Abstract:

The objective of this data collection is to study communication and influence during disaster response, with special emphasis on social networks and contexts as they condition the emotional responses of individuals in Louisiana most affected by the BP oil spill. The data were collected in the fall of 2011 using individuals named by respondents from a previous survey of affected coastal communities in south Louisiana. These discussants were identified using an experimental manipulation of a 'name generator' question to determine not only the kinds of individuals utilized during disaster response, but also to determine if these individuals are substantively different from those used for other more general purposes. An experimental manipulation of the emotional response questions was also included. A subset of the dataset are re-interviews from a dataset collected approximately one year prior. In total, the resulting dataset has 104 discussants. The snowball survey design from the name generator questions produced a companion dataset of 897 individuals named by discussants as respondents during this time.

Suggested Citation:

Christopher Kenny. 2015. Discussant Dataset, objective information on how social influence works during an oil spill, coastal communities of Grand Isle and Venice, Louisiana, 2011.. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7SN06XP

Purpose:

The dataset was developed to obtain objective information on the individuals utilized as discussants during a disaster such as an oil spill. Discussant information helps determine how social influence works during an oil spill since it avoids the possibility of projection affects from respondent to discussant. It also helps us understand the nature of misperception since, combined with the respondent dataset, both subjective and objective information are available.

Data Parameters and Units:

The dataset is made up of 104 discussants named by respondents from communities affected by the BP oil spill. It includes questions measuring emotional responses to the disaster, information on blame attribution, information sources, personal and community well-being, and political items such as party identification, political efficacy, and political behavior.

Individual Files: