Research on the Effectiveness of Individualized Feedback on Voting Behavior

摘要

This study investigates the effectiveness of individualized feedback to voters from the perspective of changes in decision-making. We conducted a two-phase-based study: In the first phase, 163 participates with different backgrounds were invited to do mock voting for two presidential candidates according to the candidates' performance after three debates, and to write and rank order six reasons for their votes. In the second phase, participants received feedback including the results of a Rasch Model analysis of reasons for voting. Shortly after reading the analysis, voters were asked to respond to a new set of measurment items, and then do another mock vote. A detailed comparative analysis of voters' protocols before and after feedback indicates that the feedback is useful in helping voters make decisions. That is, they incorporated the feedback into their voting. This study sheds further light on their rating behavior. However, the feedback impacts individuals differently. Some raters adjust their decisions, while the others remain unchanged.