UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #552

Submission information
Submission Number: 552
Submission ID: 9031
Submission UUID: 55f1a523-1cd4-4537-ad0c-61aacfb49f5b

Created: Tue, 08/22/2023 - 06:29 PM
Completed: Tue, 08/22/2023 - 07:35 PM
Changed: Fri, 09/22/2023 - 12:37 PM

Remote IP address: 69.254.162.255
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Primary Research Mentor Name Marli Dunietz
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) mdunietz@fsu.edu
Position Title Graduate Student
Faculty Advisor Name
Faculty Advisor's FSU Email
FSU College (if applicable) Social Sciences and Public Policy
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation Political science
Headshot (optional) Marli Wang Dunietz tall.jpg
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above)
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated)
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable) Valeria Burdea
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated)
Title of the Project Behavioral economics of political discussion
Project Keywords behavioral economics, political discussion, language, communication, text analysis
Are you currently looking for research assistants? No
Number of Research Assistants Needed 2
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Open to all majors, but economics, political science, policy, communication, linguistics, or computer science students may be particularly interested
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation? No, the project is remote
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? 5-8
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 When citizens discuss their views on public policy with one another, they may not always be forthcoming about what they really think. Their willingness to speak up sincerely can depend on whether they believe others will agree, and how they believe others will react (that is, will they be rewarded, punished, or neither?) At the same time, citizens tuning into the public conversation may try to "correct" for these distortions (e.g., do the speakers believe exactly what they said or are they just trying to say the right thing? Does someone who didn't participate have no opinion, or are they hiding an unpopular opinion?) Mistakes can happen on both sides, leading to falsely believing that people are much more divided than they truly are, or that people agree much more than they truly do.

This project applies the tools of behavioral and experimental economics to investigate how social norms and social incentives influence what opinions people share, how other people interpret what they hear, and what we can do to help citizens learn about public opinion more accurately. The research assistant(s) will join an ongoing project in which ordinary citizens from around the US discuss public policy proposals and try to learn where others stand. In particular, we will explore the costs and benefits of encouraging highly personal styles of communication and more impersonal language, and how this affects perceptions of extremity and polarization.
Research Tasks The research assistant(s) will assist in compiling a literature review and analyzing data from group discussion experiments (text and/or quantitative). The data analysis portion of the research will involve reading the written communication between study participants, noting patterns, and coding the text data as quantitative data that will then be analyzed using statistical methods. Given interest and motivation, the research assistant(s) may also receive guidance and feedback to design and run an original experiment or analysis to answer a new question that arises in the course of research.
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required:
- native/fluent English language
- data entry skills
- curiosity
- courage to ask questions and make mistakes

Recommended:
- familiarity with social science research methods

Ideal but not necessary:
- human subjects research ethics training (CITI certification)
- familiarity with coding in R and/or Python
- familiarity with text-as-data/natural language processing (NLP) methods
Mentoring Philosophy I believe in giving mentees opportunities to shape their research experience in the ways that will best serve their academic and professional goals. This means we will explore together what interests and aspirations the mentee has, and what kinds of methods and skills the mentee would like to further develop and add to their repertoire. Tailoring the experience to the mentee's interests, aspirations, and talents makes the research experience more useful and rewarding to the mentee, and simultaneously improves the product of our joint efforts.

Throughout a collaboration, it is also important to me that mentees can see how their slice of the project contributes to the larger team research project and how their contribution expands our overall collective knowledge in the research area. I encourage mentees to ask questions often, raise challenges and concerns, contribute their point of view, and try out their own ideas. By fostering a culture of open dialogue, mutual respect, and brave exploration, both the mentor and mentee can benefit from diverse perspectives and innovative solutions.
Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable):
Please add any additional information here (if applicable):
Roundtable times and Zoom links Weds, Sept 6 at 2pm
Friday, Sept 8 at 2pm
https://fsu.zoom.us/j/99868025318

To download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system:
https://fsu.zoom.us/meeting/tJ0lceGorD4pG9x_NRYChGxMJhrK_LdKUKBQ/ics?icsToken=98tyKuChpj0iGtaQsxiPRox5Go_oWfTzpiVejfpFozHXOgNbRRvbHOpQGY1TFPPl
Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation Yes
Materials Grant Yes
UROP Poster Presentation Yes
Faculty Advisor Confirmation
Are you interested in attending in a UROP Research Mentor Workshop Series?
Year 2023
update url https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?element_parents=elements/research_mentor_information/headshot_optional_&ajax_form=1&_wrapper_format=drupal_ajax&token=IzL0Gi7UUxGMKF1uZg4X8WrFY8H3cQppQmC1KyRWoKA