ERIC Number: ED095573
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1974-Aug
Pages: 52
Abstractor: N/A
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A Method for Political Communication Research.
Barnett, George A.; And Others
This paper suggests the applicability of metric multidimensional scaling for research within the political arena. Multidimensional scaling allows the researcher to simultaneously observe change and rates of change within the policy's attitudes toward the candidates and issues in election campaigns. Multidimensional scaling also reveals which dimensions the voters use to differentiate the candidates and their stand on various issues. By observing the trajectories of the candidates' movement through multidimensional space, it becomes possible to accurately predict the outcome of a election. Also included is a study using this technique to measure the variable effects the media have in political advertising. Finally, it reports the results of a study using multidimensional scaling to plot the changes in voters' attitudes toward the major political figures and issues in the 1972 presidential election. A random sample of the voters from Champaign County, Illinois, scaled sixteen concepts at five points in time. At each time three dimensions emerged. The trajectories of the two major candidates suggest a lawful motion through the space, which yields a prediction of the outcome of that election. (Author/RB)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
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