SGER: Effects of Terrorism on Judgments and Decisions Concerning Civil Liberties

Csu Fullerton Auxiliary Services Corporation, Fullerton CA

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal studies changes in opinion and judgment that follow as consequences of the ongoing "War on Terrorism," declared in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It is anticipated that military and diplomatic success and failure and renewed terrorist events will influence opinions regarding security versus liberty. The research will be done in the lab, by national telephone polling, and via the Internet using several of the new WWW methods for conducting research. The primary goal of the research is to study models of how biasing phrases affect judged agreement with questions posed in polls. It has long been known that the results of polls depend strongly on how questions are worded. This research will attempt to separate the effects of bias from those of more stable "true" psychological values. A secondary goal is to compare results obtained with inexpensive, efficient, new Internet methods to those obtained from more standard polling. This project will also attempt to determine which of several Internet methods of sampling is most accurate in matching the results of more standard polling.