Watergate Hearings Panel Survey

Principal Investigator(s): Holm, John D.; Bochner, Arthur P.; Kraus, Sidney

Summary: This panel study was conducted in three waves: the first wave in May 1973, prior to the Senate Watergate Committee hearings, the second wave during the hearings (Memorial Day recess), and the third wave in July 1973, after John Dean's testimony, which confirmed suspicions of President Richard Nixon's involvement in the affair. The survey probed interest in politics and Watergate and assessed how closely respondents followed the events surrounding the Watergate affair, their media usage... (more info)

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Dataset

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Holm, John D., Arthur P. Bochner, and Sidney Kraus. Watergate Hearings Panel Survey . ICPSR07352-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1976. doi:10.3886/ICPSR07352.v1

Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07352.v1

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Summary: This panel study was conducted in three waves: the first wave in May 1973, prior to the Senate Watergate Committee hearings, the second wave during the hearings (Memorial Day recess), and the third wave in July 1973, after John Dean's testimony, which confirmed suspicions of President Richard Nixon's involvement in the affair. The survey probed interest in politics and Watergate and assessed how closely respondents followed the events surrounding the Watergate affair, their media usage, feelings toward government and politicians, and opinions on the individuals involved in the affair. Respondents were also asked who they thought was to blame for the Watergate scandal. Additional information was collected on the interviewees' voting behavior and degree of trust in government and politicians. Demographic variables include age, sex, education, and occupation. Most of the non-demographic questions were asked in each wave to allow an evaluation of public opinion and values changes as the hearings proceeded.

Subject Terms: congressional hearings, Dean, John, executive power, mass media, Nixon Administration (1969-1974), Nixon, Richard, political attitudes, political participation, public opinion, testimony, trust in government, values, voter attitudes, voting behavior, Watergate affair

Geographic Coverage: Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Time Period:

1973

Universe: Voting-age residents of the Cleveland metropolitan area.

Data Types: survey data

Sample: The panel sample was designated by random selection of 500 telephone numbers from the Cleveland Metropolitan Telephone Directory. In the first wave, 360 interviews were taken, 193 in the second, and 135 in the third. A total of 116 respondents participated in all three waves.

Mode of Data Collection: telephone interview

Data Source:

telephone interviews

Original ICPSR Release: 1984-06-20

1974

Holm, John D., Kraus, Sidney, Bochner, Arthur P. Communication and opinion formation: Issues generated by the Watergate hearings. Communication Research. 1, (4), 368-390.

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