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

这个博士论文研究项目涉及美国参议院竞选活动的内容分析，从1992年至1998年期间的国家样本。 本研究利用所得资料探讨政治情境对候选人沟通与竞选策略的影响。 一个时间序列模型被用来捕捉运动的动态性质，结果从对手之间的相互作用和候选人的顺序分配有限的竞选resources.13个州从每个选举年在此期间被包括在研究和竞选内容的措施是来自当地报纸的内容分析的运动。 所有报道9月1日至选举日之间竞选活动的报道都是加密的。 当地报纸对竞选活动的报道来自Lexis/Nexis上的全文来源，调查对候选人选择与选民沟通的信息中存在的信息进行了系统研究。 本研究希望能厘清影响竞选传播内容的因素。 在研究中概述的模型提供了一个机会，以开发一个类型的运动，建议当规范的期望，以问题为导向的竞选活动将得到满足，也确定了产生的条件，强调党派线索，性格特征，和工作表现的问题。

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.