Public Attitudes toward Polls: Evidence from the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election

This study investigates the perceived impact of election polls,focusing on the hotly contested 2000 U.S. presidential election.Survey data from 558 individuals gathered during the final daysof the election campaign are analyzed to examine beliefs thatthe polls greatly affect other voters, general views of pollsas good or bad for the country, beliefs about whether pollstersinfluence their results to come out a certain way, and supportfor banning election-night projections. Results indicate thatmost respondents felt the polls had no influence on themselveswhile still affecting others. Respondents exhibiting these ‘third-person-effect’perceptions were significantly more likely than others to believethat election polls are a bad thing for the country. Negativeperceptions of polls and beliefs that pollsters try to influenceresults were also related to general distrust of the news media.Negative views of polls in turn were associated with increasedsupport for prohibiting election-night projections. In general,the results illustrate the dependency of negative views aboutpolling on fears of untoward effects on voters, in particularthe fear that polls and election projections might lend supportto candidates opposed by the respondent.     

The Myths of E-Government: Looking Beyond the Assumptions of a New and Better Government

In general, rhetoric and myth play important roles in policymaking. Myths may inspire collective action but may also mystify and blur views on reality. In this article we identify, analyze, and reflect on the myths underlying the e-government programs of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands. We found that in all national policies myths of technological inevitability, a new and better government, rational information planning, and empowerment of the intelligent citizen can be discerned. Although the mobilizing powers of these myths are acknowledged, we conclude that existing empirical studies have generated little support for the inescapable telos of these myths, which makes canvas cleaning effects of e-government initiatives less likely.     

"This won't take long…": Interviewing,ethics and diversity

In this paper, the focus is on one particular research project, conducted in the UK, which studied the role of parent groups and organizations in relation to the mainstream education system. The authors seek to analyze and evaluate access to the different "structures of feeling" inhabited by the various respondents involved in the project. Using the project as a lens, a critical case, the relationships between respondents and researchers are problematized, highlighting a number of issues with broad applicability. These include negotiating access, securing informed consent, the debates around symmetry and asymmetry between researcher and respondent, the processes of interviewing, data analysis and dissemination. The authors also comment on the formation and development of relationships with respondents, trying to tease out the differences and similarities of age, race, social class, language, and gender, and to suggest how these disjunctions and connections affected the process of datacollection and analysis. Finally, the article concludes with a brief consideration of the implications for future research design and conduct of the arguments put forward.     

Investigation of blood pulse PPG signal regulation on toe effect of body posture and lower limb height

Objective: To study the regulation of blood pulse volume via photoplethysmography (PPG) signal detected from toe, while the lower limb is passively raised in different height positions. Methods: Use a modified non-invasive PPG technique to detect the blood pulse signal on toe with infrared (IR) photo sensor. A protocol consisting of two postures, i.e., supine and 45° reclining, was designed to conduct laboratory trial in this study. During the period of performing the protocol of these postures, the lower limb was passively raised from the heights of 10 cm to 60 cm randomly and individually with sponge blocks underneath the foot. Results: In the supine posture, the higher the foot was passively raised, the more the blood PPG signal decreased. In the 45° reclining posture, the blood PPG signal increased at the beginning and then decreased in the foot height position from 10 cm to 60 cm. In both postures the normalized AC signal changes significantly while the normalized DC signal changes little. Conclusion: The toe PPG signals can obviously indicate the regulated blood volume change with the designated postural procedures due to the heart level position.     

The directional links between students’ academic motivation and social integration during the first year of higher education

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Previous theoretical research proposed a link between students’ academic motivation and students’ experiences of social integration, but...