Dr. Dona-Gene Barton's research and teaching interests involve American political behavior. Drawing heavily on relevant psychological perspectives while keeping the real world of politics in sight, her work focuses on better understanding how and how well citizens use political information to inform their judgments. Her current projects aim to enable improved assessment of the temporal dynamics of opinion formation by exploring the interrelationships among information, campaigns and time. Her research is the first of its kind to use a panel experimental design to better understand the lifespan of information effects as citizens navigate the political world.
Research Areas
- Political Behavior
- Public Opinion
- Political Psychology
Publications
- "Here today, gone tomorrow? Assessing how timing and repetition of scandal information affects candidate evaluations." Political Psychology 35.5 (2014): 69-701.
- "Side by side, worlds apart: Desired policy change as a function of preferences AND perceptions." American Politics Research 42.2 (2014): 338-363. With Matthew V. Hibbing, Kevin B. Smith and John R. Hibbing.
- "In search of enduring information effects: Evidence from a panel experiment." Electoral Studies 32.1 (2013): 101-112.
- "It's about time: The lifespan of information effects in a multiweek campaign." American Journal of Political Science 56.2 (2012): 271-518.
- Editor, Fault Lines: Why the Republicans Lost Congress 2009. Routledge. With Jeffery J. Mondak.
- "Does Familiarity Breed Contempt?: The Impact of Information on Mass Attitudes toward Congress." 2007. American Journal of Political Science 51:34-48. With Jeffery J. Mondak, Edward G. Carmines, Robert Huckfeldt and Scot Schraufnagel.
Career Highlights
- Joined UNL faculty, 2008.
- Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008
In the News
- It's about time: The lifespan of information effects in a multiweek campaign; AJPS Blog
- Rick Sheehy and the evolution of the Great American Sex Scandal; Matthew Hansen, Omaha World Herald
- UNL Professor: Presidential debate unlikely to sway voters; Nicholas Bergin, Lincoln Journal Star