Goin’ Holyrood? A Study of Voters’ Online Information Behaviour when using Parties’ and Candidates’ Websites during the 2011 Scottish Parliament Election Campaign

This paper reports the results of a study of voters’ online behaviour conducted during the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary election campaign. Here, 64 citizens of Aberdeen, North-east Scotland, were observed and questioned while they searched for, browsed and used information on the websites of political parties and candidates standing for election to the Scottish Parliament. While online campaign sites were generally regarded as serving a useful purpose, as being easy to use and understand, relatively interesting and likely to be visited again, there was very little evidence in this study to indicate that they had any significant impact on voting behaviour during the 2011 Scottish campaign. Rather, the participants’ comments suggest that more traditional information sources, particularly print and broadcast media, coupled with long-established campaign techniques, such as leaflet deliveries and door knocking, continue to be more influential in determining voters’ democratic choices.