Dissertation
The political effects of the digital divide
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
08/2007
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005760
Abstract
This study explores the political effects of the digital divide. Specifically, it investigates the effects of the first and second digital divides on people’s political knowledge and participation. It also compares the usage gap of new media and traditional media and their differential impacts on political knowledge and participation. The role of knowledge in the political effects model of the digital divide is also examined.
Two data sets are analyzed to test the hypotheses. One is the Pew political communications national survey in 2004, and the other is the Washington State University college student survey in 2007.
Based on bivariate test, regression analysis, and path models, the findings show that the informational use of the Internet is more important than the access to the Internet in predicting political knowledge and participation. Moreover, there is a greater education-based usage gap of the Internet than of the traditional media in the general population. While no education-based usage gap has been found in the student sample, there is a greater gender-based usage gap of the Internet than of the traditional media among the members of this group.
Regarding the effects of the differential usage gaps of new media and old media, different data sets produce different findings. The education-based usage gap of the Internet has a greater effect on knowledge and participation in the general population, whereas the gender-based usage gap of the Internet has a weaker impact than that of traditional media in the student sample.
The mediating role of political knowledge between the digital divide and political participation is supported by the Pew national data, but not by the WSU student data. While the informational use of the Internet can predict political knowledge in the general population, there is no significant relationship between knowledge and participation among college students.
Implications of this study are discussed, including revisiting the definition of the digital divide, justifying the necessity of the digital divide research, answering the “so what” question previous literature has yet sufficiently addressed, and assessing the effects of the digital divide in an Internet-saturated population.
Metrics
4 File views/ downloads
21 Record Views
Details
- Title
- The political effects of the digital divide
- Creators
- Lu Wei
- Contributors
- DOUGLAS BLANKS HINDMAN (Chair)David Demers (Committee Member)Alexis S Tan (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of Journalism and Media ProductionElizabeth A Krueger (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Program in Communication
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 135
- Identifiers
- 99901054938901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation