Social Science
Summary & Availability of Data & Materials
The Virtual Agora experiments have yielded rich data sets that offer promise of shedding significant light on the research questions animating the VAP’s social science agenda. Dr. Muhlberger’s first round of papers already show how the data open up new possibilities for understanding
- the relative influence on attitude change and knowledge enhancement of information receipt versus discussion,
- the significance of deliberation for participant identity, and
- the potential impact of online deliberation on attitudes that correlate with people's relative belief in “stealth democracy,” that is, the idea that public policy ought be established by experts working substantially without public input.
His findings already suggest that online deliberation can have positive value in terms of political identity formation and for reducing attitudes that support “stealth democracy.” They also suggest that a key value of deliberation, online and face-to-face, may be the motivation it provides for the acquisition and contemplation of good information.
In the course of designing and implementing the VAP social science program, Dr. Muhlberger produced numerous recruitment scripts and thirteen questionnaires. Researchers interested in constructing similar experiments may acquire these materials by contacting Dr. Muhlberger at “pmuhl1848 at gmail dot com.” The project has also collected more than 1400 survey variables measuring more than 75 constructs at varying points in time, along with tens of megabytes of clickstream data indicating what participants were doing on their computers over the course of the study.or in analyzing VAP data. Dr. Muhlberger expects the data may be available at some point from fall, 2007 through spring 2008. Researchers interested in obtaining copies of the audio files from VA Project deliberations should contact Professor Shane at shane.29@osu.edu. Inquiries are welcome.