Expanding the Methodological Toolbox: Factorial Surveys in Journalism Research

Experimental designs to examine attitudes and behavior are crucial to make causal inferences. However, studies that assess attitudes and behavior of journalists are still dominated by correlational designs, such as used in surveys with journalists. Elaborating on historical and practical reasons for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournalism studies (London, England) Vol. 21; no. 7; pp. 947 - 965
Main Authors Otto, Lukas P., Glogger, Isabella
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 18.05.2020
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Attitudes
Experiments
factorial survey
Journalism
Journalists
multi-level modeling
Polls & surveys
vignettes
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Summary:Experimental designs to examine attitudes and behavior are crucial to make causal inferences. However, studies that assess attitudes and behavior of journalists are still dominated by correlational designs, such as used in surveys with journalists. Elaborating on historical and practical reasons for that, we argue in this paper why journalism scholars may benefit from including a certain experimental approach to their toolbox: the factorial survey experiment. Using data from a factorial survey with German newspaper journalists, we illustrate the application of factorial surveys from their conceptualization to the data analysis. Suggestions for further fields of application are made.
ISSN:1461-670X
1469-9699
DOI:10.1080/1461670X.2020.1745663