UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #909

Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Hashim Malallah
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific?: hm22o@fsu.edu
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): hm22o@fsu.edu
Position Title: Graduate Student
Faculty Advisor Name: Andrew Ballard
Faculty Advisor's FSU Email: ballardao@gmail.com
FSU College (if applicable): Social Sciences and Public Policy
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: Florida State University
Headshot (optional): https://cre.fsu.edu/system/files/webform/urop_project_proposal_portal/15171/my%20pic.jpg

Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above): {Empty}
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?: {Empty}
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): {Empty}
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable): {Empty}
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?: {Empty}
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): {Empty}

Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: Elite Sentiment on Palestine and Israel
Project Keywords: Text Analysis, MENA, Israel, Palestine, Middle East, conflict, peace 
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: No
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 2
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
political science preferred but not required 


Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?: {Empty}
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: Fully Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: 3-5
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
How has elite views toward Israel and Palestine changed over time and across states? The incidents of October 7 have had major ramifications on global views towards the most salient issue in the Middle East and North Africa. Variation in public and elite sentiment towards Israel and Palestine is not specific to the October 7 incidents but rather since the Belfour Declaration in 1917, which declared the establishment of “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. In this original dataset project, I aim to measure elite sentiments and policy positions toward Palestine and Israel using the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) debate texts. The goal of this project is to collect new data necessary to test different hypotheses in future research. Using text analysis through supervised learning on UNGA speeches, I estimate (1) general sentiment towards Israel and Palestine on separate dimensions, and (2) policy positions on different resolutions related to the Palestinian Question. I tune a model with a hand-coded training data for each separate dimension to derive estimates at the speech-year level for each country. After I derive the estimates, I move to (1) test different hypotheses for predicting sentiment and policy positions towards Israel and Palestine. (2) Examine how much convergence/divergence between elite and public sentiment on Israel-Palestine. (3) Examine how much convergence/divergence between expressed positions in speeches and actual voting record in the UNGA on the Palestinian question.  

Research Tasks:
Data collection, data Analysis, hand coding, Literature review. 


Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
Required: attention to details. 
Recommended: Interest in Middle Eastern Politics. 
No special requirement for any programming or coding skills. 

Mentoring Philosophy:
I like to involve trainees in the process of conducting quantitative academic research through interactive learning environment. My goal is to teach trainees about new methods that hopefully will help them in their own careers if they pursue graduate studies in any social science field. I make sure to explain what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how it is helpful. I want trainees to be engaged and interested in what we are doing.      

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable):: https://cosspp.fsu.edu/polisci/grad-students/hashim-malallah/
Please add any additional information here (if applicable)::
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Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable?: No
Roundtable times and Zoom links:
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UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes
Faculty Advisor Confirmation: Yes

Are you interested in attending in a UROP Research Mentor Workshop Series?: No
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Year: 2024
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