國內學術界近年來對政治功效意識作了詳盡的研究，但是，這些文獻多半是將政治功效意識當作自變數，以檢視其對政治參與的影響。對於政治參與是否會增進選民的政治功效意識，則甚少研究。尤有進者，有關選舉結果是否會影響選民政治功效意識的文獻，更幾乎不存在。本文以2004年總統選舉為例，將政治功效意識當作依變數，以研究選民的投票行為以及助選活動的參與，是否會增進個人的政治功效意識。本文的發現指出，上述兩種活動的確會影響個人的外在功效意識，但是其影響力並不是基於投票行為或助選活動本身，而是在「選舉活動的參與」以及「選舉的結果」兩項因素互動下所產生的。也就是說，民眾的政治參與行為必須與主觀期望的結果相一致時，才會明顯地增加其政治功效意識。單純的投票行為或助選活動本身，並不會有任何影響力。此外，民眾的政治參與行為，無論所支持的對象是否當選，都對受訪者的內在政治功效意識沒有影響。

Substantial research has been done in recent years to examine Taiwanese citizens' sense of political efficacy. Previous literature assumes that the causal direction runs from efficacy to participation. No research has been conducted analyzing how political participation affects Taiwanese citizens' sense of political efficacy. Neither is there any inquiry examining the impact of electoral outcomes on efficacy. Employing survey data collected by Taiwan's Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) Project of 2004, this study treats political efficacy as the dependent variable and assesses the effects of voting and campaign activity. The empirical findings indicate that voter turnout per se does not contribute to the island citizens' efficacious attitudes. It is the act of voting and campaigning for winning candidates that are associated with increased external political efficacy, which suggests that election effects are a product of both participation and outcomes. Electoral participation, however, does not affect an individual's sense of internal political efficacy at all.