Collection
Our research at SIGs will mainly focus on special interest groups ratings and endorsements. You will constantly be on a lookout for these two categories of data. It is recommended that you familiarize yourself with ratings and endorsements before you start collecting them since you will need to recognize the content that you are collecting if you do not know them already. In some occasions, you might encounter a new group that is not already in our database, you will be collecting them as well. Not all special interest groups do both ratings and endorsements, some groups do one and not the other. It is important to note this when you are doing research and it will save you time from searching for something that does not exist. Most of the special interest groups that are currently on our database have either ratings or endorsements or both and we do not collect groups that does not have either of these information.
The collection process should follow a schedule to perform checks on groups that are currently live and active in the database, the goal is to keep it updated with the latest info as soon as you can. One strategy that our department adopted is to collect for endorsements at the essential time closing onto an election day or week, as there are more likely to have these information released. As of this writing, the current resource our department utilizes to keep track of our work is via a spreadsheet, what we call a sweep sheet. Basically, a sweep sheet keeps track of when the SIGS is last updated or swept by last updated date (see more on sweep sheet). Collected information should also be properly stored and documented in the network drive. There are various methods to store the collected information, as such would be downloading documents (PDFs, spreadsheet, images), screenshots, printing and downloading web pages and scraping information. Stored and documented information will be vital as being a reference and evidence to our research. (See more at Documentation).
Index
Collecting from Websites
Most of the ratings or endorsements we will be collecting can be found on interest group's website, as they are one of the fastest way to obtain firsthand information from. And since most interest group at the state and national level will have a website themselves, even for member's activities that usually requires authentication. So, as you can imagine, interest groups website can contain thousands of webpages. The challenge here is to know where to look, and you will get better at it with experience.
Common Traits
Special Interests Group (SIG) websites tend to share a similar pattern. Just like websites that uses a design template that serves a specific function, you could think of a SIG website as using a "template" that functions to cater information to the public and members alike. The common traits of SIG websites is that they will usually have the the following section:Note that they do not normally have the same title as shown above, but could be somewhat look and function similarly. Some groups will have specific web domain dedicated to contain these information. Groups that does this would want to keep their main operations apart from their political actions or that they have a PAC--Political Action Committee. This normally happen on major groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) or Planned Parenthood; political action site for NRA Political Victory Fund and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. So you might want to look for these websites before concluding the research for that SIG.
Search Tool
The search tool is an internal search function within the website that searches all content available. This is done by searching a keyword or phrase that exist in any of the web pages. You can normally find it at the top of the page at the side of the navigation bar, though sometimes it is located at the footer of the webpage. The function of the search tool is to find content that are not traversable from the surface or anything that is buried deep within website. Most SIG website will have this tool available since their website are usually quite large.Searching using Keywords
SIG tend to use their own terms to define what a rating should be called or how they would show their endorsements.Below is a table showing the common keywords that has been used by many SIGS:
| Data Type | Common Keyword |
|---|---|
| ratings | scorecard, report card, voting/legislative/congressional report, voting/legislative/congressional record, voting/legislative guide, candidate scores, roll call |
| endorsements | endorse/endorsed/endorsement(s), recommend, support, vote for |
Site Search
Sometimes, the search tool provided is not completely developed or there is no search tool at all. Search engines then can be your friend. Most search engine now would have a site search function that enables your search results to only focus on a specifically mentioned website. Commonly used search syntax for a site search:site:example.com "must keyword" any keyword
Collecting from Social Media
The other source comes from social media, mainly from Twitter or Facebook, or in some rare occasions even graphical social network like Instagram (endorsements in the form of posters). They are likely to have the most up-to-date publicly accessible information, since it is most convenient to put up new information on those platform in an instant. Most SIGS will have at least one or more social media platform, this wiki page will only cover the most common ones that have been used.
All the posts on the Facebook page are originally sorted in the latest to date fashion. Lucky for you if you would be able to find ratings and endorsements by looking through the latest posts, however, for time sake we will resort to using the search function right away. The search function utilizes a keyword search where you could input those keywords or phrases in reference to the table above. The found posts are not arranged in any particular order so look as far down as possible to be thorough. Sometimes it is better to log-in to your Facebook account (if you had one) to perform advanced filtering that would speed up the process.
Advanced Search
Twitter's advanced search tool is publicly accessible without having the user to log in. You can accessed the search tool here. The search that is most often performed is an account-wide search for keywords pertaining to endorsements. To do that, you must have both twitter handle and keyword(s) ready.The search algorithm however, is not as sophisticated or elegant as say Facebook. The word that you search for would not be fuzzy matched with other word. So, searching for posts containing the word 'endorsements' would not return posts that contains word 'endorse' and vice versa. There is a part exception to that where searching for 'endorse' would return posts containing the word 'endorses', that is because 'endorses' is the plural form, past tense however is not included. So, be thorough and mindful of false negatives.
Collecting from other sources
Other than above two mediums, the other way is to look for pointers. Highly emphasizing pointers here is because we only take firsthand source of data, it is important to note that we will not use any secondary sources as evidence to our findings and research, even how convincing or creditable it looks. These pointers are news media, candidate announcements and other third parties.
Utilizing Search Engines
Search Engines is the most used tool in VoteSmart's research, simply because most news and updates can be found on websites. Search Engine would also return results that are more reliable and relevant if you can utilize the advanced search function that are available in almost any search engines.Below shows a list of search engines with their advanced search functionality: As the most useful tool for finding information, there is a tendency to be too dependent on it, which can result in a messy research in the long run. The better mindset for it is a tool that serves as a pointer, that would be to find the relevant websites and the process should stop as soon as you found the right source. In this case, it is more important to focus on credibility of the source rather than the amount of sources.
News Articles
Some news media can lean towards a side on the political spectrum and can be partisan. They are not the most reliable source of information but they normally cite their source. Citations are what we would typically look for in an news article especially the mentioning of endorsements of candidate(s) by a certain group. As a reminder, we only take firsthand sources, that is the information is from interest groups themselves. For special interest groups that are statewide, we would usually look for their local news channel to find for updates on SIGS.Verifying Existing SIGS
Over time, a SIG dissolves, either that they have achieved their goal or no longer receive any support. Although efforts have been made in our department to mark out SIGS who ceased all their activities, there are still some SIGS currently in the database that are potentially inactive. And some SIGS may not explicitly state their status, we need to find some evidence to infer their status since we do not track inactive ones. However, that does not mean removal of SIGS from our database, removal of SIGS only done when it is a mistake or changes in policy. For SIGS that are evidently known to have dissolve, we would attach this following statement in the SIGS description:
""This organization is dissolved. Its archives are kept here as a public service." -Project Vote Smart"
There are a few methods we have adopted to investigate the status of a SIG. We would refer to valid sources such as a government entity like the Federal Election Committee (FEC) or using a tool to investigate the past history of the SIGS website to find if they have any changes recently.
Federal Election Committee (FEC)
"The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, Senate, Presidency and the Vice Presidency."The FEC is responsible for any campaign finances for offices on the national level. These finances are sourced from though not limited to individual, groups and corporations. For every transaction that a candidate receive for the purpose of their campaigns, there will be a record. Likewise, these records also reflects on committee namely special interests groups in their filings. All of these filings are publicly accessible information and these filings are presented in a document format which anyone could view and obtain.
When a SIG decided that they no longer want to makes expenditure or receive contribution, they will file a report what known as the Termination report with the FEC. And of course, chances that a SIG would still remain in operation even when they do not wish to have any financial involvement, but this would substantially affect the SIG's power and influence. Therefore, it is unlikely that a SIG would remain in operation if they file a termination report.
See the FEC homepage here.
Wayback Machine
"The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public. Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge."Occasionally, there will be SIGS in our database that have expired website URL or that there is no other website links can be discovered via search engines. This should raise an eye as to whether the SIG is still active. Wayback Machine is one way to tell see any changes they are on the website recently based on the latest capture.
