Giving voters what they want? Party orientation perceptions and preferences in the British electorate

Some of the most important propositions in the political marketing literature hinge on assumptions about the electorate. In particular, voters are presumed to react in different ways to different orientations or postures. Yet there are theoretical reasons for questioning some of these assumptions, and certainly they have seldom been empirically tested. Here, we focus on one prominent example of political marketing research: Lees-Marshment’s orientations’ model. We investigate how the public reacts to product and market orientation, whether they see a trade-off between the two (a point in dispute among political marketing scholars), and whether partisans differ from non-partisan voters by being more inclined to value product over market orientation. Evidence from two mass sample surveys of the British public (both conducted online by YouGov) demonstrates important heterogeneity within the electorate, casts doubt on the core assumptions underlying some political marketing arguments and raises broader questions about what voters are looking for in a party

Educational Theories and Learning Analytics: From Data to Knowledge: The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

The study of learning is grounded in theories and research. Since learning is complex and not directly observable, it is often inferred by collecting and analysing data based on the things learners do or say. By virtue, theories are developed from the analyses of data collected. With the proliferation of technology, large amounts of data are generated when students learn online. Therefore, researchers not only have data on students’ learning performance, but they also have data on the actions students take to achieve the desired learning outcomes. These data could help researchers to understand how students learn and the conditions needed for successful learning. In turn, the information can be translated to instructional and learning design to support students. The aim of the chapter is to discuss how learning theories and learning analytics are important components of educational research. To achieve this aim, studies employing learning analytics are qualitatively reviewed to examine which theories have been used and how the theories have been investigated. The results of the review show that self-regulated learning, motivation, and social constructivism theories were used in studies employing learning analytics. However, the studies at present are mostly correlational. Therefore, experimental studies are needed to examine how theory-informed practices can be implemented so that students can be better supported in online learning environments. The chapter concludes by proposing an iterative loop for educational research employing learning analytics in which learning theories guide data collection and analyses. To convert data into knowledge, it is important to recognize what we already know and what we want to examine.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Web Information System