Public Deliberation Consortium
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Lessons from the Virtual Agora Project: The Effects of Agency, Identity, Information, and Deliberation on Political Knowledge, by Peter Muhlberger and Lori M. Weber
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Response to \u27Lessons from the Virtual Agora Project\u27
No full textIn a recent study, Peter Muhlberger and Lori Weber found strong evidence that participants in public deliberation acquired substantial new knowledge of the issues they had prepared to discuss. However, participants in their “control” group—a group that did not discuss the issue—learned just as much as those who did discuss it. The authors concluded that, by itself, discussion did not significantly increase overall decision knowledge. Nor did discussing the issue add substantially to the change in policy views they observed. Just reading and thinking about the information they were given produced the gain in knowledge and changes in attitudes that the post-event surveys revealed.
To their credit, Muhlberger and Weber note that their study focuses narrowly on the acquisition of factual “decision knowledge.” They caution that their findings do not address whether discussion promoted the acquisition of knowledge other than factual knowledge.
The authors also anticipate a criticism when they concede that they did not first “establish that participants ‘really’ deliberated.” They argue that their “approach to insuring deliberation…is typical for many studies, including those that purportedly show the learning effects of deliberation….” Though understandable, this acceptance of the prevailing research conception of deliberation takes for granted precisely what needs to be the focus of critical investigation. Whether deliberation occurred is a question whose answer observers too often assume is “yes.” In fact, there has been very little discussion as to what the essential characteristics of deliberation are. Hence it is difficult to say we know when deliberation has occurred. Nor has there been much discussion concerning how to determine the quality or the effectiveness of deliberation.
Until discussion of such fundamental questions produces answers that are accepted widely and to general satisfaction, even exemplary empirical studies such as Muhlberger and Weber’s will be less illuminating and less useful for practice than they might be.
The authors do suggest a number of useful lessons for practice
A Snapshot of Civic Participation in a Small New England Town
No full textConcern about the topic of civic engagement has centered on the increasing reduction of voter turnout and the apparent alienation and “disconnect” of the general population with the process of government. This study, undertaken at the request of the leaders of a small town in southern New Hampshire is a two-step research plan (one quantitative, one qualitative). Results of both the survey portion of the research and the focus groups reveal an electorate (both adult and youth) which is concerned and informed, but mildly alienated and which register mild levels of efficacy. Suggestions made to try and build unity and an overall spirit of cooperation not just on the adult level but for the youth population as well, include the use of study circles increasing town wide involvement and opening a dialog among those who most acutely feel this disconnect
Improving Public Deliberative Practice: A Comparative Analysis of Two Italian Citizens’ Jury Projects in 2006
No full textDeliberative America
No full textNew books by Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin and by Ethan J. Leib conclusively demonstrate that ambitious versions of deliberative democracy are susceptible to practical implementation in the United States. This review argues that the suggested reforms would be most potent if deployed as a simultaneous project of revitalizing both the electoral and deliberative aspects of American democratic legitimacy, and that campaigns to do so on a local level are more likely both to attract political support and achieve effectiveness than a campaign aimed at the national government
The Virtual Agora Project: A Research Design for Studying Democratic Deliberation
No full textIn 2001, the National Science Foundation provided $2.1 million in funding for the Virtual Agora Project, a three-year exploration of the effects of online and face-to-face democratic deliberation. The project seeks to shed light on deliberation\u27s effects on individuals, the community, and decision quality as well as how best to use technology to achieve positive outcomes. Of special concern to the project is determining whether deliberation builds better citizens. This paper describes the research design of this project to stimulate future research on deliberation