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What role do ideologically extreme media play in the polarization of society? Here we report results from a randomized longitudinal field experiment embedded in a nationally representative online panel survey (N = 1,037) in which participants were incentivized to change their browser default settings and social media following patterns, boosting the likelihood of encountering news with either a left-leaning (HuffPost) or right-leaning (Fox News) slant during the 2018 US midterm election campaign. Data on ≈ 19 million web visits by respondents indicate that resulting changes in news consumption persisted for at least 8 wk. Greater exposure to partisan news can cause immediate but short-lived increases in website visits and knowledge of recent events. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, however, we find little evidence of a direct impact on opinions or affect. Still, results from later survey waves suggest that both treatments produce a lasting and meaningful decrease in trust in the mainstream media up to 1 y later. Consistent with the minimal-effects tradition, direct consequences of online partisan media are limited, although our findings raise questions about the possibility of subtle, cumulative dynamics. The combination of experimentation and computational social science techniques illustrates a powerful approach for studying the long-term consequences of exposure to partisan news.
We review the influence of voting advice applications (VAAs) on three core outcomes: turnout, vote choice, and issue knowledge. In a meta-analysis of 55 effects reported in 22 studies, comprising 73,673 participants in 9 countries, we find strong evidence for positive effects of VAA usage on reported turnout (OR = 1.87; 95% CI = [1.50, 2.33]) and vote choice (OR = 1.44; 95% CI = [1.16, 1.78]) as well as modest evidence on knowledge increase (partial correlation = 0.09; 95% CI = [−0.01, 0.18]). At the same time, we observe large heterogeneity in effect sizes, for which study design turns out to be a key driver. Effects are substantively weaker in causally more rigorous experimental studies. We highlight the need for more well-powered experimental research as well as studies focusing on the acquisition of knowledge in VAA usage.
Knowledge about political representatives' behavior is crucial for a deeper understanding of politics and policy-making processes. Yet resources on legislative elites are scattered, often specialized, limited in scope or not always accessible. This article introduces the Comparative Legislators Database (CLD), which joins micro-data collection efforts on open-collaboration platforms and other sources, and integrates with renowned political science datasets. The CLD includes political, sociodemographic, career, online presence, public attention, and visual information for over 45,000 contemporary and historical politicians from ten countries. The authors provide a straightforward and open-source interface to the database through an R package, offering targeted, fast and analysis-ready access in formats familiar to social scientists and standardized across time and space. The data is verified against human-coded datasets, and its use for investigating legislator prominence and turnover is illustrated. The CLD contributes to a central hub for versatile information about legislators and their behavior, supporting individual-level comparative research over long periods.
The world has already warmed by more than 1.2C compared with preindustrial levels, resulting in profound, immediate, and rapidly worsening health effects, and moving dangerously close to the agreed limit of maintaining temperatures “well below 2C”. These health impacts are seen on every continent, with the ongoing spread of dengue virus across South America, the cardiovascular and respiratory effects of record heatwaves and wildfires in Australia, western North America, and western Europe, and the undernutrition and mental health effects of floods and droughts in China, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and South Africa. In the long term, climate change threatens the very foundations of human health and wellbeing, with the Global Risks Report registering climate change as one of the five most damaging or probable global risks every year for the past decade.
Nachdem es zwischenzeitlich ruhig um die Corona-Warn-App geworden war, nahm die Diskussion um digitale Kontaktpersonennachverfolgung im Frühjahr 2021 wieder Fahrt auf. Die Corona-Warn-App wurde mit lange erwarteten Zusatzfeatures zur Eventregistrierung und Erfassung von Schnelltestergebnissen ausgestattet, während die Luca-App aufgrund von Sicherheitslücken und Datenschutzmängeln zunehmend in die Kritik geriet.
In unserem Bericht dokumentieren wir, wie populär diese Apps mittlerweile in der deutschen Bevölkerung sind. Nach wie vor gilt: Für die Wirksamkeit dieser Technologien ist die breitflächige Nutzung in der Bevölkerung entscheidend. In unserer Erhebung, einem Smartphone-basierten Nutzertracking, das zwischen dem 19. Mai und 01. Juni 2021 durchgeführt wurde, zeigt sich nach wie vor deutliche Unterschiede in der Nutzung der beiden bekanntesten Apps – Corona-Warn-App und Luca-App. Im Vergleich zur vorherigen Befragung (März/April 2021) sind jedoch einige Verschiebungen beobachtbar: Die Luca-App ist bekannter geworden, gleichzeitig steigt die Sorge um den Datenschutz der App allenfalls leicht an. Bei vielen Befragten besteht nach wie vor große Unklarheit über die Unterschiede in Funktionsweise und Zweck dieser Apps.
Do Online Voter Guides Empower Citizens? Evidence from a Field Experiment with Digital Trace Data
(2021)
Voting Advice Applications (VAAs), which provide citizens with information on the party that best represents their political preferences, are often cited as evidence of the empowering capabilities of digital tools. Aside from the informational benefits of these voter guides, observational studies have suggested a strong effect on political participation and vote choice. However, existing impact evaluations have been limited by a reliance on convenience samples, lack of random assignment, or both. This raises questions about self-selection and the precise mechanisms underlying how voters learn about politics. Here, we provide evidence from a field experiment with survey outcomes conducted with a sample of over 1,000 German citizens in the 2017 federal election campaign. Using linked panel survey and digital trace data combined with a randomized encouragement to complete a VAA, we assess respondents’ compliance with treatment and observe how the use of this tool affects political behavior, attitudes, media consumption, political knowledge, and even social media activity. Our findings reveal that the overwhelming consensus in favor of positive effects on turnout and vote choice should be treated with caution, as we find no such effects. Rather, the actual virtue of VAAs in a complex online information environment lies in increasing knowledge about parties’ positions on issues—exactly the kind of information these tools were designed to provide.
In der dritten Welle der Corona-Pandemie kann der Corona-Warn-App zur Unterstützung der COVID-19-Kontaktnachverfolgung eine wichtige Rolle zukommen, um Übertragungen der Krankheit einzudämmen. Darüber hinaus wird zunehmend über den Einsatz von Check-in-Apps diskutiert, die die Registrierung von Besuchen bestimmter Orte mittels QR-Codes ermöglichen. Für die Effektivität dieser Technologien ist jedoch die breitflächige Nutzung in der Bevölkerung entscheidend. In unserer Erhebung zeigen sich deutliche Unterschiede in der Nutzung der beiden bekanntesten Apps – Corona-Warn-App und Luca-App. Gleichzeitig wird sichtbar, in welchen Teilen der Bevölkerung die Nutzung noch ausgebaut werden könnte. Ein Großteil der Nicht-Nutzer zweifelt nach wie vor an der Effektivität der Apps, hat Datenschutzbedenken oder fühlt sich über die Lösungen nicht gut genug informiert. Die Ergebnisse basieren auf einer Befragung und Smartphone-basiertem Nutzertracking, die zwischen dem 24. März. und 6. April 2021 durchgeführt wurde.
The 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: code red for a healthy future
(2021)
The Lancet Countdown is an international collaboration
that independently monitors the health consequences of a
changing climate. Publishing updated, new, and improved
indicators each year, the Lancet Countdown represents the
consensus of leading researchers from 43 academic
institutions and UN agencies. The 44 indicators of this
report expose an unabated rise in the health impacts of
climate change and the current health consequences of the
delayed and inconsistent response of countries around the
globe—providing a clear imperative for accelerated action
that puts the health of people and planet above all else.
The 2021 report coincides with the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change 26th Conference of the
Parties (COP26), at which countries are facing pressure
to realise the ambition of the Paris Agreement to keep
the global average temperature rise to 1·5°C and to
mobilise the financial resources required for all
countries to have an effective climate response. These
negotiations unfold in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic—a global health crisis that has claimed
millions of lives, affected livelihoods and communities
around the globe, and exposed deep fissures and
inequities in the world’s capacity to cope with, and
respond to, health emergencies. Yet, in its response to
both crises, the world is faced with an unprecedented
opportunity to ensure a healthy future for all.