上的竞选活动如何运作做出明智的陈述。每到一个选举周期，就会有越来越多的记者和专家对网络竞选发表评论；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陈述（以及它与其他媒体的比较和随时间的演变）。最后，该项目将涉及学生，他们将学习如何进行研究，并能够在自己的工作中使用数据。最后，该项目独特地汇集了民主政治三个关键组成部分的数据：竞选、投票和代表权。