Effects of internet use on actual and self-perceived political knowledge, issue certainty and political participation

Current research on political knowledge focuses to a large extent on differences between Internet users and non-users. As Internet use is shown to constantly increase, more complex questions arise related to the impact of Internet on citizens' political involvement. This thesis takes a deeper look at how differences in online content (just facts or analysis in addition to facts) and interaction levels (the ability to comment or the lack of that ability) affects factual and self-perceived political knowledge, issue certainty and desire to engage in politics offline. I propose a 2 (analysis, no analysis) X 2 (comments, no comments) experimental design in which participants read articles related to current political events for three consecutive days and then answer a survey that tests both their perception of what they know and their ability to recall factual information about what they have read. The results of this study suggest that increased online interaction in the form of being able to post comments leads to lower levels of self-perceived knowledge, but also to lower levels of political participation intention. Offline political discussions and past political behavior are also significant indicators of political participation intention.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Gajora, Liviu

• factual knowledge

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/33436

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/33436