Research
In the News | Dissertation | Works in Progress | Dynamic Information Board
In the News
Student Examining Voters' Decision-Making Process
Availble at: The Saluki Times | The Southern Illinoisan
Dynamic Information Board
As part of my dissertation, I developed and programed a dynamic informaiton board, modeled after Lau and Redlawsk (2006). My goal is to make it easy for other scholars to use and manipulate the information board. I have included some of the code for the information board below (written in html, javascript, php and sql), along with a sample information board, so you can see how it works. This program has been optimized to run in Google Chrome Kiosk Mode. The files below would need to be save as .php files to be usable. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. I am more than willing to help.
Sample Information Board
CODE: Main Information Board Screen
CODE: Pop-Up Screen Containing Candidate Information
Dissertation
Scholars have researched how voters make decisions for well over a half a century, but these studies are limited in what they are able to say about how voters make decisions because they have focused on the choice rather than the process. Most of these studies have focused on the choice that voters reach or the way their memories are structured, overlooking the importance of the search and acquisition of information. Specifically, scholars in political science have paid little attention to how contextual variations in the information environment affect how voters make decisions.
This dissertation investigate`s how changes in context affect how voters search for information. I explore three specific contexts: the number of offices on the ballot, the availability of partisan information about the candidates, and the presence or absence of campaign dialogue between two candidates. Indeed, one of the prominent features of American elections is the variation in the number of elections across jurisdictions, the availability of partisan information about candidates, and the amount of campaign dialogue between candidates--the three contexts that I examine in this study.
I conduct three experiments that manipulate each of these contexts, using a dynamic information board that simulates the campaign environment and process tracing methods to track the information subjects chose to view and in what order they chose to view it. Results indicate that context shapes the way voters search for and acquire information. When faced with long ballots, subjects examined information less closely, they compared more information between candidates, and they searched for information less systematically. When subjects were unable to use the partisan cue, they compared less information between candidates and searched for information less systematically. Finally, when there was no dialogue between candidates, subjects searched for less information and had a less systematic search for it. These findings suggest that there are better ways to design elections.
Works In Progress
Scott McClurg, Souithern Illinois University
Anand Sokhey, University of Colorado at Bolder
Drew Seib, Southern Illinois University
Open PDF
"Examining Mechanims of Political Disagreement"
Abstract: This research seeks to develop and test hypotheses about how political disagreement in social networks affects political behavior. We conduct experimental research to test whether subjects' acquaintances act as independent sources of information, and examine two different models of how such social stimuli may produce effects|either via information seeking, or information shortcuts. These tests are important because prior research is ambiguous on whether causal effects come from networks, and on potential mechanisms of influence. Our results back aspects of both models, but more strongly support the notion of disagreement as a heuristic|subjects primed to consider disagreement before a mock election exhibited a less-orderly information search process; those primed to consider disagreement after the election (but before voting) displayed lower rates of ambivalence, and evidence that such information helped clarify their decisions.
Scott McClurg, Souithern Illinois University
Anand Sokhey, University of Colorado at Bolder
Drew Seib, Southern Illinois University
Jeffrey Lyons, University of Colorado at Bolder
``Personality, Interpersonal Disagreement, and Political Behavior: An Experimental Approach''
In this research we develop and test hypotheses about how interpersonal disagreement and personality combine to affect political attitudes and behavior in general, and ambivalence and information seeking in particular. While disagreement in social networks carries a host of political consequences, an emerging literature on personality suggests the potential for moderating effects. Using an experimental design uniquely suited to examine information seeking in the wake of exposure to interpersonal disagreement, we consider whether respondents behave differently in a simulated campaign based on the display of various Òbig 5Ó traits. We find evidence that personality moderates reported ambivalence, as well as the order, depth, and time of information seeking behavior.
Drew Seib, Southern Illinois University
"Divided Government and Congressional Investigations"
Open PDF
Abstract: Mayhew’s (1991) attempts to grasp how divided government affects the ability of legislators to pass laws. In his study, he uses frequencies to decipher the effects of divided government on the probability of congressional investigations. This study takes a different look at the same data, by using a duration model. The results suggest that presidential approval is only helpful in preventing congressional investigations when government is unified.
Drew Seib, Southern Illinois University
"Unclear Ideology Heuristics and Voting"
Open PDF
Abstract: Representative democracies require that its citizens choose representatives that are in their best interest. Research shows that people have little knowledge about candidates. Scholars are now exploring heuristics as a way for citizens to be able to make reasonable decisions with little or no information about candidates. Research on heuristics thus far has only considered clear or well-defined heuristics, but heuristics are not always welldefined. This study will examine the ability of voters to employ the ideology heuristic when it is unclear. The question driving this paper is can a person vote for the candidate with the same ideology if the ideology heuristic is unclear. The results show that people are not as probable to vote for the candidate with the same ideology when the ideology heuristic is unclear.