The Internet and Political Research

1. The Internet and Political Research With special reference to pressure groups

2. Its transformative impact • Makes research easier – but also has some dangers • Explosion of information makes it even more necessary to have a good analytical framework to handle that information • Otherwise simply information overload

3. Strengthens importance of theory • Theoretical frameworks become more rather than less important so that you can interrogate the information • Also issues of reliability, ‘spoof sites’, need for a critical scepticism

4. New forms of politics • Highly individualised • Lifestyle and consumption oriented • Micheletti argues that geographical closeness can be replaced by Internet interactions • People create their own political home by framing their own ideas and channels for political action, a sort of political ‘MySpace’

5. Some challenges • Should politics be public and collective? • Traditional conceptions of politics as a process of debate where your views are modified as a result of argument, learn about the views of others and reach a consensus • Is this as feasible on line?

6. Internet polling • You Gov: http://www.you.gov.com • Peter Kellner – days of traditional polling numbered • Bob Worcester of MORI – dumbing down

7. Advantages • Cheap • Quick, although probably no quicker than telephone polling • People more likely to be honest, especially on sensitive issues • People may give more thoughtful answers than when pressed by an interviewer with time constraints

8. Advantages (2) • Makes it easier to reach those on high incomes – difficult on door, phone, in street • No problem of interviewer bias • Respondent convenience

9. Drawbacks • Big problem is sampling bias • 60:40 ABC1, 60% men, relatively few elderly, You Gov has to weight elderly x 6 • Only 17% of D/Es have computer. Are those on You Gov database typical?

10. You Gov’s defence • Biases are not huge. It’s a matter of degrees of imperfection • Much social data on which samples is based is out of date • Sample designs are imperfect – traditional demographics don’t work (serious if true) • Telephone response rates falling

11. You Gov’s defence (2) • Can use more variables to select quotas. Conventional quota poll uses just a few variables • Have a very large base of respondents to choose from • Got 2001 election result and Pop Idol right • Verdict: here to stay, but a sampling problem, ok for opinion/consumer polls, cautious about use in research

12. Elite interviewing on line • Real savings on time and travel, especially in US and Australia • Leads to shorter interviews with less information, substantially reduces transcription costs • Face-to-face interaction crucial in elite interviewing, building rapport and confidence with respondent, leading them to open up

13. Elite interviewing on line (2) • No non-verbal cues • Do not see interview setting • More difficult to tackle sensitive subjects • Really is a third best solution. Internet has more applications in large-scale mass surveys than elite studies

14. Using the Internet in your work • Which site generates the most useful responses on pressure groups (UK) just looking at the first page • Google: first site rather superficial introduction, 3rd site is Southampton Solent Library, 6th site is Boston Bypass and Economic Growth Pressure Group • Need to refine search?

15. Other searches • Yahoo – very similar list to Google (not the case last time I did this) • MSN – picked up a very interesting site on sustainability and groups but also had a Blood Pressure Group (better than last time visited) • Google Scholar – three on blood pressure on first page, also books/articles rather old because of citation criterion

16. How these sites work • Spiders or crawlers • Automated software applications that download pages, index them and use them as a method of tracking other Web pages through embedded hyperlinks • Only access the surface Web rather than deep Web, e.g., pages carrying news stories on a newspaper site

17. Yahoo • Hierarchically ordered search directory, but not always logically ordered or helpful • Home page of Political Studies Association of UK • Government-Politics-Organisations does not produce a link • If you add ‘Political Science’ after politics get to Political Studies Association of Ireland

18. Yahoo v. Google • The more specialised your information requirement, the more time consuming it is to use a general subject directory like Yahoo • More uncertain what you will get • Google has a database many times larger than that of Yahoo and allow sophisticated searches within items

19. Google • Orders material by using link structure of web • Link from one page to another is interpreted as a vote • May mean that relatively new sites or locations appear low down in the pecking order • Relevant sites often missed

20. How to judge validity • Key question is authority of material • Does the page provide information on the author of the document or the compiler of the page? If not, treat with caution • What are the qualifications of the author relevant to the material that is provided? • Should be information on when page was last updated

21. Referencing web pages • Relates to plagiarism concerns • Giving date accessed is imperative because material can change frequently • Web pages: URL + printed materials elements + access date • E mails can be presented as ‘Personal communication, Michael Heseltine, 9 February 2005’

22. The Wikipedia controversy • Hawaiian term for ‘fast’ or ‘quick’ • Strength: free, up to date, large range of topics, scores highly on Google • Credibility: there is no peer review process • Entries may deteriorate • Unbalanced – entry on McDonald’s critical but very little about history

23. Verdict on Wikipedia • Gropes towards a consensus, but that is not the same as validated knowledge • A rough guide to knowledge, a starting point for intellectual exploration • Useful for a first quick overview of a subject (article on pressure groups rather poor) • Do not over use in essays

24. Some other useful sites • Intute, new JISC/ESRC website based at University of Bristol, replacing Sosig • Aimed to provide a structured database providing a guide to the best online resources • Organised by discipline, comments on each website identified • http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/politics/

25. Some other useful sites • http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadHome.do?bhcp=1 Enter a postcode and draw up statistics • http://www.psa.ac.uk/www/default.asp Political Studies Association of the UK, highly rated gateway site • http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm National Archives – more and more documents to read online

26. Some more websites • http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm UK government portal • https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ Entry for each country with information on economy and politics

27. Some pressure group web sites • http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/ Greenpeace • http://www.amnesty.org/ Amnesty International • http://www.oxfam.org/ Oxfam • http://www.hrw.org/ Human Rights Watch • http://www.mcb.org.uk/ Muslim Council of Britain