The Relationship Between College Students' Self-Reports of Class Participation and Perceived Instructor Impressions

The purpose of this investigation was to identify the extent to which college students' self-reports of their in-class participation are related to their impressions of instructors (i.e., credibility, attractiveness, and homophily). Participants were 223 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory communication course at a large Mid-Atlantic university. Students' self-reports of their in-class participation were positively correlated with perceived instructor social attractiveness, physical attractiveness, background homophily, and attititude homophily, but not with perceived instructor competence, character, caring, and task attractiveness. Furthermore, class size, perceived instructor social attractiveness, and perceived instructor background homophily emerged as significant predictors of in-class participation.     

Understanding Work/Life Blending: Credibility Implications for Those Who Date at Work

This study examined the credibility implications of employees who date at work. A 2 (status dynamic of the romance) × 2 (sex of the peer) design was used to examine effects of workplace romance on perceptions of credibility. One hundred and forty full-time working adults assessed the credibility of a hypothetical coworker who was involved in a workplace romance. Results indicate that peers who date superiors are viewed as less caring and less trustworthy than are peers who date equal status employees. Sex and status interacted such that women dating superiors versus peers were perceived as less caring and less trustworthy, whereas perceptions of men did not differ based on the status of their relational partners. Limitations and future research are discussed.     

A Cross-cultural Test of the Spiral of Silence Theory in Singapore and the United States1

This study examines the influence of individual-level characteristics on the spiral of silence effect in two countries, Singapore and the United States, making it the first cross-cultural test of the theory and thereby addressing a gap in the literature highlighted by Schefule and Moy (International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 12, 2000, 3–28). In two identical, representative telephone polls of 668 adults conducted in Singapore and 412 adults in Washington, DC, respondents were asked to indicate how likely they would be to discuss publicly two controversial issues: interracial marriage and equal rights for homosexuals. The proposed model for predicting outspokenness adds a variety of new predictors, such as culturally influenced self-concepts, fear of isolation, and communication apprehension, along with other more traditional predictors of outspokenness, such as a person's perception of the opinion climate, media exposure, issue salience, and demographics. The findings provide partial support for the spiral of silence hypothesis in Singapore, but not in the United States. Respondents’ perception of the future opinion climate in Singapore interacted with issue salience to influence their level of outspokenness; American respondents did not exhibit such an interaction effect. In both countries, however, outspokenness was associated with respondents’ perceived importance of the issue and their communication apprehension. Media exposure was not associated with outspokenness in either country.     

Public Libraries: Measuring Their Value

Funding cuts and greater emphasis on expenditure justification in the public sector have sparked studies which attempt to demonstrate the financial return on investment of public libraries, with most of these conducted in larger urban centers. Northern Ontario, a vast region with a population less than one million, primarily Anglophone and francophone settlers and numerous Indigenous communities, served by tiny libraries, required a unique approach. A literature review and community input identified seven key sectors together with indicators for measurement. The Toolkit¹ designed by this research illustrates how to calculate an SROI that may better serve communities and improve funders’ decision-making.     

The Interaction of Issue and Image Frames on Political Candidate Assessment

This study examined the combined effect of character and policy coverage about a political candidate in news media on voters’ evaluations and thoughts about the candidate. A 2 (issue coverage: present/absent) × 2 (image coverage: present/absent) between-subject factorial experiment was conducted whereby participants (N = 134) read a version of an editorial article that varied in the coverage of a candidate’s character and policy positions. Results indicated that issue and image coverage, each in isolation, enhanced perceptions of the candidate’s image strength and issue strength. However, issue and image coverage when presented in combination compared to in isolation did not enhance perceptions of the candidate and in some cases hindered perceptions of candidate strength. When both coverage types were present, issue coverage dominated image coverage when participants formed image evaluations, whereas image coverage dominated issue coverage when they formed issue evaluations. Similar findings resulted for issue- and image-relevant thoughts. Implications about the effects of multicoverage political messages are discussed.     

Subconscious Gatekeeping: The Effect of Death Thoughts on Bias Toward Outgroups in News Writing

This content analysis examined framing and second-level agenda setting in U.S. newspaper pre-election coverage of the 2006 Mexican presidential elections and the new Mexican expatriate voting law. The authors conducted a quantitative analysis of 161 articles and a qualitative analysis of 36 articles in U.S. newspapers from August 2005 through mid-April 2006. Findings indicated that Andrés Manuel López Obrador received more coverage (59.6%) than Roberto Madrazo (27.8%) or the eventual winner, Felipe Calderón (29.1%). Candidate attributes were highlighted more than Mexican domestic or Mexico–U.S. issues. The dominant procedural frame was the election horse race. The main substantive frames were the election as an extension of U.S.–Mexico economic relations and the election as an extension of Latin American leftist/populist movements. The expatriate voting law was characterized as unsuccessful and blamed on apathetic voters, the Mexican government's faulty implementation, and a corrupt system.