RAPID: American's Perceptions of China

2015年8月，中国人民币贬值，这让国际金融界大吃一惊，导致包括中国在内的许多市场出现剧烈波动。在人民币贬值之前，2014年的合作国会选举调查(CCES)包括了一项实验，该调查以新闻报道(一个积极的，一个消极的)为幌子，对中国政府如何管理人民币汇率进行了两个简短的插曲。2015年之后不久，使用类似的样本重复了同样的实验。鉴于传闻中的人民币即将贬值，以及总统选举的焦点是中国贸易，同样的实验将作为2016年CCE的一个模块重复进行。这项研究将通过实验研究一个问题的框架如何通过各种方式影响人们对中国的理解和评价。它还可以让我们研究人们在不同的条件下做出反应，以及这些条件如何影响他们的反应。这包括在货币贬值之前和贬值后不久以及现在的总统选举周期中进行的以前的实验。这个项目的学术价值有两个方面。首先，有一个原始的、直接的想法，即有机会通过实验(现在，在完全控制的情况下)研究一个问题的框架如何通过各种方式影响人们对中国的理解和评价。第二个想法是重复一项关于中国货币及其可能的管理的调查和实验，然后受访者才能现实地知道中国人可能真的会这样做，但只能在国会选举期间猜测，猜测关于中国的各种说法。然后，当有接近实验性治疗本身的新闻报道时，我们会重复它，一旦报道已经过去很久，但在总统竞选活动中(因此可能会从两党获得关于中国的一组总统级别的信息，而不是更分散、不那么全国性的信息)，我们就会再次重复(假设)。很少有这样的机会在审判前、审判中、审判后进行。考虑到实际政治环境中不同的背景信息，我们很少有机会讨论框架可能如何发挥作用。这项研究的更广泛的影响将是对美国人如何看待“中国的崛起”的理解的延伸，因为它变得越来越有新闻价值。尤其是在中国的真实事件、国内政治和新闻报道的框架下，看到看法和评价是多么容易改变的能力。

In August, 2015, the Chinese RMB was devalued, which came as something of surprise to the international financial community and led to dramatic volatility in many markets, including the Chinese. Prior to this devaluation, an experiment was included on the 2014 CCES (Cooperative Congressional Election Survey) that had as its treatment two short vignettes in the guise of news stories (one positive, one negative) about how the Chinese government was managing its currency. Soon after the 2015, this same experiment was repeated using a similar sample. Given the rumored upcoming devaluation of the RMB and the focus of the presidential election on Chinese trade, the same experiment will be repeated as a module of the 2016 CCES. This study will allow the study of how framing of an issue, experimentally, affects how people understand and evaluate China in a variety of ways. It also allows us to examine different conditions under which people react and how these conditions impact their reactions. This includes the previous experiments prior to a devaluation and soon after a devaluation and now during a presidential election cycle.The intellectual merit of this project is two-fold. First, there is the original, direct idea, of having the opportunity to study how the framing of an issue, experimentally (and now, with full control condition), affects how people understand and evaluate China in a variety of ways. The second idea is to repeat a survey and an experiment about Chinese currency and its possible management before the respondents could realistically know that the Chinese might actually do so, but could only guess, and guess during a congressional election, with a variety of claims in the "air" about China. We then repeat it while there is news coverage available that is close to the experimental treatment, per se, and then repeat it again (it is assumed) once that coverage is well past, but when in the middle of presidential election campaign (and thus are likely to get mostly a presidential level set of messages about China from the two parties, rather than a more diffuse and not so nationally focused). Rarely, is there such an opportunity to have a before, during, after trial. Rarely do we also have the opportunity to address how framing might work, given different background information in the actual political environment. The broader impact of the study will be an extension of the understanding of how Americans view the "rising of China," as it becomes ever more newsworthy. And, in particular, the ability to see how malleable perceptions and evaluations are, as they are buffeted about by real events in China, by domestic politics, and by the framing of news coverage.