ABSTRACT

Most existing evidence suggests that accuracy in perceptions of political preferences within communication networks is reasonably high, but closer examination suggests this may not be true. Perceptions may be accurate, inaccurate, or respondents may offer no perceptions to evaluate for accuracy due to uncertainty. We re-analyze data from several published studies to evaluate whether different treatments of “don’t know” (DK) and similar ambiguous responses matters when evaluating accuracy levels. It does, sometimes leading to dramatically altered conclusions regarding accuracy. We also reanalyze recent data to evaluate the individual and group-level factors (with an emphasis on communication and homophily) that lead to such DK responses, and consider the implications of the treatment of DK responses for inferences about the role of communication in producing truly accurate perceptions.

摘要

大多数现有证据表明，在沟通网络中对政治偏好的理解的准确性相当高，但仔细研究表明，这可能并非正确。感知可能是准确的，不准确的，或者由于不确定性，受访者可能没有提供评估准确性的感知。我们重新分析了几项已发表研究的数据，以评估在评估准确性水平时是否对“未知”（DK）进行不同处理以及类似的歧义反应是否重要。确实如此，有时会导致有关准确性的结论发生巨大变化。我们还重新分析了最近的数据，以评估导致此类DK响应的个人和小组级别的因素（强调交流和同质性），