Research

I study the content and impact of visuals in politics, and how the impact of visuals is moderated by verbal arguments. I am also interested in the interplay of emotions and cognition in political decision-making, especially when citizens are asked to make difficult decisions, such as those involving policy trade-offs. My third research area is survey opinion measurement.Most of my research uses experimental designs, advanced linear and multilevel models, and structural equations models.

1. Nonverbal communication and democratic decision-making

Publications

Dumitrescu, Delia (2016). “Nonverbal communication in politics: A review of research developments, 2005-2015.” American Behavioral Scientist, 60(14), 1656-1675.

Dumitrescu, Delia and Sebastian Popa. (2016). "Showing their true colors? How EU flag display affects perceptions of party elites’ European attachment." American Behavioral Scientist, 60(14), 1698-1718.

Dumitrescu, Delia. (2017) "Up, close and personal: The new Front National visual strategy under Marine Le Pen" French Politics. doi: 10.1057/s41253-016-0012-7. [Alternative link]

Dumitrescu, Delia. (2017) “French electoral poster campaigns in the 21st century.” In Political Campaigning in the Public Space. Election Posters around the Globe, Christina Holtz-Bacha and Bengt Johansson eds., Springer-Verlag. DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-32498-2

Popa, Sebastian and Delia Dumitrescu. (2015) “National but European? Visual manifestations of Europe in national parties’ Euromanifestos since 1979.” Party Politics.

Dumitrescu, Delia, Elisabeth Gidengil and Dietlind Stolle. (2015) “Candidate Confidence and Electoral Appeal: An Experimental Study of the Effect of Nonverbal Confidence on Voter Evaluation.” Political Science Research and Methods,

3(1): 43-52.

Dumitrescu, Delia. (2012). “The Importance of Being Present: Election Posters as Signals of Electoral Strength. Evidence from France and Belgium.” Party Politics, 18(6): 941-960

Dumitrescu, Delia. (2010). “Know Me, Love Me, Fear Me: The Anatomy of Candidate Poster Designs in the 2007 French Legislative Elections.” Political Communication 27:20-43.

Dumitrescu, Delia and Anthony Mughan. (2010). “Mass Media and Politics.” In The Handbook of Politics, State and Civil Society in Global Perspective, Kevin T. Leicht and J. Craig Jenkins, eds., New York: Springer, pp. 477-491.

Dissertation

Spatial visual communications in election campaigns: Political posters strategies in two democracies.

Recipient of the “Henry R. Spencer Award” for the best dissertation in 2009-2010 from the Department of Political Science, The Ohio State University. Abstract

Manuscripts

Dumitrescu, Delia and Erik Bucy. “How images of war victims affect public opinion and political participation.” Paper presented at MPSA Annual Conference, April 2017. Download conference paper here.

Dumitrescu, Delia. “Look who’s coming to Europe: detecting threatening and humanitarian undertones in the visual coverage of the 2015 refugee crisis in the British and French online mainstream media”

Elisabeth Gidengil, Dumitrescu, Delia, and Dietlind Stolle. “Gender and Candidate Communication: Is there a “Double Bind”?” Chapter to be included in the volume Mediation of Gendered Identities in Canadian Politics edited by Angelia Wagner and Joanna Everitt. Book manuscript submitted to the editor in May 2017.

2. Emotions and democratic decision-making

Publications

Dumitrescu, Delia and André Blais. (2014)."Anxiety and Vote Decision Making in Winner-Take-All Elections” Canadian Journal of Political Science, 47(3): 451-474.

Dumitrescu, Delia and André Blais. (2011). “Increased Realism at Lower Cost: The Case for the Hybrid Experiment.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 44: 521-523.

Manuscripts

“Anxiety and decision-making in complex political contexts.” Paper presented in the panel on “New insights in the study of electoral behavior and turnout” organized at the NoPSA congress August 12–15, 2014

3. Survey response

Publications

Martinsson, Johan, Delia Dumitrescu and Karolina Riedel. (2016) “Recruiting an Online Panel From Another Online Survey: Consequences of Framing and Placement of the Recruitment Question” International Journal of Public Opinion Research, doi: 10.1093/ijpor/edw005

Dumitrescu, Delia and Johan Martinsson. (2016) “Surveys as a social experience: The lingering effects of survey design choices on respondents' survey experience and subsequent optimizing behavior.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 28 (4): 534-561. doi: 10.1093/ijpor/edv034.

Manuscripts

Martinsson, Johan, Delia Dumitrescu and Elias Markstedt. “The Effects on Data Quality of Horizontal and Question Orientation and Scales of Different Length for Respondents Using Smartphones, Tablets and PCs.” Paper presented at AAPOR Annual Conference May 2017.

Dumitrescu, Delia and Razvan Gurau. “Survey Response Differentiation and Data Quality: A Critical Reassessment.”

Dumitrescu, Delia, and Razvan Gurau. “A new computational tool to detect random responses in surveys.”

Last updated: June 1, 2017