Measuring Exposure to Political Advertising in Surveys - College of ...

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Polit BehavAn experiment in which students kept diaries of the television programming theywatched and later answered standard ANES survey questions about their televisionviewing habits revealed not only a pervasive tendency to overestimate in surveyresponses the time spent watching television but also large discrepancies inestimates of television watching among different survey methods. I then showed asimilar pattern of differences in a large random sample of adults, among estimatesof television viewing of the kind commonly used in survey research incorporatingCMAG data (the 1998 ANES pilot survey, which asked about television viewinghabits with three different question wordings). These discrepancies are not random;indicators of political sophistication, such as political knowledge, are systematicallyassociated with larger discrepancies. As a result, estimates of the relationshipbetween exposure to ads, political sophistication, and political behavior are unstableand hinge on the questions used to gauge television viewing habits.I have also offered two potential, partial solutions. First, by taking the log ofestimated exposure (which has the two advantages of accounting for the decreasingmarginal effects of additional exposure to advertising and, by ‘‘compressing’’estimated exposure, reducing the inflated estimates of exposure that appear endemicto these questions) we can diminish those differences in results that are artifactsprimarily of question wording. This approach will not eliminate the problem,however. Even using logged estimates, I have shown that researchers can drawsharply contrasting normative inferences from how exposure to negative advertisinginfluences the propensity to talk about politics. My analysis could be used to supportone picture in which exposure to negative ads makes low political sophisticatesbehave like high political sophisticates but also the opposite view in which exposureto negative ads exacerbates the differences between low and high politicalsophisticates. In either case, the interpretation is purely an artifact of the questionsused to gauge television viewing habits. A second potential solution uses multiplemeasures to gauge ad exposure. Bartels (1996, 2), who is often cited in support of the‘‘shows’’ method of gauging viewing habits, is similarly circumspect about using asingle set of measures; he suggests that we should weigh the net benefit of investing‘‘entirely in specific exposure items’’ against the advantages of using ‘‘somecombination of specific exposure items, general exposure items, and quiz items.’’The implications for research on the impact of advertising are profound. Themixture of findings in experiments and surveys may be the result of much more thanbasic differences in research design. Survey estimates of the effects of ad exposureare themselves highly unstable. Any attempt to estimate exposure to televisionshould be wary of individual sensitivity to even the most subtle changes in questionwording that can have vast effects on inferences. It is no wonder that carefullyconducted studies offer the conflicting interpretations that negative advertising is aboon or a burden to American democracy. Perhaps a combination of approaches, inwhich we return to multiple measures of ad exposure in order to be more certain ofthe stability of relationships, while also evaluating effects based on a single commonoperationalization of exposure, such as logged estimates, will point the way forward.Acknowledgementsand suggestions.Thanks to Barbara Allen, Andrew Seligsohn, and the editors for helpful comments123
Polit BehavAppendixCoding of VariablesDaypart Questions. Question Wording: Thinking about this past week, about howmany hours did you personally watch television on a typical weekday morning/afternoon, from [6:00 to 10:00 AM/ 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM/4:00 PM to 8:00 PM/8:00 PM to 11:00 PM/11:00 PM to 1:00 AM]. Thinking about this past weekend,about how many hours did you personally watch television from 6:00 AM to7:00 PM? Coding: The total number of weekday hours (multiplied by 5) werecombined with the total number of weekend hours to estimate the total number ofhours of TV watched per week.Typical Week Questions (from ANES 1998 Pilot). Question Wording: On atypical weekday, about how many hours of television do you watch during themorning and afternoon? About how many hours of television do you watch on atypical weekday evening? On a typical weekend day, about how many hours oftelevision do you watch during the morning and afternoon? Coding: The totalnumber of weekday hours (multiplied by 5) were combined with the total number ofweekend day hours (multiplied by 2).Show Questions (ANES 1998 Pilot). Question Wording: How many days/timesin the past week have you watched [The Today Show/The Rosie O’Donnell Show/daytime soap operas like General Hospital or Days of Our Lives/Jeopardy or Wheelof Fortune/a sports event/local news]? Coding: The sum of all six genres (eachgenre was rescaled from zero to one) divided by six.Show Questions (Experiment). Question Wording: How many times in a typicalweek do you watch [Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune/morning news programs such asToday, Good Morning America, or The Early Show/daytime television shows suchas Oprah Winfrey or Jerry Springer/national network on news/local TV news shows,either in the late afternoon or early evening]?.Efficacy. Question Wording: Please tell me how much you agree or disagree withthese statements ... agree strongly, agree somewhat, neither agree nor disagree,disagree somewhat, disagree strongly, don’t know? Public officials don’t care whatpeople like me think; Sometimes politics seems so complicated that a person likeme can’t really understand what’s going on; People like me don’t have any sayabout what the government does. Coding: The average response on the 1 to 5 scale.Number of Days in the Past Week Talked About Politics. Question Wording:How many days in the past week did you talk about politics with family or friends?Number of Issues Recognize that Candidates Have Talked About. QuestionWording: For each issue we would like to know if you think either one of thecandidates, both, or neither is talking about these issues (private school vouchers,abortion, gun-related crimes, campaign contributions from PACs, protecting thequality of the air and water, improving discipline in schools). Coding: Total ofnumber of issues each candidate is talking about.Intention to Vote. Question Wording: (Half sample 1) So far as you know, doyou expect to vote in the elections this coming November? Would you say that youare definitely going to vote, probably going to vote, or are you just leaning towards123
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