This thesis treats of the usage of online voting advice applications, VAA, by Swedish students at the Linnaeus university. Four questions are investigated: 1) to what extent do the students use VAA? 2) do they follow the results? 3) are there any differences between groups? and finally 4) how do they reflect upon the VAA? The thesis is based on a theory of electoral democracy where the elections and the voters are the focal point. The voters’ volatility is also theorised and put in connection with VAA. A survey is used to answer questions 1–3 and semi-structured interviews to answer question 4. The main findings are that a remarkable part of the Linnaeus students, 62 %, use VAA and the applications are mainly used by the young. A substantial part also seems to follow the results presented by the application, above all the students that took the VAA seriously. 14 % of the students based their vote exclusively on VAA results. The students find positive and negative aspects to the use of VAA. They can be used for fun or be developing for the users. They should however only be used as a complement; the students point out that more information is needed to base the vote on. By informing the voters, the Linnaeus students think that VAA can mobilise voters and change their preferences.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-49075 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Pettersson, Fredrik |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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