Media Dependency During the Iraq War –
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that this was a follow-up study, that it was in the field for nine fewer days, and that no reminder
notices were sent probably explained why the response rate for this study was lower.
Measures
Demographics. Age, gender (female was coded as 0, and male as 1), ethnicity (non-White
was coded as 0, and White/Caucasian as 1), education, income, and political party affiliation were
asked in the survey. In terms of age, the data were organized into nine groups. Education was
measured on an 8-point scale, from “junior high school/middle school” to “university—doctorate
degree.” Household income was measured on a 9-point scale, from “less than $25,000” to
“$200,000 or more.” (See Appendix.) To index political affiliation, respondents were asked if they
viewed themselves as being Democrats, Republicans, Independents, or other; a numeric variable
was created (Democrat was treated as -1, Independent or other as 0, and Republican as 1). (See
Tables 1 and 2 for demographic results.)
Support for war. There were three attitudinal statements indexing U.S. support for the war
effort in Iraq. The first statement asked how much people approved of President Bush’s handling
of the war (1=strongly disapprove; 5=strongly approve). Personal support for the war was
measured by asking respondent whether they personally wanted the war to happen. Perceived
support of others was measured by asking whether respondents thought other Americans would
want to continue to fight if war casualties were high or to discontinue fighting in face of casualities.
The third person perceptions were measured as the differences between what people reported about
themselves and what they believed of others as an additional variable.
Interest in news about war. There were two measures of interest and attention devoted to
news about the war. The first one dealt with interest in Iraqi events on a 5-point scale (5 = very
interested) and the second one with perceived change in interest in Iraqi events, regarding whether
it was increasing (-1), decreasing (+1), or about the same (0).
Primary media dependency. Respondents were asked, “Which one of the following media
do you depend on most to get your news and information about the (possible) war in Iraq?”
Convention