In response to Perloff's (this issue) essay examining the development and future of agenda setting, a series of scholars offer their own reactions to the essay and the broader issues it raises.

Measurement noise differs by instrument and limits the validity and reliability of findings. Researchers collecting reaction time data introduce noise in the form of response time latency from hardware and software, even when collecting data on standardized computer-based experimental equipment. Reaction time is a measure with broad application for studying cognitive processing in communication research that is vulnerable to response latency noise. In this study, we utilized an Arduino microcontroller to generate a ground truth value of average response time latency in Asteroid Impact, an open source, naturalistic, experimental video game stimulus. We tested if response time latency differed across computer operating system, software, and trial modality. Here we show that reaction time measurements collected using Asteroid Impact were susceptible to response latency variability on par with other response-latency measuring software tests. These results demonstrate that Asteroid Impact is a valid and reliable stimulus for measuring reaction time data. Moreover, we provide researchers with a low-cost and open-source tool for evaluating response time latency in their own labs. Our results highlight the importance of validating measurement tools and support the philosophy of contributing methodological improvements in communication science.

This article explains the scientific basis of traditional public opinion polling using the total survey error approach. The proliferation of wireless smartphones, the decoupling of area codes from their geographic boundaries, and the widespread use of privacy tools such as caller ID, voicemail, and call blocking have made the phone system harder to use for research calls. Polling continues today using a mix of landline and wireless phones, and these live‐caller phone surveys are typically rated as most reliable and accurate for various reasons. Other methods are also increasingly used for public opinion polling, including interactive voice recording (IVR) and online, self‐administered surveys.

Presidential Studies QuarterlyVolume 48, Issue 4 p. 863-864 Book Review The American Presidency and Entertainment Media: How Technology Affects Political Communication. By Thomas Gallagher. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017. 165 pp. Gerald M. Kosicki, Gerald M. Kosicki The Ohio State UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Gerald M. Kosicki, Gerald M. Kosicki The Ohio State UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 November 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/psq.12495Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume48, Issue4December 2018Pages 863-864 RelatedInformation

This paper re-evaluates the relevance of the gatekeeping framework in the twenty-first century, arguing that in an age of digital journalism the gatekeeping metaphor has begun to restrict our study of journalism. Reviewing current research and utilizing a variety of surveys, case studies and theoretical work, the paper proposes a new framework. It argues that rather than online journalism studies focusing on the packaging of a news product by a news source (gatekeeping), it should instead focus on the paths taken by news users to individual stories via search engines, gatewatchers and social media (way-finding). To support this, five key areas of change are investigated: the increased capacity for storing and publishing news; new tools for news creation; increased use of aggregators and gatewatchers; competition on a story-by-story basis; and immediate audience feedback.

This paper re-evaluates the relevance of the gatekeeping framework in the twenty-first century, arguing that in an age of digital journalism the gatekeeping metaphor has begun to restrict our study of journalism. Reviewing current research and utilizing a variety of surveys, case studies and theoretical work, the paper proposes a new framework. It argues that rather than online journalism studies focusing on the packaging of a news product by a news source (gatekeeping), it should instead focus on the paths taken by news users to individual stories via search engines, gatewatchers and social media (way-finding). To support this, five key areas of change are investigated: the increased capacity for storing and publishing news; new tools for news creation; increased use of aggregators and gatewatchers; competition on a story-by-story basis; and immediate audience feedback.

Through a social identity theoretical lens, this study examines how nurses' identification with their working small group, unit, or floor, nursing role (e.g., staff ER nurse, nurse practitioner), and nursing profession relate to nurses' interaction involvement, willingness to confront conflict, feelings of learned helplessness, and tenure (employment turnover) intentions. A cross-sectional survey (N = 466) was conducted at a large, quaternary care hospital system. Structural equation modeling uncovered direct and indirect effects between the five primary variables. Findings demonstrate direct relationships between nurse identity (as a latent variable) and interaction involvement, willingness to confront conflict, and tenure intentions. Feelings of learned helplessness are attenuated by increased nurse identity through interaction involvement and willingness to confront conflict. In addition, willingness to confront conflict and learned helplessness mediate the relationship between interaction involvement and nurses' tenure intentions. Theoretical extensions include indirect links between nurse identity and learned helplessness via interaction involvement and willingness to confront conflict. Implications for interpersonal communication theory development, health communication, and the nursing profession are discussed.

In this study, we investigated the impact of personalized news web portals on selective exposure. Results from analyses of secondary survey data from national random samples of U.S. adults show a positive relationship between personalized news and increased exposure to offline news. Users of personalized news report viewing more sources and categories of news online compared with nonusers. Partisan users of personalized news do not report increased partisan news exposure. No difference in preferences for perspective sharing or challenging news sources is found between personalized news users and nonusers. The implications for future research on personalized information systems and selective exposure are discussed.

Beyond their own direct experiences of the world, humans rely on communication to form impressions about the rest of reality. This fact makes communication a key to how people form their perceptions of reality. There is a rich literature grounded in communication dealing with the formation of individual‐level judgments as well as public opinion about conditions in the world (→ Media and Perceptions of Reality; Social Perception). This literature, which ranges over the areas of entertainment, news media, media effects, and various social indicators, is impressive in its breadth and depth (e.g., Bryant & Oliver 2009).

This study investigates whether attention to political news and attention to debates during a presidential campaign are affected by audience members' cognitive schemata concerning media and politics and the information-processing strategies they claim to use when encountering the media. Data come from a telephone survey of a probability sample of 706 registered voters in a metropolitan area. Hierarchical regression using political and sociological controls provides support for the general hypothesis. Four sets of cognitive constructs are studied: images concerning how the news media work and why; campaign information-processing strategies such as reading between the lines or reflecting on the news; schema-based orientations toward or preference for particular types of campaign-related information; and patterns of salience for each set of cognitive constructs. Some support is found for the hypothesis that audiences compensate for perceived shortcomings in the media by increased attention to the news and more time spent watching the debates. Support is found for the idea that schemata lead to information seeking and hence higher attention, and that salience itself increases attention.

The Mediated Presidency: Television News and Presidential Governance. Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006. 229 pp. $60 hbk. $22.95 pbk. For years I have been predicting a renaissance of content analysis. I base this optimistic prediction on several converging trends. The first is the tremendous interest in what is written and broadcast about various topics. Today's technology makes gathering and analyzing media texts seem more doable than it ever has in the past. The availability of online media databases containing full texts of a great many forms of media materials-newspapers; magazines; television; motion pictures; and Web-based materials such as blogs, Web sites, and wikis-has never been greater. Powerful computers and massive storage capabilities to handle such materials are relatively inexpensive and abundant. Software for searching the texts and analyzing them are widely available, if not easy to use or perfectly adaptable to every project. Sampling of texts is well understood if not always done in the most appropriate manner. Perhaps most important, we also have a variety of theoretical perspectives that help focus conceptual attention onto the actual content of media messages and are thus capable of guiding empirical inquiries into media content. The emerging literature on framing is one such perspective, among several others. Considering all this, where is my predicted renaissance? The Mediated Presidency: Television News and Presidential Governance helps answer this question in two ways. First, it is an example of content analysis and so might be considered a part of my hypothesized renaissance. But it also is a reminder of the problems that afflict many content analysis studies. Most content analysis studies are descriptive. One could, of course, introduce some engaging hypotheses that would guide the study of relationships among certain types of media and certain types of content, but this is rarer than one might expect. The book primarily reports a rather descriptive content analysis of news coverage. There is little in the way of overarching theoretical perspectives to guide the analysis. Despite this, the book is relevant and engaging and certainly addresses a great many issues related to the coverage of the federal system and especially presidents and presidential-level issues. Some of the work was originally done for the Council on Excellence in Government (CEG), a bipartisan, nonprofit organization with a mission to improve the practice of government. A brief acknowledgment section notes that both the sampling frame and the content analysis system were developed in close consultation with the board of CEG. …

Journal Article Maxwell McCombs.Setting the Agenda: The Mass Media and Public Opinion. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. 2004. 184 pp. $54.95 (cloth); $26.95 (paper). Get access Gerald M. Kosicki Gerald M. Kosicki Ohio State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 70, Issue 1, Spring 2006, Pages 124–127, https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfj003 Published: 01 January 2006

The goal of this study is twofold. First, it aims to examine the effects of questionnaire design and fieldwork characteristics on outcome rates in a monthly RDD survey conducted by the Center for Survey Research (CSR) at The Ohio State University. Second, the study also attempts to uncover possible ways the fluctuations in outcome rates may be influencing data quality. The analysis is based primarily on data gathered from CSR administrative records, as well as information generated by the CATI program. The main variables of interest are the response, cooperation, refusal and contact rates calculated based on the final disposition codes recorded for each month, and the possible determinants of these rates. The monthly values for additional measures are calculated from the individual level data, specifically, the answers provided by respondents to media use and demographic items included in the survey. The study finds that the main factors influencing outcome rates are the presence of newly hired interviewers on the survey, questionnaire length, and the percentage of completed interviews that are the result of refusal conversions. Examining the effects of fluctuations in the outcome rates on the demographic representativeness of the surveys reveals that higher nonresponse does not always amount to less representative data. However, the results also show that study characteristics, including outcome rates, may influence not only the marginals obtained from a survey, but also the relationships between variables, in this case the correlations between media use and demographic measures.