Replication Data for: People vs. Process: How Personal Characteristics Affect Congressional Communication

Previous research has shown that some personal characteristics affect which policies members pursue and how they pursue them. We term the collective hypotheses surrounding personal characteristics the Personal Identity Theory. Personal Identity Theory suggests that what members talk about is based upon their membership in identity groups (e.g., Black/female MCs communicate about Black/female interest bills). Using topic modeling and natural language processing techniques, we isolate which personal characteristics have significant effects on the quantity and content of MC speeches to test these theories. Partisanship, sex, race, and ethnicity change the prevalence of MC speech in predictable ways, and the content of speech follows an interesting - but unpredictable - people-versus-process dynamic across all variables.