What Once was Lost is Now Found: Using Public Petition Data to Account for Missing Data

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 11. Methods in the Study of Social Movements

Abstract

Questions about who activates within any given social movement have been plagued with two problems. First, the scope/level of activism is not clear, and second, given that activism is a rare phenomenon, researchers often select on the dependent variable and interview only those that activated at a particular level. Given this approach, we know far more about those individuals who volunteer for specific high profile and high risk activities than we do about the potential pool of activist, and a wider range of potential activism. One of the central challenges to address this missing data problem has been how to find a cost effective way to produce a representative sample. To help solve this problem we propose that using public petition driven referendums, ballot initiatives, and referendums as a data source to generate samples of activists may help alleviate some of the issues posed by missing data. Currently, 28 states allow for these types of petitions, which cover a wide range of issues across the political spectrum. By sampling the citizens who sign these petitions, researchers can efficiently generate a targeted activist population that may potentially be more representative of an array of different types of activists within the movement, not just movement leadership. Survey data is combined with publicly available demographic data on non- respondents to further assess representativeness.

Authors

• Rachel M. Durso, Washington College

• Andrew W. Martin, The Ohio State University

• S. Matthew Stearmer, The Ohio State University

• J. Craig Jenkins, The Ohio State University