Response Latencies in Survey Research

Several COPS members have, over the years, been using response latencies in surveys and experiments. How long it takes a person to answer a question functions as an important window through which we can peer into the "black box" that is the human mind. A recent Washington Post article talks about some of the foundations of this research. Because of the increase in the number and types of empirical questions that can be answered when response latencies are measured, we are using "latent timers" (a methodology developed in part here at OSU in the Political Science department) in the TOPS survey this year. Analyzing these data should keep us very busy for years to come.

Ohio Center of Political Universe

Or, not far from it. A recent article reveals that campaign spending on federal-level races by "outside" groups is twice as high in Ohio as in any other state in the nation. Nice to be here locally studying it as part of our three-wave COPS/TOPS panel study (see previous post on this), which is now in the middle of Wave 2. Anyhow, read the article here.

COPS makes waves in Washington D.C.

You may be interested in reading a report in today's Washington Times newspaper discussing the research of COPS members Andrew Hayes and Mike Huge and its importance for politics and participation in the current election context. Just click the link here.

So Goes the Nation

The 90-minute documentary film by Endgame Entertainment about Ohio's central role in the 2004 presidential election is playing this week at the campus Gateway theaters.

Patriot Act Meets Content Analysis

The method of content analysis for assessing tone of media coverage has entered the terrorism age. See the NY Times story here...

Innovations in survey methodology

Former Ohio State professor Jon Krosnick is developing some exciting new methods for increasing response rates and reducing costs... read more about his NSF-funded 2008 election project at http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/september27/krosnick-092706.html

More data for polling junkies

SurveyUSA's coverage of the Ohio gubernatorial and Senate races includes a cool tracking feature that allows users to view respondent trends broken out by a decent list of key demographic variables as well as political leanings. They have three time points thus far.

Click on the large "T" in the crosstabs to sort and view tracking data.

COPS does TOPS

This year three COPS faculty (Eveland, Hayes, & Kosicki) and some COPS graduate students are working with faculty and graduate students in the Political Science department to field The Ohio Political Survey (TOPS). This year TOPS will be a three wave panel study plus a cross-sectional study of Ohio adults. Wave I of TOPS began today. Wave II will begin in early October, and Wave III (and the cross-section) will begin the day after the election. The study will examine a number of topics related to Ohio politics and the governor/U.S. senate campaigns, including election and political scandals, opinion perceptions, political discussion networks, and new forms of political media. Look for preliminary results posted here as the data become available, and more detailed findings to be submitted to future academic conferences.

Election 2006 Polls

If you're a popular public opinion poll junkie like me, you might enjoy spending some of your "time off" as summer winds down checking out some really top-notch Web sites that are serving as clearing houses for information on how the American public's answering today's big questions.

Slate's Election Score Card
Slate follows up on their excellent 2004 poll aggregation with a pretty comprehensive look at the nation's top senate and gubernatorial races, as well as a "generic candidate" look at the house. There's also an informative "momentum shift” feature.

Pollster.com
Slate basically provides the high points from this site, but you can get more detail here. Not to mention the "Mystery Pollster" blog.

Polling Report.com
Polling Report posts frequency analyses for virtually every major, popular, public opinion poll. As a result, it's updated on almost a daily basis.

While most of these aren't very "scholarly," they might spark some research ideas, or at least help provide a feel for what the nation's saying in the here and now. I’m sure there are other great sites out there; these are just the ones that I’m currently frequenting.

Research spaces for your use

As the new academic year starts, don't forget about the fantastic research facilities available for your use. A permanent link has been added to the right of this page, or you can just click here to view some images.

BYU 2004 Election Panel available

In 2004 a group led by researchers at BYU gathered panel data relevant for us COPS folks. Maybe most interestingly, they did a specific sample of Ohio and oversamples of other battleground states. This could be a potentially useful (and less cliche) data set for secondary analysis, especially for those with an interest in Ohio politics or comparisons of media environments. Check it out:

BYU Panel

ICA 2007 Call for Papers

The 2007 ICA conference is in San Francisco May 24-28. The call for papers has been issued. See the call here. The deadline for submission is Nov 1, 2006.

Is Columbus the center of the political universe? Jon Stewart apparently thinks so...

According to Gongwer News Service's Ohio Report:

Indecision Ohio: It's official: the Buckeye State is now firmly ensconced in the national conscious as a major player in this year's midterm election cycle. Why else would Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" plan to record a week's worth of installments from the Ohio State University campus in Columbus?

Under the banner of "Indecision 2006," the politically-minded half-hour show of self-described "fake news" will stage its "Battlefield Ohio: The Daily Show's Midwest Midterm Midtacular" at OSU's Roy Bowen Theatre. The Oct. 30-Nov. 2 segments will be taped earlier on those dates for airing at 11 p.m.

Comedy Central said in announcing the show's plans, "Host Jon Stewart will be joined by his team of award-seeking commentators and correspondents as they seek to answer the age-old question: Just what the hell is a buckeye?"

It will be the fifth road trip for the series, which previously taped shows in Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Volume #75, Report #162, Article #08 --Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Midwest Political Science Association conference

The submission deadline for the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) is October 2, 2006. MPSA is held in Chicago each year at the Palmer House Hilton; this year the conference will be held April 12-15, 2007. For more information, visit the MPSA Web site here.

Technology and Politics

Read an interesting article discussing the impact of DVRs on political advertising, and the implications for online political advertising.