How to Game the Online Commons (Strategies for Success)

[ANES Online Commons Archive]

Post by Jon and Skip

ANES Principal Investigator

How to Game the Online Commons (Strategies for Success)

Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:25 pm             

The purpose of the Online Commons is to inform and improve the study of elections, particularly as it occurs through the American National Election Studies.

Given this purpose, questions may arise about strategy. In particular, if you want a certain question or questions to be represented on an upcoming ANES data collection, what strategy should you pursue?

One answer can be found in the FAQ, in our description of what content a proposal should contain and in our description of how proposals will be evaluated.

But there remains a question about timing. In particular, is there a best time to post?

There is.

We recommend posting your proposal at the earliest possible time. This strategy will give you an opportunity to revise and improve your proposal from the feedback that you get.

Of course, there are at least two possible counterarguments. One is that there may be an advantage to waiting to see what other people do. Another is that the later you post, the less likely it is that your proposal will be criticized by others. We address both of these points in turn.

On the question of waiting to see what others will do, posting early does not preclude that option. You can look at others’ proposals and use that content to inform your own ideas. The advantage of posting early is that you may get to set the terms of debate on a particular issue rather than merely reacting to terms prompted by someone else’s proposal. As you can always revise your proposal, there is no advantage to waiting. And if you are worried about being embarrassed by some version of your proposal, post anonymously.

On the question of posting late in order to dodge criticism: this is a bad idea. The Board will learn from the OC how ideas stand up to public scrutiny. We are as interested in the content of scholarly discussions of proposals as we are in the proposals themselves. All else constant, the most credible proposals will be ones that: follow the posted guidelines, have the potential to provide great value to the ANES user community, elicit lots of supportive responses, and withstand scrutiny. For proposals posted early, we will have an opportunity to evaluate the extent to which people care about them and the extent to which they are credible candidates for inclusion. For proposals posted late, we will have less data on their credibility and popular reception. This will be a disadvantage.

Of course, if your schedule reduces your choices to “post late” or “don’t post,” we urge you to post late. However, if your choice set also includes “post early,” then you, ANES decision makers, and the user community will all be better off if you do.

Sincerely

Jon A. Krosnick and Arthur Lupia

ANES Principal Investigators