Connecting to congress: improving deliberation in the information age

ABSTRACT

What are the best methods for Members of the U.S. Congress to use their Web sites to engage constituents in the public policy process? How can Congress use the Internet to foster deliberation in an emerging digital democracy? To shed light on these questions, in the summer and fall of 2006 we conducted online deliberation field experiments that involve current members of Congress interacting with their constituents. We randomly assign constituents to different experimental designs as well as to control groups. To date 12 members have participated in 20 deliberation sessions. The sessions have produced a wealth of data on the effects of this sort of interaction on constituents' attitudes toward public policy, toward government, and toward the online sessions themselves. To analyze these data, we employ an innovative statistical method that we have developed to estimate the problem of endogenous treatment in multi-site field experiments.

REFERENCES

• 1: Cameron, A. Colin, and Pravin K. Trivedi. 2005. Microeconometrics: Methods and Applications. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• 2: Miranda, Alfonso, and Sophia Rabe-Hesketh. n.d. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Endogenous Switching and Sample Selection Models for Binary, Count, and Ordinal Variables." Typescript, Department of Education, UC. Berkeley.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Web-based interaction

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors, Performance

Keywords:
congress, consultation, e-townhall, participation, representation