Contacting a public official: Concept and measurement in cross‐national surveys, 1960s–2010s

Dubrow, Joshua Kjerulf; Tomescu-Dubrow, Irina; Lavrinenko, Olga

doi:10.1111/ssqu.13177

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The punctuated pattern for both the overall letters, and each individual CAP topic may also help us consider the role of constituent contact, and how it fits into the broader political participation and accountability frameworks (Aars & Strømsnes, 2007;Dubrow et al, 2022;Henderson et al, 2021). As explained above, these patterns of behaviour arise due to the cognitive limitations of individuals and institutions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Letters to leaders: Political participation and punctuated equilibrium theory

Casey

2022

Preprint

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Is there a steady, consistent flow of public opinion to political leaders? Or are the public usually fairly quiet, with occasional periods of shouting from rooftops? Research has shown that policy agendas are punctuated, with long periods of stasis and short periods of major change, there is a paucity of research on punctuation of public opinion and political participation. This paper advances punctuated equilibrium theory by applying this approach to political participation. I use new datasets of the volume and topic of letters to the Australian Prime Minister and American President. I find clear evidence that that individuals’ decision to participate is punctuated. I also find that topics with a high volume of letters have a higher level of punctuation, supporting the theory that punctuations can occur when the conflict is expanded, and public is drawn into the conflict. These results extend punctuated equilibrium further up the policy process chain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Letters to leaders: Political participation and punctuated equilibrium theory

Casey

2022

Preprint

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“…Political behaviors are shaped also by feelings that one's political actions are consequential and important for democracy (Campbell, Gurin, and Mille 1954; Dubrow et al. 2022). This tendency to engage in political behaviors is positively related to two forms of political efficacy : internal efficacy, the belief that individuals can understand politics and effect change, and external efficacy, the belief that the government responds to their demands (Finkel 1985).…”

Section: Democratic Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survey participation as a function of democratic engagement, trust in institutions, and perceptions of surveys

Silber

Moy

Johnson

et al. 2022

Social Science Quarterly

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Objective: With response rates of large-scale surveys having decreased significantly over the years and rebounds seeming unlikely, many studies now examine how response rates vary with methodological design and incentives. This investigation delves into how individual-level factors shape survey participation. Specifically, we examine the influence of individuals' democratic engagement and their trust in institutions on intent to participate in surveys, both directly and indirectly through their perceptions of surveys. Methods: We collected survey data from a probability sample of adults (N = 1343) in Mannheim, Germany, from November 2019 to March 2020. Structural equation models were estimated to test the hypothesized relationships. Results: The analyses support most, but not all, hypothesized relationships. Democratic engagement bolstered intent to participate, directly as well as indirectly through perceptions of surveys. Institutional trust, on the other hand, only influenced the outcome measure indirectly. Perceptions of surveys had a strong bearing overall effect on intent to participate. Conclusion:The study's results suggest that the response rates and larger issues related to the perceived legitimacy of public opinion and survey research might be intertwined with orientations related to people's civic and political life. The article discusses potential ways survey researchers can counteract distrust in surveys. KEYWORDS survey attitudes, survey climate, survey responseThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

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Contacting a public official: Concept and measurement in cross‐national surveys, 1960s–2010s

Cited by 2 publications

References 20 publications

Letters to leaders: Political participation and punctuated equilibrium theory

Letters to leaders: Political participation and punctuated equilibrium theory

Survey participation as a function of democratic engagement, trust in institutions, and perceptions of surveys

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