poli sci attitudes & public opinion

what does “Influencing Public Opinion” by McCombs and Valenzuela’s say about the media?

the media shapes what we pay attention to

what does “Influencing Public Opinion” by McCombs and Valenzuela say about agenda setting?

media doesn’t tell people what to think, but journalists influence what ppl think about

what does “Studying Public Opinion Empirically” by Clawson and Ox say about the five methods (list them) require?

surveys, experiments, interviews, focus groups, and content analysis require human participation

what does "Studying Public Opinion Empirically" by Clawson and Oxley say about random samples

important for researchers to generalize results to a larger population

what do "Studying Public Opinion Empirically" by Clawson and Oxley EMPHASIZE about research methods?

none of them are perfect, the best method depends on the question being studied

What does "The Media and the Polls" by Asher say about poll reporting standards

media needs to report polls accurately and completely

what does Asher in “The Media and Polls” say about poll results?

poll #s need context and interpretation, must take wording of ?s, meaning of percentages and differences btw subgroups

what else does Herb “The Media and Polls” say about polls & news coverage

media can shape how public understands polls. encourages ppl to look beyond headlines

what does “Analyzing and Interpreting Polls” by Asher say about poll interpretation?

what u analyze matters, choices affect how a poll is being perceived (judgement, not just stats)

what does “Analyzing and Interpreting Polls” by Asher say about HOW TO interpret RESULTS of polls

look for patterns and differences btw groups, compare results over time (don’t assume causal relationships)

what does “Analyzing and Interpreting Polls” by Asher say about diff polls w diff results

conflicting polls doesn’t mean one is wrong, look at overall evidence rather than relying on one poll

what does “A Survey Researcher’s Many Decisions” by Koning say about survey process and framing

no path guarantees accurate results, wording of ?s have many affects. framing impacts how respondents understand ?

what does “A Survey Researcher’s Many Decisions” by Koning say about question weighting

it influences data quality and affect results, decision making continues after results are released

what does Zhang say about agenda setting in “Issue Attention in Public Opinion…”

understanding how policy elites respond to polling issue-agenda is key

what does Zhang say about the Lexicoder in “Issue Attention in Public Opinion…?”

places survey ?s in diff topics. and to evaluate issue attention

what does “ “Issue Attention in Public Opinion” by Zhang mention about pollsters

not completely neutral, have their own issue agenda bc of limited resources, ask abt issues that’re important to the public

what does “Issue Attention in Public Opinion” by Zhang say about public opinion in polls?

its stronger for issues that are frequently polled than those that aren’t

what does “Issue Attention in Public Opinion” by Zhang say about polling attention

associated w coverage in NYT and laws (suggests that Congress is paying attention to polls)

how is content analysis performed?

selecting criteria researcher wants to analyze (shows how the media looks at specific issues)

list three standards of reporting results of a poll

who conducted it, methods used, unweighted sample size on one of subgroup estimated

substantive interpretation of numerical results in POLLING:

explaining what data signifies in the real world than just listing the #s

agenda setting:

process by which media and poli actors influence public importance on which issues are important or not important

comprehensiveness in polls:

method that covers entire target pop without leaving out groups or ignoring key aspects of a topic

question consideration in polling:

ensuring wording of questions are free of bias for accurate results

probability sampling (and example):

selection of a random sample representative of entire pop (every 100th Pitt student)

sampling error:

difference btw the results you get from a sample vs true results of entire group population

nonresponse bias:

ppl who don’t answer poll are different from those who do (unrepresentative results)

nonprobability sample:

convenience sample relies on who is available

double-barreled ?s:

asks a single question that touches on more than one issue, but only allows for one answer

acquiescence bias:

tendency of respondents to say yes regardless of context/true preferences

what are the two response categories:

mutually exclusive and exhaustive

mutually exclusive response category: ( AND EXAMPLE)

where respondents can only fit into one option (18-24 and 25-34)

exhaustive response category: (AND EXAMPLE)

ensures every possible case fits into at least one category (including “other” in answer choices)