Exposure to Images of Police-Civilian Interactions and Public Opinion about Law Enforcement and Government: An Experimental Test
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Kevin Wozniak, University of Massachusetts Boston; Brian Calfano, University of Cincinnati; Kevin Drakulich, Northeastern University
Version: View help for Version V1
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Project Citation:
Wozniak, Kevin, Calfano, Brian, and Drakulich, Kevin. Exposure to Images of Police-Civilian Interactions and Public Opinion about Law Enforcement and Government: An Experimental Test. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-02-14. https://doi.org/10.3886/E117544V1
Project Description
Summary:
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The confrontations between civilian protesters and police forces in Ferguson,
Missouri in 2014 and Baltimore, Maryland in 2015 sparked a renewed public
debate about the “militarization” of the police. Politicians and pundits expressed concern
that the images and video of police officers confronting civilian protesters
armed with machine guns and armored vehicles disseminated through mainstream
and social media would undermine the mass public’s trust in law enforcement and
rule of law, more broadly. We treated
this concern as an empirical question.
In May 2016, we fielded a survey experiment to a sample of
participants drawn from Qualtrics’ national, online, opt-in panel. We randomly-exposed participants to one of
three news pictures that depicted a spectrum of police-civilian interactions,
ranging in nature from friendly to hostile.
Images were designed to evoke thoughts of militarized policing,
community policing, and stop-and-frisk policing. This survey data set also includes a variety
of questions that allow researchers to test the effect of exposure to images of
police-civilian interactions on confidence in local and national governments;
confidence in local and national police; perceptions of police misconduct; perceptions
of police bias; and public opinion about police weapons, equipment, and gear. Questions are also included to operationalize
a range of demographic and political characteristics of participants.
Scope of Project
Subject Terms:
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police ;
police equipment;
police effectiveness;
police citizen interactions;
police misconduct;
experiment;
media;
trust in government;
public opinion;
police militarization;
vote preference
Geographic Coverage:
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National population of the United States
Universe:
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English-speaking persons age 18 or older who live in the United States of America
Data Type(s):
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experimental data;
images: photographs, drawings, graphical representations;
survey data
Methodology
Data Source:
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A sample drawn from the private survey firm Qualtrics' national, online, opt-in panel of survey participants
Collection Mode(s):
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web-based survey
Unit(s) of Observation:
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individuals
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