FINAL EXAM FOR COMM 440 POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

SPRING 2013
DUE DAY AND TIME: FRIDAY, MAY 10, 4:00 P.M. (LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE
ACCEPTED).
INSTRUCTIONS:
Save this file in word and answer each question in a new saved file. Name the file
your last name, course, and date (Ex. Hacker Comm 440 May 10 2013). Upload the
saved exam to the Comm 440 dropbox. DO NOT SEND VIA ANY EMAIL SYSTEM. Do
not deliver anywhere in hard copy. You may submit the exam at any prior to the
deadline. NO MORE THAN 100 WORDS PER QUESTION ANSWER IS ALLOWED. Be
sure that you submitted file has both the questions and the answers to the
questions as well as the question numbering.
TOTAL EXAM VALUE = 30 POINTS.
1. How did Dr. Dylko explain a way to interpret research question
answers/findings that involve contradictory results among studies?
According to Dr. Dylko is almost impossible not to have personal involvement
with the research subject. In this sense, all the background of readings,
ideology, experiences and have some sort of influence when it comes to
evaluate the results. For an example, a statistician and a political consultant
will approach a variable of two percent in different ways. This pattern plus
choosing the most suitable methodology could create some contradictory
results. Another reason is the proximity that the researcher could have with
the theme, accepting results that match with his hypothesis.
2. Describe two main findings of political communication scholars
regarding new media networking and political communication and
behavior.
New Media is essentially recent and does not have the huge effect on
turnout, mobilization and information level. This happens due the
characteristic of reinforcement of previous political ideology, which is
accumulated through a slow process of education, social experience, and
consumption of news via old media. This process provides sedimentation of
information that the new media just cannot change so fast. Also, lots of
alternative websites and companies are bought by the big corporations once

they reach the mainstream. The new media has its impact, but old ways of
communication are very important too.
3. Based on the discussions we had regarding student research
presentation on social media and political communication, what
would you recommend to political campaigners about their best uses
of social media in a campaign?
A candidate that ignores social media has a regression nowadays. But the
campaigns should not rely all the effort on the Internet. It is important to
acknowledge the impact of new media on the candidates voters. Social
media is a space that provides more contact with the people and collective
construction of meaning, in which the sender has little control over the
message once it is published. So it builds a relationship of dialogue, asking
for collaborations during the campaign and engaging more citizens. The
research, especially on Big Data, is the first step to plan and target the
messages.
4. Explain the difference between a concept
correlation vs. causation. Give examples.

and

variables

and

Variable the measurement and operationalization of concepts through some

sort of data, such as surveys or questionnaires. Correlation is a relationship
between variables, which can be hypothesized with an assumption. Causation
controls all the variables via experiment; it should have plausible
explanations and correlated variables. Causation cannot be established only
by correlation because the real world has too many variables and effects. One
example is an increase on the variables of Internet usage and voting turnout
in a survey. It does not mean that one leads to another, since it is impossible
to determine cause/effect and causation without an experiment.
5. Describe two aspects of current political communication that McNair
considers as trends that are harming democracy and political
communication. What does he see as the main issues?
The trends are related to the dominance political marketing and the
commercialization of politics. According to McNair the parties develop
strategies to shape the media agenda to reflect his own point of views. The
campaign can be seen as a product of marketing, applying tools as selling,
promoting, and image building. Therefore, all the result can be measured by
polling and surveys. The author points out that this might put ideologies and
governments platforms aside, in order to attend a cynical appeal of pseudoevents, marketing actions and PR strategies to get a positive reception.
6. Describe Lins research model and how it can help you do political
communication research.

According to Lin, the concepts applied to research must be operationalized

through variables, creating a hypothesis of correlation between the variables
and taking out the propositions. When putting together the propositions and
testing it on experiments, it is possible to develop a theory. Nevertheless,
some propositions can be hard to prove because of the chaotic environment
of communication, which leads to a great variety of variables and
correlations. His guide helps on political communication research since the
understanding on how to read articles and findings, until the process of
choosing the research methodologies.
7. Explain how new theories of political communication are needed to
account for how social media usage is affecting political behavior.
Social Media is seen by some researchers as the new revolutionary path for
political engagement, which can be quite utopic and nave. So it is important
to be realistic and measure the actual impact of Internet on politics. Castells
explains that the meanings are constructed by the relationship between
people, establishing a connection and sharing information. This is socially
conditioned and the new media is increasing the virtual contacts spaces.
Moreover, new media and old media are going through a process of
convergence, so one medium influences, shapes, and sets the agenda to
another and the reception became more diverse.
8. Describe two short-term and two long-term forces that affect voting
decisions. How are party images and candidate images related?
Two long-term forces mentioned by Flanigan and Zingale are ideology and
partisanship. They are related to the social and educational background of
the individual. The party has great influence voting behavior. Two short-term
forces are the issues debated and the personality. Those factors have less
impact on how citizens vote, but are points of attention when it comes to
campaign management. Party and candidate image are singular perceptions
created by the individuals, which is different than partisanship. They are
related because the candidate is often the personalization of the party during
elections and his work on the office.
9. Describe the four basic phases of campaign advertising explained by
McNair and originally described by Diamond and Bates. Give
examples for the phases.
1. Fixing the candidate image, in which it is presented positive aspects of his
biography, outstanding accomplishments and his work on politics. An
example is Obamas early campaign that has shown where his family came
from and how he has thrived. 2. Divulge the candidates proposals using

slogans and emotional charge. Yes, we can is a good example of defining

Obamas challenge and his platform of economic progress. 3. Negativity, as
the attacks regarding Romney avoiding taxes. 4. Surrounding the candidate
of positive factors, relating them to voters demands. Obama is an example
of controlling the economy and reestablishing jobs.
10.
Explain the concept of public sphere as theorized by Jurgen
Habermas. Discussion how scholars today often refer to multiple
public spheres today.
The public sphere is a concept created by Jurgen Haberman to explain the
modern spaces to debate politics, inspired on the Aristotle model and Hannah
Arendts work on political discourse. He referred to the Greek Agora to define
public sphere as places where people meet to discuss rationally politics and
reach to a deliberation. He has shown that those spaces rise again during the
bourgeoisie revolution, and the industrialization of modern societies. The
philosopher revisited his work with the concept of feudalization of the public
sphere, which is the companies and other private phenomena occupying the
public space at the contemporary age, such as the personalization and the
commercialization of politics. Nowadays, the scholars explain that the
Internet and the plural organization of the society have created multiple
public spheres, diverse and small niches of communication, regarding the
engagement on a wide range of issues and causes.