UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #930 | Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement

Submission information

Submission Number: 930

Submission ID: 15276

Submission UUID: 31e4328d-c8b1-4fc1-a221-037e63382374

Submission URI: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal

Submission Update: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=BiFgmA-Vx7z1zE01ftJ50obomzgIPazVsspCEvh9JzE

Created: Mon, 08/19/2024 - 11:12 PM

Completed: Mon, 08/19/2024 - 11:14 PM

Changed: Mon, 08/26/2024 - 02:17 PM

Remote IP address: 217.180.192.191

Submitted by: Anonymous

Language: English

Is draft: No

Webform: UROP Project Proposal Portal

Submitted to: UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal

Research Mentor Information

Primary Research Mentor Name Yimeng Li

Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns he/him

When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific? Dr.

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) yimeng.li@fsu.edu

Position Title Post Doc

FSU College (if applicable) Social Sciences and Public Policy

FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation Political Science

Headshot (optional) {Empty}

Additional Research Mentor(s)

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) Austin Cutler

Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns he/him

Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific? Mr.

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) acutler@fsu.edu

Overall Project Details

Title of the Project Analyzing Candidate Characteristics and Electoral Performance

Project Keywords Candidate Characteristics; Electoral Performance; Voting Behavior; Information Cues

Are you currently looking for research assistants? Yes

Number of Research Assistants Needed 2

Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Open to all majors, but prefer Political Science majors

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): Partially Remote

Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work? 5-10

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 In this project, we seek to analyze the association between candidate characteristics and electoral performance in primary and general elections. Candidate characteristics such as age, gender, and race provide important information cues in addition to their party affiliation and policy positions in voter’s choice, especially in low information contests.

In this project, we first expand national and state databases on candidate information and election results at low aggregation. This step involves scraping data from state and county websites and searching newspaper databases. We then use computer programs to clean the data and build databases for subsequent analyses.

In the second part of the project, we conduct statistical analyses to determine the association between candidate characteristics and electoral performance in low and high-information environments. This step involves both simple regression analysis and advanced ecological inferences. We finally compare the results with experimental evidence in the literature.

Research Tasks (Data Collection) Research assistants will expand national and state databases on candidate information and election results at low aggregation. This step involves scraping data from state and county websites to obtain electoral performance data. It also requires extracting from candidate bios and searching newspaper databases to obtain information on candidate characteristics.

(Data Analysis) Research assistants will conduct statistical analyses to determine the association between candidate characteristics and electoral performance. Research assistants will learn to use R to generate simple summary statistics, conduct data visualization, and run regression analyses.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Proficiency with Microsoft Excel. Attention to detail is critical to this project.
Preferences will be given to political science sophomores who have completed or are taking POS 1041 American National Government. Preferences will be given to students with strong academic records, evidenced in their CVs and transcripts.

Mentoring Philosophy Every mentee is different. I will identify each mentee’s goals, aspirations, and existing knowledge. I will try to help mentees achieve their goals and aspirations through the mentoring process. I will accommodate the assigned work schedule that fits the mentee’s other classes and activities.

Communication is key. I will establish clear expectations with the mentee at the beginning of the mentorship and maintain weekly meetings to discuss progress and challenges encountered.

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): https://yimeng-li.com/all_research/

Please add any additional information here (if applicable): {Empty}

Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable? No

Roundtable times and Zoom links {Empty}

UROP Program Elements

Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes

UROP Performance Evaluation Yes

Materials Grant Yes

UROP Poster Presentation Yes

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Year 2024

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