The EVPOC (Elections, Values, and Political Communication) Research Group investigates the short- and long-term changes in citizens’ political attitudes, behaviors, and values. It seeks to improve our understanding of how public opinion is forged and how political behavior is formed through the interaction between societal structures (and their changes), individuals’ predispositions and attitudes, and changes in the content, usage, and processing of public communication. To that end, it uses a variety of theoretical perspectives and methodologies, focusing on surveys, experiments and both manual and automated content analysis.

• Elections: Elections are a crystallization point where communication and opinion formation densify and intensify, making them a major occasion for studying political behavior and political communication. EVPOC studies elections in Norway and internationally, examining voter behavior and its causes, media content and media influence in campaigns, and the campaigning activities and strategies of political parties.
• Values: Values are at the heart of political ideologies and individual belief and attitude systems that affect political behavior and shape public opinion. EVPOC studies value structures and value change in a variety of contexts.
• Political Communication: The fundamental and swift changes in citizens’ information environments have altered the patterns of information selection and exposure and the set of players involved in public opinion formation processes. In that vein, EVPOC studies the social effects of politics-centered communication and campaigns on citizens.

The research group meets regularly, about every third week during the semester, to discuss current research in the field, both conducted by group members and external guests. Everyone who is interested is welcome to join our meetings. For more information about the current schedule, please contact the research group leader or click here (requires NTNU login).

Click here to see the meeting plan from previous semesters.