Roughly 120 Baton Rouge-area citizens convened in the Lod Cook Conference Center Saturday to participate in the “By the People: America in the World” citizen deliberation.
According to a “By the People” press release, the Baton Rouge deliberation was one of ten that occurred simultaneously across the nation.
“These are random samples of local communities,” said James Fishkin, Stanford University communication professor.
Fishkin said the program was designed to find out if a process of discussion in which people become more informed and talk to others who represent different points of view can make any difference in forming their opinions.
“Think of it as an experiment,” Fishkin said.
The event began with all participants viewing a video presentation on American foreign and domestic policy. Once the presentation was completed, the participants were divided into groups of 10 to 15 and discussed national security and economic issues with a moderator.
At the end of each of the two discussions, the groups were prompted by their moderators to form questions which they posed to an expert panel.
Members of the panel included LSU professors, officials from the Governor’s office and leaders in the public and private sector.
Participants were surveyed before and after the deliberation to see if their opinions changed through the dialogue.
“In each community, we also have a control group, a random sample of the same community, who did not deliberate,” Fishkin said.
Because there were only ten sites, the sample does not constitute a true national sample, Fishkin said.
However, according to the press release, the participating areas reflected the nation’s regional and demographic diversity.
Participants were selected through a random-digit dialing process conducted by the Berkeley Survey Research Center and the Public Research Institute.
The Saturday deliberation was the first of two to be held at LSU. The second round will happen in October with 30 locations around the country and around 3,000 participants.
John Spain, vice president of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation said in an LSU press release that the foundation was pleased to be allied with the project.
“Its mission – to encourage and sustain a continuous, informed public dialogue on America’s role in international affairs – is one that we embrace, and we are glad to be part of the vital nationwide exchange of ideas,” Spain said.
The project endorses no particular policies and has no political affiliation.