Online voting advice applications (VAAs) have become very popular and may significantly influence voting behaviour. It is therefore important to ask which model of party choice VAAs follow. We establish that VAAs see party choice largely as proximity-based issue congruence, with some elements of the directional and salience models. We then assess how well VAAs follow the proximity model by comparing policy positions extracted from 13 VAAs in seven European countries with established policy measures from expert surveys and party manifestos. Party positions extracted from VAAs show strong convergent validity with left-right and economic positions, but compare less favourably with immigration and environment measures. The voting advice given to users is also inherently limited: VAAs mostly disregard accountability, salience, competence and non-policy factors; they treat policy positions and not outcomes as paramount; and they can be subject to strategic manipulation by political parties. As recommended by their designers, voters should treat these applications as tools and guides rather than as stringent recommendations.
Over recent decades, the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) related to lifelong guidance services has attracted increasing attention from policy-makers and other stakeholders. Lifelong guidance has been recognised as a crucial dimension of lifelong learning, promoting both social and economic goals: in particular, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of education, training, and the labour market through its contribution to reducing drop-out, preventing skill mismatches, and boosting productivity (ELGPN, 2012b). A number of European case studies and reviews strongly indicate that the demand for guidance far exceeds the supply of services, and citizens' needs cannot be met by relying exclusively on the traditional forms of guidance (e.g., ELGPN, 2010;Sultana, 2004;Sultana & Watts, 2006;Zelloth, 2009;Watts & Sultana, 2004). Moreover, consistency exists in various policy documents (e.g., Cedefop, 2011;Eurobarometer, 2014;European Council 2004, 2008 OECD, 2004a OECD, , 2004b) reflecting a growing consensus that the role of ICT in the guidance service sector is both important and becoming increasingly essential.Within the European Union (EU), extending the use of ICT is one of the main initiatives put forward to strengthen lifelong guidance services. A particular focus on the theme has appeared regularly since the mid-1980s, and six European conferences on the use of ICT in guidance have been held since that time (Watts, 2010). The focus of attention in these conferences has changed due to the evolution of technology, but the core underlying issue has remained much the same. Information and communication technology is continuously viewed as a tool, as an alternative, and as an agent of change in guidance (e.g., Watts, 1986Watts, , 1996Watts, , 2010. While policy-makers have sometimes tended to view new technology in the first two of these guises (e.g., Hooley, Hutchinson & Watts, 2010;Watts, 2002Watts, , 2010, recent research (Kettunen, Vuorinen, & Sampson, 2013, in press) indicates that 2 new technology is not only a tool or an alternative, but an interactive working space where collaboration-with and without practitioners-increasingly occurs and where new technology is being recognised for its significance. This technology is enabling countries to provide a cohesive and co-ordinated approach to delivering integrated guidance services. In addition, ICT acts as a powerful agent of change that illustrates the interconnectedness of education, employment, and social policies. It can be used in promoting accountability and transforming separate lifelong guidance services into a coherent, integrated guidance system and connecting them to wider national eGovernance structures (ELGPN, 2010).According to Watts (1996) three factors have fuelled the growth of policy-makers´ interest in the use of ICT in lifelong guidance: the potential to increase cost-effectiveness, an interest in enhancing the effectiveness of the guidance process, and the recognition that individuals increasingly expect guida...
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