Research
Research
In its research and teaching, the Department of Government primarily focuses on comparative and Austrian politics. Its research is concerned with political behaviour, political actors, such as political parties and politicians, political institutions, the processes governed by these institutions, as well as their outcomes. It includes work on political participation, voting behaviour, parties and party competition, coalition politics and Austrian politics in general and is mostly based on rationalist and behavioural approaches.
Our goal is to conduct high-level, internationally competitive research in the area of Comparative Politics with the collaboration of international project partners and research networks. At the Faculty of Social Sciences the department is mainly engaged in the key research area ''Political Competition and Communication: Democratic Representation in Changing Societies'.
The department’s approach places it in the discipline’s empirical-analytical core and is mostly based on quantitative social science methods. To map empirical phenomena accurately, researcher in the department focus on the continuous development of survey design, as well as on the analysis of empirical data by applying the best suited statistical model. The department aims to achieve the best work on Austrian politics and to make important contributions to the international academic literature on Comparative Government and Politics.
An overview of current publications and activities at the department can be found below and on the personal websites of our team.
Publications
Filter Questions in Symptom Assessment Affect the Prevalence of (A)Symptomatic COVID-19 Cases
- Author(s)
- Robert Böhm, Philipp Sprengholz, Cornelia Betsch, Julia Partheymüller
- Abstract
Background: It has been reported that a substantial number of COVID-19 infections are asymptomatic, with both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections contributing to transmission dynamics. Yet, the share of asymptomatic cases varies greatly across studies. One reason for this could be the measurement of symptoms in medical studies and surveys. Design: In 2 experimental survey studies (total N > 3,000) with participants from Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively, we varied the inclusion of a filter question on whether participants who tested positive for COVID-19 had experienced symptoms prior to presenting a checklist of symptoms. We measured the reporting of asymptomatic (versus symptomatic) COVID-19 infections. Results: The inclusion of a filter question increased the reporting of asymptomatic (versus symptomatic) COVID-19 infections. Particularly mild symptoms were underreported when using a filter question. Conclusions and implications: Filter questions affect the reporting of (a)symptomatic COVID-19 cases. To account for such differences in the estimation of population infection rates, future studies should transparently report the applied question format. Both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections are important for COVID-19 transmission dynamics. In previous research, symptoms have been assessed either with or without a filter question prior to presenting a symptom list. We show that filter questions reduce the reporting of asymptomatic infections. Particularly mild symptoms are underreported when using a filter question.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Occupational, Economic and Social Psychology, Department of Government
- External organisation(s)
- Universität Erfurt
- Journal
- Medical Decision Making
- Volume
- 43
- Pages
- 530-534
- No. of pages
- 5
- ISSN
- 0272-989X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X231158380
- Publication date
- 2023
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 303026 Public health, 501006 Experimental psychology, 504007 Empirical social research
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health Policy
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/28c81e37-78ee-429e-8c4e-d342ae9fa806