ICA-6-10602
1
How the Internet Affects Political Communication of
Individuals
A Longitudinal Survey of Onliners and Offliners
Abstract
Discussion about the impact of the Internet on politics is vivacious but only partly
based on empirical evidence. The authors conducted a panel survey beginning in
spring 2002 with a sample of about 1000 persons. Main goal of the fist step of this
survey was to reveal differences in political communication and participation between
people with and without Internet access. After the analysis of the cross sectional data
there are clear indications for an effect of Internet access: Internet users proved to be
more active in some forms of political communication than non-users. Internet access
accounted for up to 8 % of variance in political communication.
The analysis of the second waves data (2003) will clarify wether this findings fit in a
causal model. It can also help in finding a model to explain this effect of Internet
access: the authors expect that individual evaluations of costs and benefits of online
communication might explain this effects.
(156 Words)