[Air-L] advance table of contents of the "Social Science Computer Review"
Ulf-Dietrich Reips
u.reips at ikerbasque.org
Mon Aug 30 04:56:54 PDT 2010
Dear colleague:
Below is the advance table of contents of the
"Social Science Computer Review" for Summer 2011.
This issue will appear through Sage Online is a
few months and in print in May 2011. Other
advance (and past) contents are found at
http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/sscore/contents.htm
Best wishes
--u
Social Science Computer Review
Volume 29, No. 2
Summer 2011
Special issue on Web Survey Methods
Measuring political knowledge in telephone and
web surveys: A cross-national comparison / Zan
Strabac & Toril Aalberg
Abstract:
Fast pace of technology changes makes conduction
of high-quality web surveys increasingly easy,
and performance of web surveys should be
continuously monitored. In this article a
comparison is made of the results of telephone
and web surveys of items measuring international
news knowledge. We compare web surveys of general
populations conducted in the USA and Norway in
January 2009 with their telephone replications
conducted in the same month. Results show rather
small differences between web and telephone
surveys, particularly in Norway. We discuss the
results and make recommendations for use of web
surveys and for future methodological research.
Words, numbers and visual heuristics in web
surveys: Is there a hierarchy of importance? /
Vera Toepoel & Don A. Dillman
Abstract
Respondents follow simple heuristics in
interpreting the visual features of questions. We
carried out two experiments in two panels to
investigate how the effect of visual heuristics
affects the answers to survey questions. In the
first experiment we varied the distance between
scale points in a five point scale to investigate
whether respondents use the conceptual or visual
midpoint of a scale. In the second experiment we
used different endpoint labels of a five point
scale, by adding different shadings of color and
numbers that differed both in sign and value (2
to -2), to study whether options that are similar
of appearance are considered conceptually closer
than when they are dissimilar in appearance. We
predicted that there is a hierarchy of features
that respondents attend to, with verbal labels
taking precedence over numerical labels, and
numerical labels taking precedence over visual
cues. Our results confirmed our hypothesis: the
effect of spacing of response options and
different endpoints was only apparent in polar
point scales and not in fully labeled scales. In
addition, our study on two panels, with one
consisting of extremely trained respondents and
the other of relatively fresh respondents, shows
that trained respondents are affected by the
distance between response options while
relatively new respondents are not. To reduce the
effect of visual cues, taking into account the
robustness of results, we suggest it is better to
use fully labeled five-point scales in survey
questions.
Response rates and data quality in web and mail
surveys administered to PhD holders / Maite
Barrios, Anna Villarroya, Ángel Borrego, &
Candela Ollé
Abstract
Despite the extensive use of Web surveys today,
there are certain methodological factors related
to participant cooperation and data quality which
remain unclear and require further study. Here,
we compare responses to a survey administered in
two formats - electronic, or by post - in terms
of overall response rate and the quality of the
data collected. Web and mail questionnaires were
sent to a sample of 572 PhD holders, asking them
about aspects related to their academic career
and personal and family data in order to
investigate the factors that determine scientific
productivity. The Web questionnaire elicited a
significantly higher response rate than the mail
questionnaire. Response rates did not differ
between males and females; however, topic
salience had an effect on the response rate.
Finally, data quality was higher in Web surveys
than in the mail surveys, with fewer overall
errors, fewer missing items and longer responses
in open-ended questions.
Sliders for the smart: Type of rating scale on
the web interacts with educational level /
Frederik Funke, Ulf-Dietrich Reips, & Randall K.
Thomas
Abstract
Slider scales and radio buttons scales were
experimentally evaluated in horizontal and
vertical orientation. Slider scales lead to
statistically significantly higher break-off
rates (odds ratio = 6.9) and substantially higher
response times. Problems with slider scales were
especially prevalent in participants with less
than average education, suggesting the slider
scale format is more challenging in terms of
previous knowledge needed or cognitive load. An
alternative explanation, technology-dependent
sampling (Buchanan & Reips, 2001), cannot fully
account for the present results. The authors
clearly advise against the use of Java-based
slider scales and advocate low-tech solutions for
the design of Web-based data collection.
Orientation on screen had no observable effect on
data quality or usability of rating scales.
Implications of item format for Web-based surveys
are discussed.
Response rates and data quality in web and mail
surveys administered to PhD holders / Maite
Barrios, Anna Villarroya, Ángel Borrego, &
Candela Ollé
Abstract
Despite the extensive use of Web surveys today,
there are certain methodological factors related
to participant cooperation and data quality which
remain unclear and require further study. Here,
we compare responses to a survey administered in
two formats - electronic, or by post - in terms
of overall response rate and the quality of the
data collected. Web and mail questionnaires were
sent to a sample of 572 PhD holders, asking them
about aspects related to their academic career
and personal and family data in order to
investigate the factors that determine scientific
productivity. The Web questionnaire elicited a
significantly higher response rate than the mail
questionnaire. Response rates did not differ
between males and females; however, topic
salience had an effect on the response rate.
Finally, data quality was higher in Web surveys
than in the mail surveys, with fewer overall
errors, fewer missing items and longer responses
in open-ended questions.
Reports and Communications
Is public trust in government associated with
trust in e-government? / Simon Horsburgh, Shaun
Goldfinch, & Robin Gauld
Abstract
The term e-government describes the use of
information and communications technology,
particularly the internet, for the delivery of
public services. As governments invest in
e-government, there is only limited knowledge of
the extent of public trust in the new electronic
modes of delivery; we also know little about
whether there is any relationship between trust
in government and trust in e-government. This
article reports on research designed to probe
this issue. Drawing on survey data from Australia
and New Zealand, a series of hypotheses are
tested pertaining to relationships between public
trust in government and in e-government, in the
use of information and communications technology
and trust in e-government, and support for
e-government investment and development. Trust in
government was found not to be correlated with
trust in facets of e-government service
provision, but was associated with support for
e-government investment. More intensive internet
users were more likely to trust e-government
services.
Political participation of teenagers in the
information era: The case of the 2008 Korean
Candlelight Protests / Yun Seongyi & Chang
Woo-young
Abstract
This study examines the environments and the
characteristics of political participation of
teenage political participation. The 2008
Candlelight Protests of Korea is used as the case
of this study. Traditionally, teenagers in Korea
have known to disengage from political affairs
because they are usually worn by intense academic
challenge and competition. In that sense,
participation of teenagers at such a large scale
shown in the 2008 Candlelight Protests of Korea
can only be explained as huge shift in political
preference of teenagers and conventional social
norms. In that sense, the case of 2008
Candlelight Protests of Korea has shown great
implications for the political potential of new
media, which is capable of revolutionizing the
political socialization patterns of youth. Survey
results demonstrated that the internet had become
an important tool from which the teenagers
collected political information and channels
which they utilized to organize and mobilize.
Numbers also showed that the degree of the
youth's socio-political interests were higher
than the adult's. Other notable fact found was
that female students showed more aggressive
involvement than male students and this could be
explained by the difference in the internet usage
pattern between male and female students. In
using media, adolescent girls displayed more
relationship and objective oriented behaviors
than the boys.
VODYS: An agent-based model for exploring
campaign dynamics / Girish J. Gulati, Charles R.
Hadlock, & Juliet F. Gainsborough
Abstract
The literature on campaigns has considered a
number of factors that affect whether and how
someone votes, including demographics, campaign
strategies, and social milieu. Understanding the
dynamics of campaigns, however, is complicated by
the fact that researchers cannot observe much of
what happens during an election cycle. Typically,
studies rely on voter recollections of
conversations, contacts, and media exposure. In
addition, because data are collected at discrete
points in time, most models of voter turnout
cannot capture the dynamic nature of an
individual's interactions during a campaign
cycle. Agent-based models offer a way to overcome
these data limitations by allowing us to model
the dynamics of voter turnout over the course of
many weeks as individuals move back forth between
home and work environments, interacting with
neighbors and colleagues. In this paper, we
present an agent-based model of campaign
dynamics, VODYS, and conduct three simulations to
demonstrate the utility of agent-based models for
exploring the effects of contact and context on
political behavior.
--
Ulf-Dietrich Reips
Ikerbasque Research Professor
Departamento de Psicología
Universidad de Deusto
Apartado 1, 48080 Bilbao, España
Secretary & Fax: +34 944 139 085
http://iscience.deusto.es/
More information about the Air-L
mailing list