Expanding the Methodological Toolbox: Factorial Surveys in Journalism Research

Figures & data

Table 1. Dimensions and values of HSN.

Dimensions	Values	Operationalizations
Topic	1	Hard topic: unemployment
	2	Soft topic: neglected dogs
Relevance	1	Societal consequences emphasized
	2	Individual consequences emphasized
Framing	1	Thematic framing
	2	Episodic framing
Opinion	1	Opinion-free reporting
	2	Opinionated reporting
Emotionality	1	Unemotional picture
	2	Emotional picture

Figure 1. Exemplary vignette with answer scale (both translated).

Figure 2. Hierarchical levels in a factorial survey.

Table 2. Results of multilevel modeling.

	Model 0			Model 1			Model 2			Model 3
Fixed effects
Constant	3.51***	(0.09)		1.93***	(0.13)		1.93***	(0.13)		1.92***	(0.12)
HSN Dimensions (level 1)^a
Topic (unemployment)				1.15***	(0.12)		1.15***	(0.12)		1.14***	(0.12)
Relevance (societal)				0.21*	(0.09)		0.21*	(0.09)		0.21*	(0.09)
Framing (thematic)				1.43***	(0.10)		1.43***	(0.10)		1.43***	(0.10)
Opinion (opinion-free)				0.36**	(0.11)		0.36**	(0.11)		0.36**	(0.11)
Emotionality (neutral)				0.02	(0.11)		0.02	(0.11)		0.03	(0.11)
Journalistic characteristic (level 2)
Perceived HSN interest							0.18*	(0.07)		0.20	(0.11)
Cross-level interactions
HSN interest x topic										−0.35**	(0.13)
HSN interest x relevance										0.06	(0.09)
HSN interest x framing										−0.03	(0.09)
HSN interest x opinion										0.24*	(0.11)
HSN interest x emotionality										0.04	(0.12)
Random effects
Residual variance
HSN dimension (level 1)	2.73			1.56			1.56			1.49
Journalist (level 2)	0.39			0.68			0.64			0.66
HSN interest (freed slope)							0.004			0.004
ICC level 1	0.13			0.30			0.29			0.31

Notes: n_observation=596, n_groups=149; robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01, * p < 0.05.

Answer to the questions: “Please indicate whether the news item was rather hard news (1) or soft news (7) from your point of view” (7-point Likert-type scale).

HSN = hard and soft news; ICC = intraclass correlation;

^aReference categories in parentheses.