Political Communication Lab
The Political Communication Lab is housed within the Institute for Communication Research; the research arm of the Department of Communication at Stanford University.
— PCL News and Highlights —
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Affect, Not Ideology: A Social Identity Perspective on Polarization, S. Iyengar, G. Sood & Y. Lelkes
Exposure to messages attacking the out-group reinforces partisans’ biased views of their opponents. -
The 2012 Elections: Why Obama Won and the Implications for Governance
Symposium featured Dan Balz, Washington Post, Matthew Kaminski, the Wall Street Journal, David Brady, Hoover Instution, Douglas Rivers, YouGov/Polimetrix. Moderated by Shanto Iyengar, Political Communication Lab. - View campaign ads from the 2012 Presidential election
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Forum: The Final Presidential Debate, KQED Radio
Analysis of the impact of the debate with Carla Marinucci, Henry Brady, and Shanto Iyengar. -
Stanford Open Office Hours: Shanto Iyengar (part 2)
Prof. Iyengar responds to your questions about political polarization and its implications on this year's elections. -
Stanford Open Office Hours: Shanto Iyengar (part 1)
Prof. Iyengar responds to your questions about the role of media in the US presidential race.
Research Objectives
The lab was formed to develop and administer experimental studies of public opinion and political behavior through the use of both online and traditional methods. The advantages of online experimentation are clear in light of the explosion in the number of households with access to the Internet. Moreover, issues of sampling bias -- previously endemic to experiments -- can be overcome through the greater "reach" of online experiments and by the application of standard probability sampling techniques to the recruitment of online experimental participants. These developments significantly alleviate concerns over the generalizability of experimental research and as a result, experiments now represent a dominant methodology for political communication researchers.