Civic Engagement in the Digital Age (ICPSR 36967)

Principal Investigator(s):
Aaron Smith, Pew Research Center

This is an external resource to which ICPSR links as a courtesy. These data are not available from ICPSR. Users should consult the data owners (via Civic Engagement in the Digital Age) directly for details on obtaining these resources.

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Summary

This study examines online and offline political engagement, paying special attention to the role that social networking sites play in people's political activities. The survey assessed how education, income, class, age, and other factors play in to civic participation. The three different parts are as follows: online and offline civic engagement in America, political engagement on social networking sites, and online channels bringing new voices or attitudes into the political debate. The results are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

Funding

Pew Research Center

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

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Time Period(s)

2012 -- 2013

Date of Collection

2012-07-16 -- 2012-08-07

Data Collection Notes

  1. These data are not available from ICPSR. Users should consult the data owners directly (via Pew Research Center: July 16-Aug. 7, 2012 - Civic Engagement) for details on obtaining these resources.
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Sample

The results in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted from July 16 to August 7, 2012, among a sample of 2,253 adults, age 18 and older. Telephone interviews were conducted in English and Spanish by landline (1,353) and cell phone (900, including 469 without a landline phone). For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. For results based Internet users (n=1,873), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

New sample was released daily and was kept in the field for at least five days. The sample was released in replicates, which are representative subsamples of the larger population.

Time Method

Cross-sectional ad-hoc follow-up, Cross-sectional

Universe

Adults 18 and older.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Response Rates

The response rate for the landline sample was 12 percent, the response rate for the cellular sample was 11 percent.

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Weight

A two-stage weighting procedure was used to weight this dual-frame sample. The first-stage corrected for different probabilities of selection associated with the number of adults in each household and each respondent's telephone usage patterns. This weighting also adjusts for the overlapping landline and cell sample frames and the relative sizes of each frame and each sample.

The second stage of weighting balances sample demographics to population parameters. The sample is balanced to match national population parameters for sex, age, education, race, Hispanic origin, region (U.S. Census definitions), population density, and telephone usage. The Hispanic origin was split out based on nativity: U.S born and non-U.S. born. The White, non-Hispanic subgroup is also balanced on age, education and region.

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