Bachelor Colloquium
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Hannah Ruppelt
23.10.2015
Supervisors:
Dr. Martin Rosema
Prof. dr. Kees Aarts
Overview
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EU-Spitzenkandidaten
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Democratic deficit
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Research question
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Hypotheses
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Methodology and analysis
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Findings
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Implications for the 2019 European elections
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Topic:
Citizens' knowledge about the EU-Spitzenkandidaten for the 2014 European elections
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853022/7771654350_le-euro-depute-jose-bove-ici-le-14-avril-2014-a-montpellier-a-defendu-le-defendu-le-bilan-de-paix-et-de-l-elargissement-de-l-union-europeenne.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853021/Alexis-Tsipras-a-Strasbourg-mercredi.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853026/SKAkeller2014_01.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853030/epp_dublin_congress_2014_jean-claude_juncker_02.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853035/guy-Europas_liberale_sk_819440a.jpg)
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Ska Keller
José Bové
Jean-Claude Juncker
Martin Schulz
Guy Verhofstadt
Alexis Tsipras
The EU's democratic deficit
European Parliament
EU citizens
European Commission
European Council
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![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853960/fransois-hollande.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1854030/Mark_Rutte-4.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1854032/EU-Parliament.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1854053/group2_0.jpg)
Solution for the democratic deficit?Spitzenkandidaten procedure!
EU citizens
European Commission President
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1854131/EP-elections-2014.jpg)
European elections
European Parliament
Citizens:
not interested and not aware
Media:
sceptical
Channels for political knowledge
Formal education
Political discussions
News consumption
Established media:
Newspapers, radio, TV
New media:
Internet
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1859627/Schulz_JPG.jpg)
Internet presence of candidates in social media
To what extent did the usage of established and new media sources influence a voter’s political knowledge about the 2014 EU-Spitzenkandidaten?
Research question
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News consumption via TV
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News consumption via newspapers
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News consumption via Internet
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Internet usage
Hypotheses
Media consumption variable
Knowledge
about candidates
Data set
Coding
Methodology and analysis I
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853030/epp_dublin_congress_2014_jean-claude_juncker_02.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853035/guy-Europas_liberale_sk_819440a.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1853041/schulz_pressefoto_2_download.jpg)
Can you identify the European party group or the national party of Juncker, Schulz and Verhofstadt?
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858048/logoalde.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858052/FNna1qpo.png)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858067/coeur_epp-negative_white_bluebg_epp_300dpi_en.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858117/799px-Cdu-logo.svg.png)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858118/logo_spd_4c_100mm.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858124/fdp-logo.jpg)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858146/282px-CDA.svg.png)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858148/PvdA.png)
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media-p.slid.es/uploads/236088/images/1858158/2000px-D66.svg.png)
Citizens' knowledge about the candidates
Which candidate belongs to which party? | Percentage of respondents |
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know zero | 74 |
know one | 13 |
know two | 9 |
know three | 5 |
Cross-Tables
Spearman's Rho correlation
Methodology and analysis II
Spearman's rho correlation coefficient | p-value | direction / strength | |
---|---|---|---|
Knowledge about the candidates |
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News consumption via TV | .10 | .00 | + / weak |
News consumption via newspapers | .23 | .00 | + / moderate |
News consumption via Internet | .11 | .00 | + / weak |
Internet use | .10 | .00 | + / weak |
Findings
The impact of age
Relationship between internet use and knowledge about the candidates
elderly people
young people
middle-aged people
Age
The older you are, the stronger the effect internet use has on knowledge about the candidates.
Why?
What does my research show?
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All relationships between media variables and knowledge about the candidates are significant and positive
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Established media and new media both influenced citizens' knowledge
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Reading newspapers showed strongest correlation
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Internet less influential as assumed
Implications for 2019 European elections
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Spitzenkandidaten procedure has been established
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Future news coverage will be less sceptical
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Spitzenkandidaten procedure can reduce democratic deficit (requires informed citizens)
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More & better news coverage by all channels needed
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More & better campaigning by parties/candidates needed
Thank you for your attention!
Do you have questions?
References
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Copy of Bachelor Thesis Presentation_ALT
By hannah_r
Copy of Bachelor Thesis Presentation_ALT
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