THE IMAGE OF PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE

This paper examines the results of studies in Britain and Franceon the views of the two peoples towards public opinion surveys: — their experience of surveys — attitudes towards the concept of sample surveys — the accuracy of sample surveys — the publication of polls during election campaigns — exposure to news information — interest in survey data The results in the two countries were, to a substantial degree,similar and showed an underlying positive attitude towards publicopinion surveys. There are, however, a number of points to bearin mind, where more public relations and more public informationis required to improve public awareness of, and public acceptanceof, opinion surveys.     

CANADIAN AND AMERICAN ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE PRIVATE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM

This paper compares the attitudes of Canadians and Americanstoward their governments and selected aspects of the privateenterprise system. It examines some of the historical differencesbetween the two countries and hypothesizes that these differenceswill be reflected in current attitudes. Further, it hypothesizesthat Canada's two main linguistic groups—the English andthe French—will be closer in attitude to each other thaneither will be to the American sample.     

Between Professional Field Norms and Environmental Change Impetuses: A Comparative Study of Change Processes in Public Libraries

Public libraries in all developed countries are facing change and similar challenges, which are related to profound environmental changes such as market orientation and privatization. This study probes the question: Do the established and traditional norms and standards of public librarianship structure the way these challenges are met and coped with, or are these professional standards losing their structuring power? Three metropolitan library systems representing three different levels of environmental turbulence are compared. The main conclusion is that field external, environmental tendencies decide the direction of change. Field norms do, however, count. If overlooked, they form a basis of resistance. The librarians hypothesized to be the defenders of professional values, (i.e., the librarians showing the highest degree of field activity) are more inclined to accept field external changes than their more professionally passive colleagues. The study and its findings may contribute to the arsenal of theoretic approaches within library and information science (LIS) as well as to practical public library management.     

CATHOLICISM AND OPPOSITION TO GENDER EQUALITY IN WESTERN EUROPE

A number of scholars have argued that Catholicism is a barrierto gender equality in western Europe. The explanations for thisrelationship have usually focused on historical events and trends,which should result in a contextual effect, and on current churchdoctrine, which should affect individual level attitudes. Inthis paper, we test the importance of the individual and contextualeffects of Catholicism. We find individual Catholics are lesssupportive of gender equality than non-Catholics. Once we controlfor individual religious affiliation, however, we find thatthose in predominantly Catholic countries are more egalitarianthan those in predominantly Protestant ones. We conclude thatthis unusual result is due to the effects of minority religiousstatus—Protestants in predominantly Catholic countriesare more egalitarian than Protestants in Protestant countries,and Catholics in Protestant countries are less egalitarian thanthose in Catholic countries.     

IMPACT OF QUESTION ORDER ON THE THIRD-PERSON EFFECT

A nationwide telephone survey in the United States was conductedto investigate the impact of question order on the perceptualand behavioral hypotheses of the third-person effect. The perceptualhypothesis posits that individuals perceive other people tobe more vulnerable than themselves to persuasive media messages,whereas the behavioral hypothesis predicts that perceiving othersas more vulnerable increases support for message restrictions.Key questions included estimated effects of media issues onself, perceived effects on others, and support for restrictionson media content. Four question-order condition (restrictions—others-self,restrictions-self-others, others-self-restrictions, and self—others—restrictions)were tested with three media issues (television violence, televisedtrials, and negative political advertising). In line with pastresearch, the order of the self, others, and restrictions questionsdid not affect the perceptual hypothesis. However, the sequencingof the self, others, and restrictions questions affected supportfor the behavioral hypothesis in some conditions. The resultssuggest that, consistent with a saliency effect, placement ofself and others questions prior to the restrictions questionmight heighten respondents' willingness to endorse restrictionson the media and increase support for the behavioral hypothesis.     

INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, AND AGENDA MELDING: A THEORY OF SOCIAL DISSONANCE

Many studies have established that there is a degree of audiencelearning from the mass media, especially of new issues enteringthe news. But recent studies show an agenda-setting effect atdeeper levels beyond broad news categories. Audiences also absorbthe attributes of news—the frames and slants in the waynews is presented—and this suggests that while the massmedia do not tell us what to think, the mass media do have considerablepower to tell us how to think about topics, with implicationsfor social policy. Beyond these two levels of agenda setting,however, is something more significant—agenda melding.Agenda melding argues that individuals join groups, in a sense,by joining agendas. There is a powerful impulse to affiliatewith others in groups as one leaves the original family setting,and one joins these groups via media of connections, mostlyother people but also other media. This paper suggests a modelof agenda melding that accounts for the role of media (massor interpersonal) in helping individuals move toward or awayfrom groups. This attempts to build toward general social theoryby suggesting the role of media in how individuals functionwith others in a coherent social system.     

PREDICTING TEST--RETEST RELIABILITY FROM BEHAVIOR CODING

In attempting to move questionnaire design from art to science,researchers use different evaluation techniques to help determinehow well questions are working. Techniques such as behaviorcoding, respondent debriefing, interviewer debriefing, cognitiveinterviewing, and nonresponse analysis all provide informationto help the questionnaire designer assess whether respondentsunderstand questions as intended and whether they are able toprovide adequate answers to them. However, these techniquesdo not actually measure question reliability. It is assumedthat questions that pass the screen of the questionnaire evaluationtechniques described above are also more likely to produce datathat are reliable and valid. In this paper, we use behaviorcoding data to predict test–retest reliability. Respondentbehavior codes significantly predict such reliability whereasinterviewer codes—at least in this survey—do not.We also report the results of sensitivity testing to determinewhat percentage of adequate respondent answers best predictstest—retest reliability.     

Ted Brader (2006). Campaigns for Hearts and Minds. How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 280 pp., ISBN 0-226-06989-3.

Here is a book that makes you want to shout, ‘Finally!’For decades, political scientists and communication researchershave been focusing intensively on the question of how peoplemake their final voting decision and how this decision is influencedby reporting in the mass media and campaign advertising. Nevertheless,even though there is enough literature on this subject to filla library, only very few studies have dealt with the issue ofemotional appeals in election coverage and campaign advertising—andvoters’ emotional, possibly irrational reactions to theseappeals. Although numerous findings in the fields of psychology,neuroscience, and behavioral research suggest that emotionalappeals and reactions play an important role when it comes toall kinds of decisions—which, of course, also includesvoting decisions—social researchers in the United Statesand elsewhere have,     

Priming Effects of Late-Night Comedy

Having become fully integrated into the contemporary politicallandscape, infotainment-oriented media extend Americans’traditional news (e.g. newspaper, radio, and television) toinclude a greater number of sources for political information,and in some cases, political mobilization. Given the increasingprominence of infotainment-oriented media in contemporary politics,this study addresses the effects of one particular type of infotainment—late-nightcomedy—during the 2000 presidential campaign. Specifically,we are interested in whether watching late-night comedy showsinfluences viewers’ evaluations of the candidates whohave appeared on these shows; in particular, we investigatepriming as the mechanism by which such influences occur. Findingsfrom the 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey (N = 11,482)indicate that evaluations of candidates are based in part onrespondents’ sociodemographics, perceptions of candidatesto handle certain issues, and their character traits. Therewas a main effect of watching late-night comedy on evaluationsof candidates; more importantly, viewers were more likely thannonviewers to base their evaluations of George W. Bush on charactertraits after he appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.     

Collective Efficacy, Support for Democratization, and Political Participation in Hong Kong

Public opinion studies have conventionally treated politicalefficacy as a two-dimensional concept involving internal andexternal efficacy. The former refers to people’s beliefsabout their individual abilities to understand politics, andthe latter refers to people’s beliefs about governmentresponsiveness. The present study reexamines and goes beyondthis two-dimensional view. It proposes that collective efficacy,defined as a citizen’s belief in the capabilities of thepublic as a collective actor to achieve social and politicaloutcomes, can be considered as a third dimension of politicalefficacy. Based on this three-dimensional view, the relationshipbetween political efficacy, support for democratization, andpolitical participation in Hong Kong is examined. Analysis ofa representative survey (N = 800) shows that both support fordemocratization and political participation are positively relatedto collective efficacy and negatively related to external efficacy.Internal efficacy, on the other hand, has only a limited relationshipwith the dependent variables, though high levels of internalefficacy are found to be a condition for collective and externalefficacy to exert stronger impact on political attitudes andbehavior. It is argued that two characteristics of the HongKong society—as a transitional society and a collectivistculture—contribute to the significance of collective efficacyin the public opinion process. But the relevance of collectiveefficacy to other contexts is also discussed.     

Relationships among attitudes and subjective norms: Testing the theory of reasoned action across cultures

This study investigates the relationship between attitudes toward a behavior and subjective norms in the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Unique to this research, attitudes toward a behavior are divided into social and personal attitudes in order to test an explanation for the moderate to high correlation between attitudes and subjective norms reported in previous research. As expected, only social attitudes toward a behavior are significantly related to subjective norms. The finding indicates that the overlap between attitudes and subjective norms in TRA research occurs when the attitudes studied are social in nature. Additionally, members of a collectivistic culture tend to score higher on subjective norms and social attitudes, but the high score on subjective norms and social attitudes does not necessarily contribute to predicting behavioral intention. It is suggested that cross‐cultural differences on the absolute strengths of attitudes and subjective norms may not translate to the differences in the relative weights of the two components in predicting behavioral intention.     

A cross-cultural perspective on videostyles of presidential debates in the US and Korea

This study intends to examine the representation of cultural values through the presidential candidate debates of the US and South Korea. A content analysis of the videostyles of debates in these two countries showed that political debates seemed to manifest differences in cultural values at large due to their nature as conspicuous indicators of cultural values. By examining specific verbal components of the debates, however, this study revealed that the nature of presidential debates might actually overpower cultural norms, which are likely to be embedded in debates. These findings imply that by imitating campaign practice developments in the US, many countries are transitioning to media-centered democracies in which various forms of mass media, particularly television, technological innovations, and political marketing approaches, have grown to play a significant role in influencing and changing the nature of electoral communication and other political practices around the globe.     

Beyond the FAQ: Explicit and implicit norms in Usenet newsgroups

Drawing on reference group and socialization theories, this article examines the social norms of online communities. These theories are modified through an examination of the history of Usenet and a review of the scholarly literature related to social norms and normative behavior in Usenet newsgroups and other virtual communities. The article proposes a modification of Merton's paradigmatic division of norms into behavioral and attitudinal norms by dividing social norms found in online interactions into two types: explicit norms and implicit norms. Explicit norms are codified in documents such as FAQs that outline the purpose and rules of a group, whereas implicit norms are those norms that emerge informally through day-to-day interactions of the group. Both categories of norms are examined in two specific newsgroups.     

A STUDY OF FAR RIGHT RESSENTIMENT IN AMERICA

Three samples from a major U.S. metropolitan area are used withina quasi-experimental design to study individuals who contributedmoney to the far right campaign of David Duke to become Governorof Louisiana in 1991. Using mail survey and Census data, contributorsare compared both with their near neighbors and with a probabilitysample of the predominantly white portions of the metropolitanarea. The Duke contributors are spread in what appears to bea nearly random way over the white urban and suburban townsand townships, rather than being clustered together or locatedin a few subculturally distinct places. Those who respondedto our questionnaire—a remarkably high 86 percent of thetarget contributor sample—are also similar demographicallyto their neighbors and to the white cross-section, except forbeing older and more often male. In political and social attitudesand values, the Duke contributors are strikingly different fromthe other two samples in most, though not quite all, respects,but their near neighbors are indistinguishable from the generalwhite population.     

A comparative analysis of moral principles and behavioral norms in eight ethical codes relevant to health sciences librarianship,medical informatics,and the health professions

Objective:

Based on the authors'' shared interest in the interprofessional challenges surrounding health information management, this study explores the degree to which librarians, informatics professionals, and core health professionals in medicine, nursing, and public health share common ethical behavior norms grounded in moral principles.

Methods:

Using the “Principlism” framework from a widely cited textbook of biomedical ethics, the authors analyze the statements in the ethical codes for associations of librarians (Medical Library Association [MLA], American Library Association, and Special Libraries Association), informatics professionals (American Medical Informatics Association [AMIA] and American Health Information Management Association), and core health professionals (American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, and American Public Health Association). This analysis focuses on whether and how the statements in these eight codes specify core moral norms (Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-Maleficence, and Justice), core behavioral norms (Veracity, Privacy, Confidentiality, and Fidelity), and other norms that are empirically derived from the code statements.

Results:

These eight ethical codes share a large number of common behavioral norms based most frequently on the principle of Beneficence, then on Autonomy and Justice, but rarely on Non-Maleficence. The MLA and AMIA codes share the largest number of common behavioral norms, and these two associations also share many norms with the other six associations.

Implications:

The shared core of behavioral norms among these professions, all grounded in core moral principles, point to many opportunities for building effective interprofessional communication and collaboration regarding the development, management, and use of health information resources and technologies.     

高校图书馆学科馆员能力标准与资质认证规范研究

伴随着高校图书馆学科馆员工作的日益深化,需要制定出一套具有普适性的学科馆员能力标准与资质认证规范,以指导学科馆员的培训与业务发展。借鉴国外图书馆经验,依据我国职业认证制度的现状以及学科馆员工作的业务实践与能力要求,提出一套“中国高校图书馆学科馆员能力标准体系”,并构建与之相适应的资质认证规范,论述设计的思路、指标、框架和主要内容,同时,提出资质认证的操作方法。     

Ready,Aim, Fire! Violent Video Game Play and Gun Controller Use: Effects on Behavioral Aggression and Social Norms Concerning Violence

In addition to individual risk factors, recent findings surrounding the effects of violent video game play have provided compelling evidence that the contextual features of games also contribute to increased outcome aggression. The current study focuses on the relationship between violent video game play and the use of gun controllers on both social norms related to aggression and real-life behavioral aggression. As predicted, both violent video game play and gun controller use were positively related to behavioral aggression. The implications of these findings are discussed along with their influence on future research in this area.     

PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE REVISITED: PERCEPTION OF OPINION DISTRIBUTIONS IN ISRAEL

This study examines the phenomena of pluralistic ignorance,looking-glass perception and conservative bias across issues.Public opinion data from Israel suggest that these phenomenaare largely context and issue related. Thus for salient issuesin a highly politicized society such as Israel, people can quiteaccurately assess majority and minority opinions. Looking-glassperception and pluralistic ignorance were found to vary systematicallywith the information available on the various issues in thestudy. The level of ignorance on an issue seems also to be afunction of the shape of its distribution. Moreover, the greaterthe overlap between the majority or minority position on anissue and a clearly defined political block, the lower the looking-glassperception and ignorance levels. This suggests that the politicalcontinuum may be used as a surrogate distribution in assessingthe majority opinion when direct information is scarce. Conservativebias was shown to exist on some issues, but a ‘liberalbias’ exists on others. It is proposed that this biasmay reflect social norms rather than an individual tendencyto view others as more conservative than oneself.     

Another Look at What Moves Public Opinion: Media Agenda Setting and Polls in the 2000 U.S. Election

This study examined two levels of media agenda effects on aggregatepublic opinion from different news sources. The effects wereinvestigated immediately and cumulatively. Content analysisdata from the 2000 U.S. presidential election coverage by fournational news organizations were related to the Gallup pre-electionpoll standings of each candidate. Regression analyses foundthat both the salience of a candidate and the salience of theattributes of a candidate cumulatively, but not immediately,influenced his standing in the polls. An analysis of news sourcessupported the finding that the two levels of agenda-settingeffects seemed mostly cumulative rather than immediate. Newsfrom different sources, however, tended to have effects of differentdegrees and sometimes different directions on candidate pollstandings. Cumulative effects of candidate salience on aggregateopinion change were found for non-partisan and neutral newssources—reporters, poll reporting and public documents—whereasthe effects of candidate attribute salience mostly came frompartisan sources—the candidate himself and members ofthe competing political party. Possible political implicationsof these findings are discussed.     

MEASURING THE THIRD-PERSON EFFECT OF NEWS: THE IMPACT OF QUESTION ORDER, CONTRAST AND KNOWLEDGE

This study investigated the extent to which the third-personeffect—the tendency of people to estimate greater impactof media messages on ‘other people’ than on themselves—mightdepend upon question-contrast effects (i.e. self-serving comparisonstriggered by back-to-back questions dealing with effect on othersand oneself), the order of questions, and respondents' levelsof background political knowledge. Two hundred and eighty-sevensubjects participated in two experimental studies involvingquestions about media coverage of President Clinton's possiblerole in the ‘Whitewater Affair’, his alleged frequentpolicy reversals, the O. J. Simpson murder trial, and childmolestation charges against Michael Jackson. Both experimentsresulted in significant third-person effects that did not dependupon having the same respondents answer both questions; meansfor single-question (no contrast) conditions did not differsignificantly from comparable means in two-question (contrast)conditions. No significant main effects of question order wereobserved. In Experiment 1 a significant interaction betweenpolitical knowledge and question order was found, such thata negative relationship between knowledge and perceived impacton oneself emerged when the ‘self’ question followeda question about perceived effects on others. Experiment 2 replicatedthe interaction for two of three news stimuli, and indicatedthat it was not a product of differences in the personal importanceof issues. Implications of these results for understanding thethird-person effect are discussed.