ABSTRACT

Citizen’s exposure to disagreement – whether intentional or incidental – is a central concept in communication research, yet the precise degree to which citizens are exposed to opposing views online and the antecedents to this phenomenon continue to be debated. Despite the theoretical importance of this question, empirical assessments of cross-cutting exposure, especially those involving online settings, are largely based on individuals’ perception of their own behavior. Therefore, we know little regarding response bias in self-reports of cross-cutting exposure online. Combining digital trace data with a panel survey, we observe overreporting of self-reported online cross-cutting exposure. We then demonstrate that self-reported exposure to disagreement is retrospectively conditioned by the perception of the opinion climate in a given context. Finally, using Monte Carlo simulations, we examine the consequences of relying on (potentially imperfect) self-reported measures.

摘要

公民接触不同意见——无论是有意的还是偶然的——是传播研究的核心概念，但公民在网上接触反对意见的确切程度以及这种现象的前因仍在争论中。尽管这个问题在理论上很重要，但对跨领域暴露的实证评估，尤其是那些涉及在线环境的，主要基于个人对自己行为的看法。因此，我们对在线跨领域暴露的自我报告中的反应偏差知之甚少。将数字跟踪数据与面板调查相结合，我们观察到自我报告的在线交叉暴露的过度报告。然后我们证明，自我报告的分歧暴露是由在给定上下文中对意见气候的看法回顾性调节的。