Views Of Citizens Research Articles

A Review of the Evolution of the NCS-NCVS Police Reporting and Response Questions and Their Application to Older Women Experiencing Violent Victimization

Little attention is given to the history of the data that underlie research on crime trends and patterns. This article considers the evolution of the National Crime Victimization Survey’s (NCVS) police reporting and response questions. These questions are particularly important as the NCVS is the only nationally representative source of information on whether crime is reported to the police and citizen views of police actions. In addition, the current NCVS redesign is set to substantially add to these items. To provide a context for this discussion, this article applies the police reporting and response questions to an understudied victim group, specifically older women who experience violent victimization. This application illustrates the research opportunities and challenges for working with these data.

Gender Stereotypes and Candidate Qualifications in Judicial Elections

A large literature documents the effects of gendered stereotyping on the outcomes of legislative and executive elections. Less attention has been paid to the effects of these stereotypes on judicial elections, a venue where candidates might encounter unique stereotypes. Further, existing research on judicial elections prioritizes one form of qualification—prior judicial experience—leaving unaddressed the effects of other professional experiences on voters’ choices in these contests. In this paper, we rely on a conjoint experiment to test the effects of candidate qualifications and gender stereotypes in U.S. state judicial elections. We find that, on average, women candidates are advantaged in judicial elections, though we find no evidence that citizens view women candidates as more qualified. Further, while voters do prefer candidates with prior judicial experience they also—contrary to the conventional wisdom—favor judges with prior political experience. Importantly, however, we observe minimal instances of gendered stereotyping in these elections. Our findings call for further research on the effects of gender in judicial elections.

Tell me how you really feel: Unpacking sub-dimensions of citizen satisfaction with hospital services

While recent studies of citizen satisfaction focus almost exclusively on expectations and performance information as drivers of satisfaction, there is good reason to believe that interpersonal encounters with bureaucrats are fundamental to how citizens view public organizations. We examine this issue in the context of the U.S. healthcare system, a setting where attention has been growing in recent years to the importance of the user experience and where there is growing recognition of longstanding social inequities that users encounter. Drawing on a cross-sectional dataset of 2,005 U.S. hospitals, we find that overall satisfaction is strongly linked to perceptions of the quality of interaction with the frontline staff and less so with medical and environmental coordination. However, in hospitals serving low socioeconomic patients, overall satisfaction is more strongly associated with perceptions of environmental coordination (e.g., quietness). Policymakers should acknowledge the importance of user experience and heterogeneous preferences underlying citizen satisfaction.

The frequent five: Insights from interviews with urban wildlife professionals in Germany

Abstract Wildlife in cities divides people, with some animals bringing positive benefits and others causing conflict, for example due to property damage. Urban wildlife professionals from municipal administration, nature conservation, and hunting associations have a crucial role in shaping human‐wildlife relationships in cities and fostering conflict‐free coexistence. While many studies on urban wildlife have focused on the views of citizens, few have investigated the perspectives of experts to date. To address this knowledge gap, we interviewed 36 urban wildlife professionals giving guidance in the context of urban wildlife management, either in one of the four largest German cities by population (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne) or at the national level. Red foxes, wild boars, raccoons, stone martens and Eurasian beavers were the five mammal species most frequently highlighted in interviews to cause human‐wildlife conflicts. The interviewees saw wild boars and raccoons as the most controversial urban wild mammals but emphasized the need to create refuges for beavers and better inform the public about foxes. Management in terms of public outreach, urban planning and population control, as well as establishing official contact points and stricter fines of activities violating regulations were highlighted as important elements of a toolkit to manage urban wildlife conflicts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Citizen Views on an Opt-Out Approach to National Electronic Health Records in Germany: A Small-Scale Qualitative Study.

Electronic health records (German: elektronische Patientenakte - ePA) are an important healthcare tool. However, in Germany, current participation remains low for their national ePA. To rectify this, the German government recently adopted an opt-out approach to their national ePA system. The objective of this study is to investigate and provide a brief overview of German public attitudes towards this approach to inform policymakers with evidence-based insights. Four public focus groups were conducted with 12 German citizens to discuss their opinions on the German governments new opt-out approach to the ePA. Three major thematic categories were identified (Contributors to Opt-Out Implementation, Barriers to Opt-Out Implementation, and Contingent Factors) to describe citizen views on the opt-out approach for the ePA. The public is generally supportive of an opt-out approach to ePAs in Germany, as they see the benefits ePAs can provide to German society; but they are skeptical on how successful this approach might be due to extant issues that policymakers must be aware of in order to successfully implement an opt-out approach for Germany's national ePA system.

Using social networks to study the political culture of modern China

The article systematizes the main approaches adopted by a group of researchers from MGIMO University, HSE University and the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, united within the framework of the ”Moscow Project for the Study of Chinese Political Culture”, to investigate the political culture of modern China through the monitoring of social networks. The authors analyze the existing ideas about political culture in the Chinese academic discourse, identify problems in studying the political views of Chinese citizens by traditional sociological methods (surveys, questionnaires). They further explain the relevance of using social network analysis in modern studies of Chinese society, and also describe the methodology they developed for studying social networks using sentiment analysis. The article lays the theoretical and methodological basis for further research on modern Chinese society based on an array of data from Chinese social networks.

Securing the peace or renegotiating the political settlement? Understanding popular support for post-conflict constitutions

ABSTRACT How do ordinary citizens view elite-driven, post-conflict constitutional reforms? Established theories emphasize the role of constitutional reform in both postwar democratization and preventing conflict resurgence. This article contends that emphasis on fostering political inclusion and settling conflicts resonates differently across post-conflict societies. Focusing on Nepal, this study draws on a survey implemented with over 1,000 respondents shortly after the ratification of the country’s constitution in 2015. The exploratory analysis shows that even when post-conflict constitutions grant greater rights to historically marginalized groups in absolute terms, they may still perceive that greater concessions would be possible; this makes such groups more likely to oppose the constitution and more likely to prefer extended negotiation periods. Conversely, Nepalis exposed to higher violence during the Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006 view the constitution as the conclusion of the peace process and are more supportive of the constitution and opposed to longer negotiation periods. The analysis further highlights that some excluded groups were less likely to learn about constitutional negotiations at all. We identify new pathways influencing the democratic legitimacy of post-conflict constitutions, offering insights for internal and external stakeholders involved in constitutional reform processes and their aftermath.

What are the views of Quebec and Ontario citizens on the tiebreaker criteria for prioritizing access to adult critical care in the extreme context of a COVID-19 pandemic?

BackgroundThe prioritization protocols for accessing adult critical care in the extreme pandemic context contain tiebreaker criteria to facilitate decision-making in the allocation of resources between patients with a similar survival prognosis. Besides being controversial, little is known about the public acceptability of these tiebreakers. In order to better understand the public opinion, Quebec and Ontario’s protocols were presented to the public in a democratic deliberation during the summer of 2022.Objectives(1) To explore the perspectives of Quebec and Ontario citizens regarding tiebreakers, identifying the most acceptable ones and their underlying values. (2) To analyze these results considering other public consultations held during the pandemic on these criteria.MethodsThis was an exploratory qualitative study. The design involved an online democratic deliberation that took place over two days, simultaneously in Quebec and Ontario. Public participants were selected from a community sample which excluded healthcare workers. Participants were first presented the essential components of prioritization protocols and their related issues (training session day 1). They subsequently deliberated on the acceptability of these criteria (deliberation session day 2). The deliberation was then subject to thematic analysis.ResultsA total of 47 participants from the provinces of Quebec (n = 20) and Ontario (n = 27) took part in the online deliberation. A diverse audience participated excluding members of the healthcare workforce. Four themes were identified: (1) Priority to young patients - the life cycle - a preferred tiebreaker; (2) Randomization - a tiebreaker of last resort; (3) Multiplier effect of most exposed healthcare workers - a median acceptability tiebreaker, and (4) Social value – a less acceptable tiebreaker.ConclusionLife cycle was the preferred tiebreaker as this criterion respects intergenerational equity, which was considered relevant when allocating scarce resources to adult patients in a context of extreme pandemic. Priority to young patients is in line with other consultations conducted around the world. Additional studies are needed to further investigate the public acceptability of tiebreaker criteria.

How framing impacts attitudes about electoral rights for non‐resident citizens

AbstractWidespread adoption of policies granting electoral rights to citizens living abroad has spurred vivid scholarly debates regarding the drivers and consequences of extra‐territorial enfranchisement. But, little is known about the views of resident citizens in origin countries on the matter. We address this research gap and investigate how resident citizens' attitudes to external voting rights are affected by different arguments usually salient in homeland political debates. The study draws on an original survey experiment conducted across five countries (Belgium, Finland, Poland, Portugal and Ireland) with different external voting regulations. Our results show that utilitarian arguments on the costs and benefits of extra‐territorial enfranchisement are persuasively shaping public support for the voting rights of nationals living abroad. They further suggest that resident citizens in origin countries that already grant extensive political rights to non‐resident nationals are more receptive to moral arguments of democratic inclusion regarding the recognition of such entitlements.

Private organization’s moral behaviour and citizen support for public-private partnerships: evidence from a survey experiment

ABSTRACT Drawing on the literature on legitimacy and moral values, we examine the link between private partner characteristics and citizen views of public-private partnerships (PPPs). We hypothesize that citizen perceptions of the legitimacy of a proposed PPP will vary according to how a private organization’s historical behaviour aligns with or deviates from the moral values associated with social cooperation. To test this, we utilize a survey experiment. We find that citizen support for PPPs is contingent upon the degree to which a private organization exhibits behaviours aligned with a sense of community, deference, fairness, and asset ownership.

Images say more than just words: visual versus text communication to dispel a rent-control misconception

The highly popular belief that rent-control leads to an increase in the amount of affordable housing is in contradiction with ample empirical evidence and congruent theoretical explanations. It can therefore be qualified as a misconception. We present the results of a preregistered on-line experiment in which we study how to dispel this misconception using a refutational approach in two different formats, a video and a text. We find that the refutational video has a significantly higher positive impact on revising the misconception than a refutational text. This effect is driven by individuals who initially agreed with it and depart from it after the treatment. The refutational text, in turn, does not have a significant impact relative to a non-refutational text. Higher cognitive reflective ability is positively associated with revising beliefs in all interventions. Our research shows that visual communication effectively reduces the gap between scientific economic knowledge and the views of citizens.

Evaluation of the Opinions of Turkish Citizens Living in Kilis on Syrian Refugees

This research was carried out to determine the views of Turkish citizens living in Kilis about Syrian refugees. In the research, the phenomenology method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used and an interview form consisting of semi-structured questions was applied. The sample of the research consists of 42 Turkish citizens living in Kilis and having social contacts with asylum seekers. The data obtained through interviews were interpreted by dividing them into themes and sub-themes using content analysis methods. As a result of the research, it was determined that the problems in areas such as economic, social and education reached high levels due to the fact that Turkish citizens living in Kilis live in the provinces of Syrian refugees. Results such as the emergence of classes with a large number of students in schools, not speaking Turkish, problems of adaptation and attendance to schools, cultural and social incompatibility have been achieved.

AI: social perception and the states policy

The specificity of advanced technologies constitutes a transformation challenge in terms of the conditions of social development and influence on state policies. In the last few years, this process has been seen as a consequence of the development of artificial intelligence – a general-purpose digital technology. Due to its complexity, the AI technology has enormous potential for social change, which raises both deepening hopes and fears. AI also influences the policies of countries, which for its development use both the current achievements in the development of ICT (information and communication technology), as well as the demographic potential and accumulated digital data resources, the diversity of the political system and the dominant importance of their own digital sector with international influence. It can be considered that those countries that have been successful as digital powers are taking on the role of AI superpowers with greater freedom and innovation. At the same time, there is a rapid increase in the number of countries that aspire to become AI leaders and those that treat artificial intelligence technology as an opportunity to improve their international position. Public perception is a factor supporting the adoption and implementation of national development strategies and legal regulations for AI. It reveals social fears and hopes associated with the technology in question, influencing the views of both politicians and citizens.

Police body-worn cameras and privacy: Views and concerns of officers and citizens

Police body-worn cameras (BWC) have been lauded for their potential to increase transparency and accountability by documenting officers’ actions and interactions with citizens. However, despite their widespread use in recent years, several law enforcement agencies have been hesitant to adopt this technology because of privacy concerns. This article explores the views of police officers and citizens from the Canadian province of Quebec towards the use of BWCs. Specifically, it seeks to: (a) understand how officers feel about being monitored by BWCs and (b) assess citizens’ privacy concerns towards police BWCs. A mixed-method research design was used, including interviews and focus groups with 78 police officers, including 46 officers from four pilot sites, and a telephone survey of 1609 residents from the same sites. The results show that officers are concerned about the potential effects of BWCs on their privacy and the privacy of the public. One major area of concern is the impact it may have on their work performance and the use of adaptative measures that support them in carrying out challenging duties. By contrast, most citizens have no reservations about being recorded by a BWC. Certain individual characteristics—such as age and perceptions of the police—however, were associated with heightened privacy concerns. Without neglecting citizens’ privacy, this study provides insights into the development of BWC policies that preserve officers’ right to privacy and ability to fulfill their duty.

Strategic Clarity and Taiwanese Citizens’ Confidence in the US Security Commitment

President Biden’s remarks that his administration is willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan appear to be a significant deviation from Washington’s long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity.” Critics warn that such a clear pledge is likely to bolster Taiwanese citizens’ confidence in America’s defense commitment, which may encourage Taipei’s pursuit of independence. This study uses deterrence theory with panel survey data to examine this argument. The results support critics’ concerns that Biden’s security pledges have increased Taiwanese citizens’ confidence in Washington’s security assurance. However, the public’s overall confidence declined between 2021 and 2022, which can be attributed to the shifting views of pro-independence citizens due to their concern about a Chinese leadership emboldened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After witnessing America’s security assistance to Ukraine, independence supporters may have recognized the uncertain nature of Washington’s security commitment and adjusted their expectations.

Wasta and Democratic Attitudes in the Middle East

Abstract The Middle East faces ongoing challenges in democratization and in corruption. This article examines the influence of wasta – a Middle Eastern form of clientelism – on citizens’ political attitudes. Although wasta is situated between citizen services and corruption, many citizens view wasta as corrupt. Using Arab Barometer survey data, this article shows that the widespread use of wasta in the Middle East makes citizens less satisfied with their current largely non-democratic governments. Wasta also increases their interest in democracy as an egalitarian alternative regime structure. Wasta users, however, are protective of the personal advantages that wasta networks afford them. Widespread wasta thus represents a challenge to democratization.

Guidelines for alcohol consumption in the era of ‘no safe levels’ - where do we stand?

Abstract Background Despite claims that moderation consumption could improve health outcomes, namely cardiovascular health, the latest scientific evidence shows there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption. This study sought to determine the current definitions of standard drink and alcohol consumption guidelines across different nations. Methods Based on information from the WHO and the authors’ own judgment, a pool of countries with available data was created. In order to gather the required information, structured internet searches of relevant terms for each country were conducted. Results In 2015, a similar study was conducted but no actualizations were made afterwards. Currently, there has yet to be a standard drink definition agreed upon by every national government, and there are differences between what constitutes this standard drink. Countries have different guidelines for how much alcohol is safe to consume, and low-risk consumption guidelines vary considerably. There are also double standards for men and women. There are few governments that explicitly state that alcohol consumption should be zero. Conclusions National drinking recommendations and guidelines and standard drinking units differ considerably from country to country. It should be evaluated how this impacts public health since this is information available to the general public and can influence how citizens view what they should consume. Public dissemination of messages about so-called safe alcohol consumption levels, moderate alcohol consumption, or protective effects of alcohol consumption is against WHO recommendations, so state governments and national health institutes should consider this matter. Key messages • Countries do not have standardized public health definitions and messages concerning alcohol consumption. • Public health practitioners should update the content of alcohol guidelines accessible to the public to accommodate the latest scientific evidence.

Chinese aid and corruption in African local governments

AbstractDoes foreign aid reshape citizen views on governments? How does Chinese aid relate to corruption perception in African local governments? Studying 33 African countries from 2000 to 2014 (175 590 respondents), Chinese aid heightens perceived corruption in local councillors and officials. Corruption scandals likely contribute to negative views of both China and local governance. Control variables like World Bank aid and Confucius Institutes disprove alternate theories. Heterogeneous effects demonstrate that China's aid is unwelcome among low‐skilled individuals who feel threatened by its expansion, magnifying corruption perception. This suggests that Chinese aid's unfavourable image fosters scepticism among African citizens and undermines collaborating local governments.

“Alternative Facts”: The Origins of Fake News and its Implications

This paper examines the origins of the current rise in disinformation, compares and contrasts historical and modern examples of fake news, and analyzes the trends between them. By observing patterns across specific case studies where fake news was leveraged to manipulate public opinion, we dissect the contemporary misinformation dilemma and offer methods to combat false narratives. We achieve this through a historical analysis of Yellow Journalism in the late 1800s, early 20th-century propaganda, and disinformation in the 2020 United States election.
 One significant revelation in modern times that has altered the ways fake news perpetuates is media digitization. Platforms such as social media, news websites, and blogs have reshaped the contemporary media sphere. Misinformation proliferation has persisted since historical times and still threatens how citizens view political and social issues, something we need to mitigate. Thus, our overarching question is: “What are the dangers of fake news, and how have political leaders historically leveraged it to their advantage?” Today, there’s speculation as to whether or not media digitization has amplified its effects, another controversy we dismantle in this multi-dimensional article.

Consequences of affective polarization: Avoidance, intolerance and support for violence in the United Kingdom and Norway

AbstractAffective polarization – that is, antipathy towards political opponents – sits high on the academic and political agenda. This is because it is thought to have a multitude of damaging consequences, both for how citizens view and approach each other and for how they relate to the political system. This study investigates some of the most mentioned and worrying potential consequences of affective polarization at the individual level. Zooming in on Europe, it sheds light on the substantive relationship between partisan antipathy and three kinds of norm‐breaking escalation in the form of avoidance, intolerance and support for violence against party supporters. Methodologically, it unpacks the affective component of polarization, testing to what extent the traditional feeling thermometer performs as a predictor of these three potential outcomes. It then tests alternative expectations of the antecedents of such escalation derived from the intergroup emotions’ literature and the study of political radicalization. This is done using a broad range of both established and new survey items fielded in nationally representative panels between May and November 2020 in two contexts that score relatively low (Norway) and high (the United Kingdom) on affective polarization. They reveal that avoidance, intolerance and support for political violence can be validly measured, and are manifest, in these two European countries, but that they are only weakly correlated to mere dislike of the outgroup. Instead, more severe forms of norm‐breaking escalation depend on the specific nature of the discrete emotions induced beyond dislike (anger, fear or disgust) and are rooted in factors such as relative deprivation, Manicheanism, and dark personality traits (psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism). We discuss the implications for the way polarization is theorized and measured.