POL205 Effect of Social Media on Public Opinion Discussion Attached is the instructions for the 8 page research paper on the effect of social media on publ

POL205 Effect of Social Media on Public Opinion Discussion Attached is the instructions for the 8 page research paper on the effect of social media on public opinion. I wrote a paper earlier in the year on the same thing that can be used as a reference that I have also attached as well Instructions for final POL 205 Research Proposal paper
Due Date: FINAL DAY OF CLASS BY THE START OF CLASS TIME
ON OAKS (WORD DOCUMENT)
The full research proposal due on the final day of class. Overall, your proposal should
demonstrate that you have done serious and thorough reading on your topic of choice, have
figured out a “gap” in the literature on your topic and have strategized a way to go about filling
that gap with an appropriate study design. REMEMBER: YOU ARE NOT ACTUALLY
COLLECTING AND RUNNING DATA. THERE SHOULD BE NO ANALYSIS OR CUT
AND PASTED DATA IN THIS PAPER. YOU ARE TELLING ME WHAT YOU WOULD DO.
The proposal needs to be feasible. For example, you cannot propose projects that would:
• Cost millions of dollars to execute
• Use classified information or data this is impossible to gather
• Physically or psychologically harm the subjects in the study
• Break the law etc.
The proposal should be written professionally. Academic research articles are not venues for
informal writing. They are also not venues for authors to rant and rave about politics.
Remember- our goal is to figure out the real, accurate patterns that exist in the world, not to
argue that our candidate/party/beliefs are better than other peoples.
Technical Directions: **PLEASE FOLLOW**
• Times New Roman or Garamond font. Do not switch fonts throughout the paper.
• 12-point size, 1-inch margins, 8-10 pages double-spaced (not counting reference page)
• On the top of the page, please put your name and the title of your paper only. DON’T
FILL SPACE WITH THE DATE, MY NAME, COURSE # ETC.
Sections of the Paper:
1. Abstract: Your abstract should be one paragraph (and only one paragraph) in italics that
summarizes the entire paper. This paragraph should be single-spaced. For an example of
an abstract, look at the top of nearly any academic paper. The remainder of the paper is
double spaced after the abstract.
2. Introduction: This should only be 1-2 paragraphs. No more. Introduce your topic and
why it matters. Some people get straight to the point and others use a real-world example
from government or politics to illustrate what they are about to discuss. It’s up to you but
this should bring the reader in and state your research question at the end of it.
3. Literature Review: THERE IS A 15 SOURCE MINIMUM. This should be about 5-6
pages, double spaced. If you did a Type 2 for the 2nd paper, you must revise it using my
comments for this final paper. If you did a Type 1 which does not lead to a specific
question or hypothesis, you’ll have to rewrite most of the lit review for this part. Again,
use my notes at the bottom of the Type 1 lit review for helpful hints. I WILL CHECK TO
SEE IF YOU REVISED THE DOCUMENT USING MY COMMENTS OR IF YOU
TURNED IN THE SAME EXACT WRITING. UNLESS I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING
LOOKED PERFECT, YOU WILL LOSE POINTS IF YOU DON’T MAKE CHANGES.
In this section you should summarize and synthesize the literature that speaks to your
topic in a way that leads to a specific hypothesis. This means you need to think about
your question and whether you need to combine literatures (ex: someone studying
candidate race and election outcomes might need to combine the work on racial attitudes
and elections) in order to produce a hypothesis.
In Text Citations: If you are citing the conclusions of another study in the lit review, put
the author’s name and the year it was published in parentheses. NO first names or paper
titles.
Example 1: A later field experiment by Gerber and Green (2008) found that social
pressure increases voter turnout.
Example 2: It is well established that social pressure has the ability to increase voter
turnout (Gerber and Green 2008)
Example 3: It is well established that social pressure has the ability to increase voter
turnout (Gerber and Green 2008; Smith 2010)
Hypothesis: Your hypothesis(es) should be denoted very clearly. For example, it might
look like this:
Hypothesis: Donations from major banks will have a negative relationship with a
legislator’s vote on financial regulation: as donations increase, the probability of voting
against regulations will decrease.
4. Research Design: In this section, which should be about 2-4 pages double spaced, you
will outline how you are going to conduct your study. If your question has been studied
before, make it clear that you are using a different method or context to study it and why
this method has benefits that previous methods do not have. This section should very
clearly tell the reader what general design you are going to use (observational,
experimental, content analysis etc.), and then specify exactly what you’re doing within
that type of design. The section should address the following and be written in proposal
format (i.e. don’t use bullet points like I’m using below):
•
If you are doing an observational study:
o Is this a cross-sectional or longitudinal study? A panel study?
o What is your DV, IV and control variables?
o How are you defining and measuring these variables (if it’s not obvious)
o Where is the data coming from?
▪ Is this a survey you’re creating? If so, you don’t need to write out an entire
survey but you do need to tell me the questions and response options that
measure the DV/IV and controls.
▪ Are you planning to use the data from a well-known survey that has been
conducted already? If so, which one?
▪
Is the data from websites or other databases? If so, which? How do they
measure these variables?
•
If you’re running an experiment: What type of experiment is it? What are you
manipulating and how are you manipulating it? (This is the IV). What is the DV? As you
learned, experiments have built in controls but you might still want to measure other
things about the subjects, especially if you are proposing an “interaction/moderating
effect” (X affects Y but only for Z type of person). Be specific about how you are setting
this up. Do you need to do a manipulation check? If yes, how will you test if you are
manipulating the thing you think you’re manipulating? (Remember: in my southern
accent study I had to get confirmation before I ran it that the southern accent actually
sounded southern to people).
•
If you’re doing a content analysis: What are you coding? What categories/features/
characteristics of the content are being coded and how are they being coded? Who is
doing the coding? How many people are doing the coding if you’re using people?
•
For all of the above methods: If you need to do sampling, who/what is your sample and
why are you using them/using that sampling procedure?
5. Conclusion: End with a paragraph about why this study contributes something important
to the political science literature. Also acknowledge the flaws of the study.
6. Reference Page: At the end of your paper there should be a reference page with the APA
style citation for each source you cited throughout your paper. The references should be
listed in alphabetical order. DO NOT LEAVE A REFERENCE IN ALL CAPTIAL
LETTERS. DO NOT provide a DOI link to the papers you are citing unless the APA
format tells you that a link is necessary for a certain source.
Plagiarism:
As with any college paper, your work must be your own. This means you cannot take someone
else’s work and use it exactly/change it minimally/copy it in any way. Your proposal should be
unique to the world. In the past I have seen students purchase papers online (and the professors
have been notified of it), have friends write their papers for them and copy verbatim from papers
they believe are obscure enough that the professor will not notice. Please- for everyone’s sakedon’t do this. It is taken seriously. Violation of these rules will result in consequences. Write
something unique, awesome, and be damn proud of it!
Running head: EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PUBLIC OPINION
1
Effect of Social Media on Public Opinion
According to McKinney, Houston, & Hawthorne, (2014), public opinion can be
considered as the collection of thoughts and views of most of the social group. Social media,
unlike the mainstream media, allow all the users to participate in the creation and sharing of
content through social networking. The social media include but not limited to Facebook, Twitter
and opinion blogs that utilize internet technology. There is a wide range of literature on the effect
of social media on public opinion. Some research shows that it has a different impact on public
opinion which depends on public factors like age and its use. From a different perspective, social
media is viewed to affect public opinion either positively or negatively (Price, 2008). This has
influenced the approval or disapproval of its application by various organizations based on their
operating principles. Following the popularity of social media, it is now central to the
communication process, and its impact on public opinion is significant. A research study by
Gorodnichenko, Pham and O Talavera (2018) using Twitter data for the Brexit referendum and
2016 US presidential election finds that bots are shaping the public opinion and voting outcomes.
Another dimension is that the social media especially twitter conversations have been found
inconsistent such that at times they are more liberal than the survey responses while at other
times they are more conservative (McKinney, Houston, & Hawthorne, 2014). A research study
by Weeks, Ardèvol-Abreu, and Gil de Zúñiga, (2017) show that opinion leaders in their social
networks directly or indirectly change others political attitudes and behaviors.
Literature Review
EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PUBLIC OPINION
2
Social Media and Political Persuasion
There is an extensive body of literature that shows social media is shaping individuals’
political opinions. The public exposure to dissenting political views in the social media leads to a
change of one political opinion (Diehl, Weeks, & Gil de Zuniga, (2016; Weeks et al., 2017).
Social media users have a strong dedication to build and maintain friend networks which
influence individual political opinion. The use of news has been found central to political
persuasion. The basis for a political opinion can be defined on the tendency to be persuaded. In
other words, the literature shows that most people don’t form political ideas that are independent
of the world around them (Enikolopov, Petrova, & Zhuravskaya, 2011). This research study
concludes that media (both social and mainstream) influence the political outcomes. The
conclusion is significant in that access to independent TV channel increased the probability of
voting to the opposition parties. The research defines that social media increases this level of
independence in political opinions. Social media give great opportunities to discuss politics even
though their main reasons for prevalence are to socialize.
Other bodies of literature show that social media promotes political persuasion using
fake news. The study by Allcott and Gentzkow (2017) indicates that in social media platforms
like Facebook content is relayed to the public without fact-checking or third-party filtering. In
this case, an individual author with no credibility and reputations can share fake news
influencing the political opinions of the public in the broader scope. Most of the researchers cite
the US 2016 presidential election to have thrived on false stories. Silverman, Craig (2016)
showed that the fake news succeeding in the social media tended to favor Trump over Clinton.
Commentators and researchers conclude that were it not by the influence of the fake news
Donald Trump would not have been elected as the US president. The literature includes the
EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PUBLIC OPINION
3
potential steps that could be taken to reduce the negative impact of fake news on social media on
political persuasion.
Other previous research had suggested that the source of the news would determine the
level of persuasion. The research study by English, Sweetser, and Ancu, (2011) concludes that
social media users pay attention to the message source. Considering that for this particular study
the study population focused on those who used Youtube as a source of political information it
contradicts the outcomes of results obtained from Facebook and Twitter messages. In other
words, there is a need for sufficient literature that distinguishes the impact of each particular
media platforms towards political persuasion. The research by Gorodnichenko et al., (2018)
shows Twitter messages to have played a significant role in influencing the election of Donald
Trump. There is a need to focus research on the most vulnerable social media platforms in which
users fail to assess the credibility of information source before making a political judgment.
Social Media and Public Disagreements
There is a vast body of literature that shows social media has established a high level of
disagreements on the core agendas. In other words, with social media, the aspect of the public
opinion is in a confused state. People engage in debates and disagreements they would not
otherwise be involved if they were using other platforms. According to the research study by
Barnidge, (2015), social media can be positively related too political disagreements. The heavy
social media users who are exposed to extensive information are in higher risks of a political
disagreement than the light users. The political disagreements have negative impacts on the
social relationships between users. The researches study Lee et al., (2014) shows that the use of
social media has resulted in a high level of polarization of public opinion. In other words, since
individuals are more likely to be exposed to the likeminded view and avoid the different
EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PUBLIC OPINION
4
perspectives, they form extreme opinions in the direction of the original opinion of the subject.
Social media users’ desires to remain accepted within the virtual social groups are thus likely to
express only the accepted views. On the political affiliation, social media users will engage in
disagreements that depicts them as part of the winning social group.
There is enough literature that compares disagreements on social media platforms to
face-face settings. According to Barnidge, (2017) the social media users perceive more political
arguments than the non-users. This disagreement is viewed by social media more than in other
settings. For the social media disagreements, the explorations are beyond the local context. There
are social norms in the face-face relationships that discourage disagreements. For other
anonymous settings like the message boards and community forums, individuals tend to visit
only the like-minded discussions. This depicts that political disagreements are subjects of social
media more than in other forums.
From a different view, other literature suggests that social prevents exposure to political
disagreements. Yang, Barnidge, & Rojas, (2017) identify common arguments that social media
users have a unique way of avoiding political discussions which are uncommon to the non-users.
The mechanisms of avoiding disagreements suggested in the research include algorithmic
filtration or the particular affiliation. However, in conclusions, the research findings show that
social media users are in exposure to more disagreements than the non-users unrelated to the
affiliations. In other words, social media do not prevent exposure to political disagreements. The
existing body of literature, however, has limitations on whether social media equally promotes
resolutions to the arguments. There is a need to build the body of research to include if social
media helps neutralization of the emerging disagreements.
EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PUBLIC OPINION
5
Social Media and the Level of Public Participation
There is an increased body of literature that shows social media encourage participatory
political behaviors. In other words, there is a positive contribution from social media in engaging
the public to give their political views. Gil de Zúñiga, Jung, and Valenzuela, (2012) suggest
increased participation in public agenda, increased knowledge. The question, however, remains
unsolved, and other literature indicates that social media deepen political and civic engagement.
The social media platforms can be used to pull public participation in the agendas. According to
Holt et al., (2013) the political involvement as a result of media differs across various age
groups. The study concludes that social media use among young adults promotes civic
participation. The population is in high use of social media and hence converge their
participation into a broader scope of views. Continuous and increased involvement in the use of
social media there will be an overall increase in the level of political interests in the future.
In overall, the research findings are thus that the change in political participation is
highly dependent on the population involved. Kushin and Yamamoto, (2010) find that the use of
online media by college students during the 2008 elections significantly influenced political
participation. For this particular area of research, literature has not included increased use of
social media across all ages. While the 2008 election could have captured the use of social media
for political reasons among the youth, there is a need to evaluate the participation across all ages.
Conclusion
The existing literature on social media effects on public opinion shows both positive and
negative effects. One of the areas is increased persuasion of individuals on their political views.
EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PUBLIC OPINION
6
Since literature indicates there is no independence in political opinions, social media promotes
changing the views to fit on the various social groups. Social media equally influence the public
towards political disagreements. While people can shy off from the political disagreements in
the face to face platforms, they are more likely to participate in the differences in the social
media platforms. Another effect of social media is increased participation in political agendas
especially politics among the youth. The current literature, however, is limited in knowledge on
the impact of increased use in social media across all ages to the subject of public opinion. Will
the public opinion be polarized, or will it be more divergent?
References
Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of
economic perspectives, 31(2), 211-36.
Barnidge, M. (2015). The role of news in promoting political disagreement on social
media. Computers in Human Behavior, 52, 211-218.
Barnidge, M. (2017). Exposure to political disagreement in social media versus face-to-face and
anonymous online settings. Political Communication, 34(2), 302-321.
Diehl, T., Weeks, B. E., & Gil de Zuniga, H. (2016). Political persuasion on social media:
Tracing direct and indirect effects of news use and social interaction. new media &
society, 18(9), 1875-1895.
English, K., Sweetser, K. D., & Ancu, M. (2011). YouTube-ification of political talk: An
examination of persuasion appeals in viral video. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(6),
733-748.
EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON PUBLIC OPINION
7
Enikolopov, R., Petrova, M., & Zhuravskaya, E. (2011). Media and political persuasion:
Evidence from Russia. American Economic Review, 101(7), 3253-85.
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N., & Valenzuela, S. (2012). Social media use for news and individuals’
social capital, civic engagement and political participation. Journal of computer-mediated
communication, 17(3), 319-336.
Gorodnichenko, Y, T Pham and O Talavera (2018), “Social media, sentiment and public
opinions: Evidence from #Brexit and #USElection,” NBER working paper 24631.
Holt, K., Shehata, A., Strömbäck, J., & Ljungberg, E. (2013). …
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