‘Learning or Aligning‘ is a project that investigates how political identity influences citizens’ learning from graphics and political visualisations. Focus groups are used to investigate how discussions develop in connection with visualisations.
What is the project about?
In the project ‘Political graphics in new media and their influence on political knowledge’, we want to investigate how graphics and visual representations on the Internet are understood in relation to current political issues. It is also important how the participants situate themselves politically. We are interested in what influence such infographics have on political knowledge.
The project is being carried out by a research team at the University of Groningen and the University of Leipzig under the leadership of Dr Eedan Amit-Danhi from the Department of Media and Journalism at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. The team also includes the following researchers:
- Prof Christian Pentzold (Professor of Media and Communication at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University)
- Dr Thomas Rakebrand (Chair of Media and Communication at the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University)
- Alma Kalisky (Research Assistant and PhD Candidate at the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University)
The project is funded by the National Science Foundation of the State of Israel (The Israel Science Foundation Grant no. 96/23) as part of the Foundation's postdoctoral fellowship programme for outstanding doctoral students in the social sciences. The National Science Foundation is the central institution for supporting research in Israel and promoting scientific excellence in the various fields of knowledge.
All participants will take part in a group discussion at Leipzig University (at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies; Nikolaistraße 27-29 in Leipzig). The duration of the group discussion is up to 90 minutes. Before the group discussion takes place, you will be informed in detail about the aim of the research project and about the collection and processing of your personal data. You will also receive a declaration of consent later on, which you will sign.
The data is collected and processed in accordance with the data protection regulations in Germany and the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All information collected about you will be kept strictly confidential. Reference to the information is made by participant number and not by name. All electronic information is stored at the University of Groningen and the University of Leipzig in a password-protected computer file. Your consent data will be stored separately from your responses to minimise the risk of a breach of confidentiality. All information collected will be deleted three years after the end of the project. Dr Eedan Amit-Danhi will be responsible for its destruction. Until then, all data will be stored securely at the University of Groningen.
The group sessions are recorded and transcribed anonymously. The transcripts are analysed by the members of the research team mentioned above. The recordings will only be accessible to the transcribers and the members of the research team and will be deleted at the end of the project. The recordings and transcripts will be treated with absolute confidentiality. They will be stored on servers at the Universities of Leipzig and Groningen and secured with a password that can only be accessed by members of the research team directly involved in the study. The data will only be used for academic purposes.
The University of Groningen is the owner of the data you provide. They reserve the right to access the information they hold about you. You have other rights, including the right to rectification, cancellation and objection. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the data about you will be used to produce formal research products (e.g. articles in scientific journals). Therefore, you should be aware that it is not always possible to change or destroy the research results.
If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, you can contact Prof Dr Christian Pentzold on 0341 97-35701 or at the e-mail address christian.pentzold[at]uni-leipzig.de. In case of complaints and/or problems, you can contact the Ethics and Research Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (CETO) of the University of Groningen at ceto[at]rug.nl.
Sharing your views helps us and the scientific community to better understand the issues that research is addressing. We hope that you will find the in-depth discussions about the future with fellow citizens valuable. In addition, you and the other participants will receive an expense allowance of 30 euros. Any travelling expenses incurred cannot be reimbursed.
This study has been reviewed and approved under the formal ethics procedure of the University of Groningen. Participation in the study does not entail any particular risks beyond the risks of political discourse in everyday life (e.g. the possibility of being hurt by the statements of other participants). You can contact the research team if you feel uncomfortable or worried about your participation in the study.
The person responsible for the research is Dr Eedan Amit-Danhi from the Centre for Media and Journalism Research at the University of Groningen. You can reach her by telephone: 050-8695545 or by e-mail: e.r.amit-danhi[at]mail.huji.ac.il You can also contact Prof. Dr Christian Pentzold on 0341 97-35701 or by e-mail at christian.pentzold[at]uni-leipzig.de