Deliberation and Internet Engagement: Initial Findings from a Randomised Controlled Trial Evaluating the Impact of Facilitated Internet Forums

Public authorities are increasingly using information and communication technology (ICT) to engage citizens in the politics, in particular through internet discussion forums. This paper reports findings from a large-scale online randomised controlled trail of 6,009 participants that aims to test the effect of online deliberation on policy preferences. Participants were randomised between four treatment groups and two control groups. All four treatment groups were exposed to the same information and participants were able to post their views. However, in only two of the treatment groups were participants able to read and respond to the postings of others. The analysis uses Compliance Average Causal Effects (CACE) models to show the impact of deliberation. The paper finds that deliberation shifts participants’ views on youth anti-social behaviour, but that participation in online deliberation tends to reinforce extant political inequalities.

[1]  Xing Li Democracy and Human Rights , 2020, Selling War and Peace.

[2]  Jeffrey A. Hart,et al.  Digital Formations: IT and New Architectures in the Global Realm , 2007, Perspectives on Politics.

[3]  B. Barber Three Scenarios for the Future of Technology and Strong Democracy , 1998 .

[4]  Zhong Zhao,et al.  Using Matching to Estimate Treatment Effects: Data Requirements, Matching Metrics, and Monte Carlo Evidence , 2004, Review of Economics and Statistics.

[5]  S. Coleman Connecting Parliament to the Public via the Internet , 2004 .

[6]  L. Cederman,et al.  Transnational Communication and the European Demos , 2009 .

[7]  Warren Sack Discourse Architecture and Very Large-scale Conversation , 2009 .

[8]  Archon Fung,et al.  Survey Article: Recipes for Public Spheres: Eight Institutional Design Choices and Their Consequences* , 2003 .

[9]  Joshua D. Angrist,et al.  Identification of Causal Effects Using Instrumental Variables , 1993 .

[10]  Scott Wright,et al.  Democracy, deliberation and design: the case of online discussion forums , 2007, New Media Soc..

[11]  Bengt Muthén,et al.  Modeling of Intervention Effects With Noncompliance: A Latent Variable Approach for Randomized Trials , 2001 .

[12]  ON DEMOCRACY , 1944 .

[13]  R. Kies,et al.  Online Forums and Deliberative Democracy , 2005 .

[14]  Graham Smith Democratic Innovations: Designing Institutions for Citizen Participation - Theories of Institutional Design , 2009 .

[15]  J. Klein Deliberation Day , 2005 .

[16]  S. Tefft Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide , 2002 .