When It Comes from the People: The Effects of Reforming Ballot Initiative Explanatory Statements to...
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Transcript of When It Comes from the People: The Effects of Reforming Ballot Initiative Explanatory Statements to...
WHEN IT COMES FROM THE PEOPLE: THE EFFECTS OF REFORMING OFFICIAL BALLOT INITIATIVE SUMMARIES TO ACCORD WITH CITIZENS’ LEGAL COMMUNICATION PRACTICES
Robert C. Richards, Jr.
The Pennsylvania State University
Department of Communication Arts & Sciences
Presentation at Law and Society Association, May, 2015
Purpose
Test whether revising summaries of ballot initiatives to match citizens’ communicative practices
increases citizens’
knowledge of legal content of initiatives
SettingDirect Democracy
• Citizens making their own laws in
ballot-initiative elections
• 24 U.S. states have statewide ballot initiative processes
Approach 1: Describe Citizens’ Communicative PracticesDevelop coding scheme describing attributes of citizens’ legal communication about initiatives
Based on content analysis of transcripts of Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR)
Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review
Public deliberation by random sample of 24 citizens on ballot initiative; analysis is published in official voter guide
In 2010 two measures: (1) Mandatory Minimums, and (2) Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Use observed features of citizens’ legal communication about
initiatives, to reform summaries of initiatives
Theoretical Frameworks
Plain Legal Language Theory
Social-Cognitive Learning
Deliberative Democratic Theory
Reading an official summary of an initiative that includes features of citizens’ communicative practices will
increase citizens’
knowledge of legal aspects of the initiative
Reading an official summary of an initiative that includes features of citizens’ communicative practices will
increase citizens’
confidence in their knowledge and voting decision about initiative
Reflection will mediate associations between reading official summary of initiative that includes features of citizens’ communicative practices, and
knowledge,
confidence, and voting decision
How will reading an official summary of an initiative that includes features of citizens’ communicative practices
influence citizens’
voting decision about the initiative?
GOALS =
Description of policy objectives of term limit laws as described in political science scholarship
EFFECTIVE =
Summary of empirical political science research on effectiveness of term limit laws in achieving their goals
Goals
Effective
Goals & Effective
Control
Reflection
•Vote
Voting Confidence
Knowledge Confidence
Knowledge
Knowledge =
15-item scale (α = .75): percentage of correct answers to questions about legal rules in initiative
Knowledge Confidence =
3-item scale (α = .93): self-assurance in understanding of legal rules in initiative
Vote =
One 5-point item: vote in favor of or against the initiative: “definitely”/“probably”; “not sure”
Voting Confidence =
One 7-point item: “How confident do you feel about your answer to the [Vote] question?”
Policy Objectives Belief =
3-item scale (α = .76): accuracy of beliefs about goals of term-limit laws per stimulus
Policy Effectiveness Belief =
2-item scale (r = .35, sig.): accuracy of beliefs about effectivenesss of term-limit laws per stimulus
Belief Measure Effective =
4-item scale (α = .79): belief about likely effectiveness of initiative if enacted
ControlsDemographics
Prior Political Knowledge
Reading Speed
Political Interest
Ideology
Party Affiliation
Partisanship
Cultural-Cognitive Worldview
(Hierarchism, Individualism)
SubjectsN = 194 undergraduates
49% women, 49.5% men, 1.5% other
75% white, 11% Asian or Asian-American, 14% other
On Qualtrics: pre-questionnaire (measuring prior political knowledge), stimulus, post-questionnaire
ProcedureSubjects randomly assigned to groups
On Qualtrics: pre-questionnaire (measuring prior political knowledge), stimulus, post-questionnaire
Manipulation Check
Goal groups’ result: significant
Effectiveness-only group’s result: partially significant
No Knowledge Gains
Exposure to Goals
+ Voting Confidence
Exposure to Goals alone
+ Knowledge Confidence
Text of Paper
Full text of the paper accompanying this presentation is available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2612419
Acknowledgements
•Grateful thanks to:
• Anonymous reviewers• Professor James Dillard, Professor John Gastil, Professor John Graham, Professor Christopher Zorn, David Brinker, Brett Wachtendorf, and Sara Castronuova of The Pennsylvania State University
Contact
Robert C. Richards, Jr., JD, MSLIS, MA, BA
• PhD Candidate• The Pennsylvania State University Department of Communication
Arts and Sciences• Email: [email protected]• Web: http://legalinformatics.wordpress.com/about/about-the-author/