Comparing the Differential Gains and Communication Mediation Models as Predictors of Political Participation and Knowledge

Hong Vu, Joseph Yoo, Maegan Stephens, Brian Barech, Rachel Reis Mourao & Tom Johnson

The University of Texas at Austin

Communication’s Next Top Model:

Introduction

• Well-agreed: Interpersonal communication works in tandem

with mass communication to influence politicalparticipation and knowledge.

• But which model better explains the relationship between media, discussion, and political effects?

Differential Gains?Communication Mediation Model?

Literature

• Differential Gains Model (Scheufele and colleagues) The political effects of news media messages are

contingent upon the media’s interaction with interpersonal communication.

• Communication Mediation Model (Shah and colleagues) Mass Communication has an influence on political

aspects but such relationship is indirect: interpersonal communication mediates the effects

Additional Theoretical Inquiry• Would wider range of media reliance variables

influence the predictive power of the two models?

Hypotheses and Research Questions

Interaction effects on political outcomes:H1- Exposure to news media;H2- Interaction between news media and face-

to-face communication, and;H3 - Interaction between news media and online

communication: Greater political outcomes (e.g., online, offline

political participation, and knowledge). Which effects are larger? Direct or interaction?

RQ1 media vs. interaction bt. media & face-to-face; RQ2 media vs. interaction bt. media & online comm

Hypotheses and Research Questions

• Mediation effects on political outcomes:• H4 – Face-to-face communication:• H5 – Online communication:• Mediate the relationship between news media and

political outcomes.

• Which effects are larger? Mediation or direct?• RQ3: Media reliance vs. mediation bt. Media & face-

to-face communication.• RQ4: Media reliance vs. mediation bt. Media & online

communication

MethodAmazon Mechanical Turk survey

N = 1267 U.S. respondents

AnalysisHierarchical regression analysis (Differential Gains Model)

Path analysis (Communication Mediation Model)

Independent variables

Online/OfflineFOX/CNN/MSNBC

NewspapersNews Magazines

News & Talk Radio

AgeGender

RaceEducation

Income

Party Ties IdeologyInterest

Online DiscussionInterpersonal Discussion Interaction Variables

Dependent variables

Results• Offline political participation is predicted by:

• Media reliance: • Radio news, • Fox news

• Political discussion: • Both online and offline discussion

• Interaction: • Face-to-face discussion – Fox News; • Online discussion and print news; radio news; and

Fox news.

Results (cont.)

• Online Political participation is predicted by:• Interaction: print news - online discussion

• Political knowledge is predicted by no variable• Comparing effects on political participation (RQ1

&RQ2): • Direct effects of media > interaction - face-to-

face discussion on political participation;• Effects of media reliance > media interaction –

online discussion

Research Questions and Hypotheses

Discussion

• Comparison of two models:• No perfect prediction on either of the two• Differential Gains: Little support • Communication Mediation: Considerable support.

• Political discussion should be used as mediation rather than interaction in predicting political participation and knowledge.• Fox News is different from other media variables in

predicting political knowledge and participation.• Online discussion is important in motivating people to

engage in political activities.