Review of Literature on Effect of Influence Operations

Publication Year
2021
Publisher
Empirical Studies of Conflict Project
Abstract

These data summarize 82 studies published since 1995 related to the effects of influence operations. We included studies that meet three inclusion criteria: (1) a treatment, or source of variation in exposure to influence operation-like content; (2) a clearly measured outcome of interest; and (3) credibly evaluable insight on the potential of influence operations to affect real-world outcomes and behaviors. The variables documented for each included study include descriptive information on the study itself— such as study title, author(s), year of publication, DOI, and abstract— as well as content-related variables— such as the independent variable, dependent variable, source of variation, sample, duration from treatment to outcome, observed effect, and posited mechanism. The data also documents broader variables for each study— such as treatment type, outcome type, duration category, platform studied, and aggregate vs. individual effects. Included studies were identified through two stages of forward and backward citation mapping from an initial set of keywords related to influence operations (e.g. “misinformation campaign” and “influence efforts”).

Publication Topic
Politics and Public Opinion
Publication Type
Policy Report