Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: The Internet, Race, and Democracy

这项研究审查了互联网的使用是否改善了政治信息在少数群体中的传播，以及互联网的使用是否转化为边缘化群体成员更多的政治参与。研究表明，网络使个人能够有选择地接触信息。选择性参与发生在当个人检索新闻，说出他们的政治偏好，并忽略信息，与现有的意见冲突。使用小组调查数据和实验设计，该研究考察了允许公民将自己归类为高度党派性的在线信息世界（通过选择性接触信息）的相同潜在机制是否也使历史上处于不利地位的群体成员能够有效地获得与他们及其群体的政治目标有关的信息。此外，该项目还探讨了有选择地接触在线新闻是否可以在少数群体人口中提供政治知识，这可能转化为政治制度的更好代表性。该项目的学术价值与其三个主要目标有关：（1）研究党派、意识形态、种族和族裔以及群体意识如何影响选择性地接触网上政治信息;（2）研究选择性接触如何影响政治态度的质量、数量和强度;（3）检验选择性曝光对政治参与和投票选择质量的影响。该项目采用多种方法来实现这些目标。在研究的第一阶段和完成阶段，面板数据进行了分析，以测试种族/民族的作用，在缓和的影响，在线新闻消费和随后的态度变化，使用广义线性混合模型。研究的第二阶段将增加一项实验，以测试非裔美国人，白人和拉丁美洲人在接触不同的信息环境时选择什么新闻，以及新闻选择如何影响政治态度的质量，数量和强度，以及各种参与形式。该实验跟踪了受试者选择的新闻来源，他们在每个新闻来源上花费的时间，他们回忆起的信息量，以及新闻选择如何影响他们的选择的意见和质量。获得信息是实现充分公民权的一个重要先决条件，而主流媒体历来对边缘化群体的服务很差。因此，少数群体可能会从网上的大量信息中获益最多。通过研究种族，种族和党派在信息选择中的作用，并通过研究政治知识和态度的后续发展，以及政治参与，这项研究谈到了政治传播，政治心理学，种族和政治的奖学金。该实验产生的数据也将提供给其他研究人员。这些数据和调查结果将对研究信息、参与和代表性的学者感兴趣。

This study examines whether Internet use improves the diffusion of political information among minorities, and if Internet use translates into more political participation by members of marginalized groups. Research has shown that the web enables individuals to engage with information selectively. Selective engagement occurs when individuals retrieve news that speaks their political preferences, and ignore information that clashes with already existing opinions. Using panel survey data and an experimental design, the study examines whether the same underlying mechanism that allows citizens to sort themselves into highly partisan information worlds online (via selective exposure to information) also enables members of historically disadvantaged groups to efficiently access information that pertains specifically to them and to their groups' political goals. Moreover, the project addresses whether selective exposure to online news could provide political knowledge gains among minority populations that may translate into better representation by the political system. The intellectual merit of the project is associated with its three main objectives: (1) to examine how partisanship, ideology, race and ethnicity, as well as group consciousness, influence selective exposure to political information online; (2) to research how selective exposure affects the quality, quantity and strength of political attitudes; (3) to test the impact of selective exposure on political participation and the quality of vote choice. The project employs a multi-method approach to address these objectives. In the first and completed phase of the research, panel data were analyzed to test the role of race/ethnicity in moderating the effects of online news consumption and subsequent attitude change using generalized linear mixed models. Phase II of the research will add an experiment to test what news African-American, Caucasian and Latino subjects select when they are exposed to different information environments, and how news selection impacts the quality, quantity and strength of political attitudes, as well as various forms of participation. The experiment tracks what news sources subjects select, how much time they spend with each news source, how much information they recall, and how news selection impacts opinion and the quality of their choices.The broader impacts of this research are related to representation and citizenship. Access to information is a critical prerequisite for the realization of full citizenship, and marginalized groups have historically been served poorly by mainstream media. Minorities may therefore stand to gain the most from the vast information found on the web. By examining the role of ethnicity, race and partisanship in the selection of information, and by researching the subsequent development of political knowledge and attitudes, as well as political participation, this research speaks to scholarship in political communications, political psychology, and race and politics. The data generated in this experiment will also be made available to other researchers. The data and findings will be of interest to scholars who are researching information, participation and representation.