A comparison of the effects of face-to-face and online deliberation on young students’ attitudes about public opinion polls

Abstract

This study compared the effects between face-to-face and online deliberation on young citizens’ attitudes about opinion polls. Two parallel experiments were conducted to test the outcomes of the two modes of deliberation in terms of (a) significance, (b) direction, and (c) valence of changes. Results suggest that online deliberation affected more respondents’ attitudes compared to its face-to-face counterpart. Both modes of deliberation induced more opinion shifts towards the opposite direction of the initial attitudes instead of opinion reinforcements. Interestingly, the effect of the online deliberation was considered as more positive compared to the face-to-face deliberation, as online participants became more in favor of polls, pollsters and their relationships with politicians and the media. On the contrary, face-to-face participants became less in favor of the mediatization of polls and their impact on citizens-government communication and voting behavior. Hence, findings of this research highlight the potential role of online settings in facilitating effective deliberations.