Can new technology redefine what it means to be a citizen in a digital democracy? For the past year, Lindsay Hoffman, assistant professor of communication, has been using innovative methods to study this question, and now she is beginning to find some answers.
“Typically, scholars use methods such as surveys to ask citizens how and why they use media,” Hoffman says. “But to get a true picture of what people are doing, we need better ways to track their media use.”
Hoffman surveyed nearly 800 Delawareans about their media-use habits and political behaviors, then selected 20 to participate in a more in-depth study. She provided state-of-the-art tablets equipped to track all the websites they visited (with their explicit approval) and how long they spent on each site. After four months in the heat of the Republican Presidential Primary, the participants engaged in focus groups to talk about how they used the devices.
“Even knowing the purpose of the study, many participants didn’t use the devices for politics or news at all,” Hoffman notes. “But in talking with these citizens in follow-up focus groups, I was amazed to see that just having the devices made them feel more confident in finding political information and contacting officials.”
Embarking on this massive data collection enterprise was difficult, she says, but it has yielded unique findings and insights. Support from UD’s Center for Political Communication and the help of graduate and undergraduate research assistants made the nine-month project possible. The six students helped in a variety of ways, from analyzing tablet data to conducting interviews with participants.
Students reported gaining a lot of experience from the work, and Hoffman received the 2012 University Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring Award.
Amanda Schechter, a senior in political science who assisted Hoffman, says the project was “the total package, because it provides tangible evidence of how Americans use technology to access political news.”
So what’s next for Hoffman?
“Multiple sources of data provide a richer picture of how citizens use technology to engage with their communities and government,” she says. “I’m confident this information will shed light on the role of technology in an ever-evolving media environment.”