Parties, Candidates and Citizens On-Line - Åbo Akademi

RQ2a: What are the Finnish parties’ opinions concerning the importance and use of their
website?
RQ2b: What do the Finnish parties’ websites look like as to the actual content of the site?
In sum, the study’s empirical part is designed as a two-step analysis in which the Finnish
parties’ internet motives and strategies along with the contents of their websites are firstly
explored. The results of the descriptive parts are thereafter used as starting points for
exploring potential party patterns in light of the theoretical backdrop.
Data and methods
The study focuses on all Finnish parties found on-line, in total 15 parties. As the purpose
is to explore the actor-constructivist viewpoint, the study necessarily focuses on one
single country. This eliminates the inference of macro-level aspects in the analysis.
Circumstances such as variations in party systems, electoral systems, media system and
other institutional factors also influence party behaviour (Rohrschneider 2002, 378).
Focusing on one country isolates the inter-party variations relevant to the study.
When seeking to study inter-party variations in party ICT conduct and its potential
connection to variations in several party characteristics, one needs to analyze a country
which a priori appears to have sufficient variation of political parties (cf. Hansen et al.
2005, 3-4). The Finnish multiparty context 1 without any single dominating party, with
parties of different sizes and a history of ideological cleavages and different types of
voters (Djupsund 1990, 20; Sundberg 1996, 147-152) arguably meets this criterion.
Moreover, Finland is a suitable case for studies of internet activity, as the country has a
relatively high level of internet penetration 2. The country is also among the world leading
countries in terms of internet usage by political actors (Gibson & Römmele 2005, 10).
Furthermore, the relatively high level of internet penetration has long been fulfilled (cf.
Norris 2000) and signs of an emerging ‘web electorate’ are evident (Bengtsson &
Grönlund 2005; Borg & Moring 2005; Moring 2003). Hence, the Finnish political parties
are relatively familiar with the web compared to countries where political parties are soto-say
still ‘learning the ropes’ of political internet use.
In order to asses the parties’ opinions concerning the importance and use of their
website, a self-completion questionnaire was sent to the parties’ information official (cf.
Gibson et al. 2003b, 90). In total, the official from 11 of the 15 parties with websites
responded. The questionnaire’s items centred around six scales of interest concerning the
parties’ website (See Appendix A); firstly, labour input, secondly, central planning of website,
thirdly, importance of the website in different areas compared to other communication
channels, fourthly, general opinion of party websites, fifthly, informative communication, and
93