Dr. Owen also has conducted extensive research on civic education and political socialization. She is interested in how young people are prepared for citizenship in the digital age. Working closely with organizations dealing with elementary and secondary school teachers and students, she has studied the impact of civic education on high-need students’ acquisition of political knowledge, dispositions, and skills. Her recent work has concentrated on political learning among middle and high school students of color, students with disabilities, and English language learners.

Dr. Owen has published widely in the fields of media and politics, elections and voting behavior, political engagement, civic education, and political socialization. She is the author of Media Messages in American Presidential Elections, New Media and American Politics (with Richard Davis), and American Government and Politics in the Information Age (with David Paletz and Timothy Cook). She is the co-editor of The Internet and Politics: Citizens, Voters, and Activists, Making a Difference: The Internet and Elections in Comparative Perspective, and Internet Election Campaigns in the United States, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.  Dr. Owen has conducted studies funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for Civic Education, Virginia Civics, the Bill of Rights Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Storyful/News Corp, and Google. She was an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. She was a recipient of the Daniel Roselle Award from the Middle States Council for the Social Studies. She has received a Faculty Fellowship from the Meiji University Exchange Program in Tokyo, Japan.