Chapter 38 Quiz: Ethics of Political Analytics

Multiple Choice

1. The "dual-use problem" in political analytics refers to:

a) The challenge of using data for both federal and state campaigns simultaneously b) The fact that the same analytical tools and data can support democratic participation or undermine it depending on how they are deployed c) The requirement that campaigns use two separate vendors for data and technology d) The legal requirement that campaign data be used for only the stated purpose at collection

2. According to Helen Nissenbaum's framework of contextual integrity, when does information flow inappropriately?

a) When it flows faster than the recipient can process it b) When it is shared without encryption c) When it moves between contexts in ways that violate the norms of the original sharing context d) When it is shared with more than ten recipients

3. Which of the following AAPOR Disclosure Principles requirements is most commonly violated in advocacy polling releases?

a) Disclosure of the polling firm's location b) Disclosure of exact question wording c) Disclosure of the interviewer's qualifications d) Disclosure of the client's tax status

4. The philosophical distinction between persuasion and manipulation, as applied to political analytics, turns most centrally on:

a) Whether the communication is delivered digitally or through traditional mail b) Whether the message is negative or positive in tone c) Whether the influence works through or bypasses the rational agency of the targeted person d) Whether the message is targeted to individuals or broadcast to a general audience

5. Vivian Park's ethical dilemma in the poll release scenario most directly implicates which tension?

a) Privacy versus mobilization efficiency b) Client confidentiality versus accurate public information c) Statistical precision versus cost efficiency d) Sample size versus response rate

6. "Suppression analytics" in campaign contexts refers to:

a) Tools that prevent campaigns from over-contacting supporters b) Data techniques used to discourage specific voters from participating in elections c) Algorithms that reduce the volume of digital ads to comply with platform limits d) Statistical methods for reducing noise in small subgroup polling data

7. Dark patterns in political digital campaigning are characterized by:

a) Use of dark-colored visual design in digital advertising b) Negative advertising that attacks an opponent's character c) Interface or communication design that relies on deception or exploitation of cognitive vulnerabilities d) Targeting voters after 9 PM local time

8. The AAPOR Transparency Initiative differs from the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics in that:

a) The Transparency Initiative has legal enforcement mechanisms; the Code does not b) The Code applies to all public pollsters; the Transparency Initiative is a voluntary additional commitment c) The Transparency Initiative governs international polling; the Code governs domestic polling d) The Code requires disclosure; the Transparency Initiative prohibits disclosure of proprietary methods

9. When Nadia considers the "identity displacement" campaign targeting ambivalent Whitfield voters, the core ethical concern she intuits is:

a) That the approach is likely to be detected by the Whitfield campaign b) That the targeting segments have too much statistical error to be reliable c) That the tactic exploits psychological profiles to demobilize rather than to inform, operating without the targets' knowledge in a way that would not meet their consent d) That the approach violates FEC campaign finance rules

10. Which of the following professional ethics frameworks is most directly applicable to political pollsters?

a) The ACM Code of Ethics (Association for Computing Machinery) b) The APSA Guide to Professional Ethics in Political Science c) The AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices d) The SPJ Code of Ethics (Society of Professional Journalists)

Short Answer

11. In 2-3 sentences, explain what "data minimization" means as an ethical principle for political analytics, and give one concrete example of how a campaign analytics operation could implement it.

12. The chapter identifies four domains of ethical concern in political analytics (privacy, manipulation, representation, accountability). Which of these domains do you consider the most difficult to address through professional standards, and why? Answer in 3-4 sentences.

13. What does it mean to say that professional ethical frameworks set a "floor" rather than a ceiling for analyst behavior? Why is this distinction important? (2-3 sentences)

True/False with Justification

For each statement, indicate whether it is True or False, and provide a one-sentence justification.

14. Voter files are private records not available to political campaigns without a court order.

15. Under the AAPOR Code, a pollster is required to release all poll results they produce to the public, even if the client wishes to keep them confidential.

16. The consent of the governed test, as described in the chapter, asks whether voters explicitly agreed to be targeted before a campaign sends them communications.

17. An organization can be expelled from AAPOR for violating the Code of Professional Ethics.

18. The commercial data science and political analytics fields have converged to the point that the same targeting platforms are used for both commercial advertising and political advertising.

Applied Analysis

19. A campaign analytics director describes the following proposed operation: "We've identified 8,500 voters in our opponent's core base who have high levels of social media engagement but who our models suggest are primarily driven by performative rather than substantive political participation. We want to run a series of digital ads that make voting feel low-status and ineffective, using meme-style content designed to spread organically in this demographic."

Using the four-domains framework, the persuasion-manipulation distinction, and the consent of the governed test, evaluate this proposal. Is it ethical? Would it be legal? What would you advise? (200-300 words)

20. Compare and contrast Nadia Osei's ethical situation and Vivian Park's ethical situation. Both face organizational pressure to pursue a course of action they find ethically troubling. In what ways are their situations structurally similar? In what ways are they different? What does each ultimately choose, and how would you evaluate their choices? (200-300 words)