International Journal of Public Opinion Research - current issue

Editorial

Traugott, M. W. — 2008-02-23

The Use of Opinion Polls * What Polls Can and Cannot Tell us About Public Opinion: Keynote Speech at the 60th Annual Conference of WAPOR

Lang, K. — 2008-02-23

Comments on the Keynote

Langer, G., Traugott, M. W., Worcester, R. M. — 2008-02-23

Reply to the Comments

Lang, K. — 2008-02-23

The Media and Economic Voting in Israel

Sheafer, T. — 2008-02-23

The premise of the economic voting hypothesis is that citizens vote for the government if the national economy is doing well; otherwise, they vote against it. The causal chain of effects in the economic voting hypothesis starts from the objective economic indicators, moves on to voter perceptions of the economy, and then to the vote. Under the competence hypothesis that is analyzed here, this causal chain is slightly modified, with the objective economy as the first step, voter perceptions of the economic competence of the government as the second step, and then the vote. It is argued that citizens learn about the state of the national economy mainly from the media. Yet, only few studies of economic voting include empirical analyses of the media's role in it. The findings support the competence hypothesis and the important role of the media in it. They underline the valuable contribution of media effects theories, and especially media framing and priming, to our understanding of economic voting.

Pluralistic Ignorance About Sex: The Direct and the Indirect Effects of Media Consumption on College Students' Misperception of Sex-Related Peer Norms

Chia, S. C., Lee, W. — 2008-02-23

The term pluralistic ignorance refers to erroneous beliefs held by a group of individuals about the attitudes or behavior of others. In this study, we examined the degree to which college students in Singapore misconceive their peers’ sexual attitudes and behavior. The data for this study came from a web-based survey involving a random sample of 534 college students in Singapore. The results indicate widespread evidence of pluralistic ignorance; that is, students believed that their peers were significantly more sexually active than was actually the case. The data also suggest that the students formed such erroneous impressions of peers on the basis, in part, of the students’ media consumption and of the students’ own sexual attitudes.

Measuring Public Opinions About Surveys

Loosveldt, G., Storms, V. — 2008-02-23

Respondent's opinions about survey research are regarded as an expression at the individual level of the general survey-taking climate. Based on a review of the research about ‘surveys on surveys’ five relevant dimensions of the respondent's opinion about surveys are distinguished: survey enjoyment, survey value, survey cost, survey reliability, and survey privacy. Items related to these aspects are used to develop an ‘Opinions about Survey Scale’. The results of an analysis of the predictive validity of the scale support the expectations based on the theory of planned behavior. Opinions about surveys are associated with the intention to participate in future surveys and with hesitation to fill out the questionnaire of a mail survey. Opinions are not related with participation in a follow-up mail survey. The results of the wave analysis of a mail survey are a clear indication that nonrespondents have more negative opinions about different aspects of surveys. This also means that the measurement of opinions is biased. However, because of this bias it is worthwhile and useful to measure these opinions.

Political Comedy Shows and Public Participation in Politics

Cao, X., Brewer, P. R. — 2008-02-23

Effects of Interviewer Gender on Survey Responses: Findings from a Household Survey in Mexico

Flores-Macias, F., Lawson, C. — 2008-02-23

W. Phillips Davison (2006). A Personal History of World War II. How a Pacifist Draftee Accidentally Became a Military Government Official in Postwar Germany.

Wilke, J. — 2008-02-23

Recent Books in the Field of Public Opinion Research

de Boer, C. — 2008-02-23

Recent Articles in the Field of Public Opinion Research

Mortimore, R. — 2008-02-23

WAPOR News

2008-02-23