Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:00:43.649Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diverse Pre-Treatment Effects in Survey Experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2017

Katerina Linos  and
Kimberly Twist
Katerina Linos
Affiliation:
Professor University of California, School of Law, Berkeley, e-mail: [email protected]
Kimberly Twist
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, San Diego State University, e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Researchers using survey experiments typically assume respondents are blank slates, encountering information for the first time. We study how prior real-world information dissemination through the mass media shapes experimental results. We show prior exposure can lead us to both under- and overestimate true framing effects in experiments. Message clarity moderates the impact of pre-treatment, with clear information more likely to produce pre-treatment effects than unclear information.

Keywords

survey experimentpre-treatmentSupreme Courtpublic opinion
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Experimental Political Science , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , Summer 2018 , pp. 148 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barabas, J. and Jerit, J.. 2009. “Estimating the Causal Effects of Media Coverage on Policy-Specific Knowledge.” American Journal of Political Science 53 (1): 73–89.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T. and Petty, R. E.. 1979. “Effects of Message Repetition and Position on Cognitive Response, Recall, and Persuasion.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37 (1): 97–109.Google Scholar
Chong, D. and Druckman, J. N.. 2007. “Framing Public Opinion in Competitive Democracies.” American Political Science Review 101 (4): 637–655.Google Scholar
Chong, D. and Druckman, J. N.. 2010. “Dynamic Public Opinion: Communication Effects over Time.” American Political Science Review 104 (4): 663–680.Google Scholar
Druckman, J. N. and Leeper, T. J.. 2012. “Learning More from Political Communication Experiments: Pretreatment and its Effects.” American Journal of Political Science 56 (4): 875–896.Google Scholar
Drummond, B. 2012. “Obama Health Law Seen Valid, Scholars Expect Rejection.” Business Week (June 22, 2012). (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-22/law-experts-say-health-measure-legal-as-some-doubt-court-agrees), accessed September 24, 2013.Google Scholar
Egan, P. J. and Citrin, J.. 2011. “The Limits of Judicial Persuasion and the Fragility of Judicial Legitimacy.” Unpublished manuscript. Available: https://ssrn.com/abstract=998597Google Scholar
Fowler, E. F. and Gollust, S. E.. 2015. “The Content and Effect of Politicized Health Controversies.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 658: 155–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaines, B. J., Kuklinski, J. H., and Quirk, P. J.. 2007. “The Logic of the Survey Experiment Reexamined.” Political Analysis 15 (1): 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyengar, S., Kinder, D. R., Peters, M. D., and Krosnick, J. A.. 1984. “The Evening News and Presidential Evaluations.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 46 (4): 778–787.Google Scholar
Linos, K. and Twist, K.. 2017. “Replication Data for Diverse Pre-Treatment Effects in Survey Experiments.” Journal of Experimental Political Science doi:10.7910/DVN/WA03I2, Harvard Dataverse.Google Scholar
Malhotra, N. and Krosnick, J. A.. 2007. “Retrospective and Prospective Performance Assessments during the 2004 Election Campaign: Tests of Mediation and News Media Priming.” Political Behavior 29 (2): 249–278.Google Scholar
Mutz, D. C. 2011. Population-Based Survey Experiments. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Slothuus, R. 2015. “Assessing the Influence of Political Parties on Public Opinion: The Challenge from Pretreatment Effects.” Political Communication 33 (2): 302–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sniderman, P. M. 2011. “The Logic and Design of the Survey Experiment: An Autobiography of a Methodological Innovation.” In Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science, eds. Druckman, James N., Green, Donald P., Kuklinski, James H., and Lupia, Arthur. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wallace, G. P. R. 2013. “International Law and Public Attitudes Toward Torture: An Experimental Study.” International Organization 67 (1): 105–140.Google Scholar
Zaller, J. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Linos and Twist supplementary material

Linos and Twist supplementary material 1

Download Linos and Twist supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 1.1 MB