2009
Develop the overall theoretical framework, generate specific hypotheses to be tested, and specify the data collection instrumentation to obtain indicators of inter-party coordination, campaign strategies, mobilization, and candidate selection.
Determine the availability of comparable cross-national data on each of these factors and consider what additional data will be useful in specific contexts.
Evaluate the effectiveness, cost, and student training involved in the use of various measurement instruments: media content analysis, interviews with party operatives, and gathering records of party advertising and mobilization efforts.
Prepare a pre-test of the instrumentation to be employed in the party strategy component of our project. Identify a suitable election on which to conduct the pre-test.
Discuss the instrumentation and the pre-test at the May 2009 team meeting. All aspects of the party strategy component of the project will be finalized by fall 2009.
2010
Conduct pre-test on one election where draft measurement instruments are implemented in the first half of 2010.
Review the results of the pre-test in mid-2010.
Revise and finalize the detailed instrumentation in the second half of 2010.
2011
Data collection using a standardized research instrument will begin in 2011.
Elections include Swiss federal elections as well as cantonal elections in Lucerne and Zurich. Data collection will be completed within six months of each election.
As a result, data from these three elections as well as from our pre-test will be complete when the midterm report is submitted in June 2012. This should give a clear indication of our success in measuring party strategies.
2012
Data collection continues.
Elections include Hamburg state elections, Spanish legislative elections, Swiss local elections in Lucerne, and French legislative elections.
