Publicação
How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections
| Resumo: | To address the challenge of declining trust in American democracy in the wake of the 2020 presidential contest, election officials across the nation have undertaken innovative public information campaigns. Academic studies demonstrate that exposure to these messages can increase public confidence but do not show which types of messages are most effective. We report a set of three experimental studies that harness research–practice partnerships with these officials to vary one key aspect of an informational message while holding other features constant. The pre-registered experiments (accessible at: https://osf.io/y38sp; https://osf.io/fya69): (a) compare the impact of messages conveyed through earned versus paid media; (b) ask whether Americans are more responsive to messages from federal or from state election officials; (c) explore the impact of videos and static visuals. Taken together, this set of collaborative experiments demonstrates the unique opportunity that research–practice partnerships allow to test real-world messages through strong causal inference techniques, providing rigorous evidence that can inform practice on the front lines of American democracy. |
|---|---|
| Autores principais: | Boudreau, Cheryl |
| Outros Autores: | Gaudette, Jennifer; Kousser, Thad; Hill, Seth J.; Lockhart, Mackenzie; Uribe, Laura |
| Assunto: | elections; experiments; research–practice partnerships; trust |
| Ano: | 2026 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | unknown |
| Instituição associada: | Cogitatio Press |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Politics and Governance |
| _version_ | 1869524726749069312 |
|---|---|
| author | Boudreau, Cheryl |
| author2 | Gaudette, Jennifer Kousser, Thad Hill, Seth J. Lockhart, Mackenzie Uribe, Laura |
| author2_role | author author author author author |
| author_facet | Boudreau, Cheryl Gaudette, Jennifer Kousser, Thad Hill, Seth J. Lockhart, Mackenzie Uribe, Laura |
| author_role | author |
| country_str | PT |
| creators_json_txt | [{\"Person.name\":\"Boudreau, Cheryl\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Gaudette, Jennifer\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Kousser, Thad\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Hill, Seth J.\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Lockhart, Mackenzie\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Uribe, Laura\"}] |
| datacite.creators.creator.creatorName.fl_str_mv | Boudreau, Cheryl Gaudette, Jennifer Kousser, Thad Hill, Seth J. Lockhart, Mackenzie Uribe, Laura |
| datacite.rights.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| datacite.subjects.subject.fl_str_mv | elections; experiments; research–practice partnerships; trust |
| datacite.titles.title.fl_str_mv | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv | Boudreau, Cheryl Gaudette, Jennifer Kousser, Thad Hill, Seth J. Lockhart, Mackenzie Uribe, Laura |
| dc.format.none.fl_str_mv | application/pdf |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11692 |
| dc.language.none.fl_str_mv | eng |
| dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv | Cogitatio Press |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| dc.rights.rights.copyright.fl_str_mv | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| dc.source.none.fl_str_mv | Politics and Governance; Vol 14 (2026): Causes and Consequences of Confidence in Democratic Elections 2183-2463 10.17645/pag.i478 |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv | elections; experiments; research–practice partnerships; trust |
| dc.title.fl_str_mv | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 |
| description | To address the challenge of declining trust in American democracy in the wake of the 2020 presidential contest, election officials across the nation have undertaken innovative public information campaigns. Academic studies demonstrate that exposure to these messages can increase public confidence but do not show which types of messages are most effective. We report a set of three experimental studies that harness research–practice partnerships with these officials to vary one key aspect of an informational message while holding other features constant. The pre-registered experiments (accessible at: https://osf.io/y38sp; https://osf.io/fya69): (a) compare the impact of messages conveyed through earned versus paid media; (b) ask whether Americans are more responsive to messages from federal or from state election officials; (c) explore the impact of videos and static visuals. Taken together, this set of collaborative experiments demonstrates the unique opportunity that research–practice partnerships allow to test real-world messages through strong causal inference techniques, providing rigorous evidence that can inform practice on the front lines of American democracy. |
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| format | article |
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| identifier.doi.fl_str_mv | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11692 |
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| person_str_mv | Boudreau, Cheryl Gaudette, Jennifer Kousser, Thad Hill, Seth J. Lockhart, Mackenzie Uribe, Laura |
| publishDate | 2026 |
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| spelling | en-USHow Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American ElectionsBoudreau, CherylGaudette, JenniferKousser, ThadHill, Seth J.Lockhart, MackenzieUribe, Lauraelections; experiments; research–practice partnerships; trustCopyright (c) 2026 Cheryl Boudreau, Jennifer Gaudette, Thad Kousser, Seth Hill, Mackenzie Lockhart, Laura Uribehttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11692DOIhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/11692URLHasVersionhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/11692/4982URLHasVersionhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/downloadSuppFile/11692/5567URLHasVersionhttps://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11692DOI2026-03-04en-USTo address the challenge of declining trust in American democracy in the wake of the 2020 presidential contest, election officials across the nation have undertaken innovative public information campaigns. Academic studies demonstrate that exposure to these messages can increase public confidence but do not show which types of messages are most effective. We report a set of three experimental studies that harness research–practice partnerships with these officials to vary one key aspect of an informational message while holding other features constant. The pre-registered experiments (accessible at: https://osf.io/y38sp; https://osf.io/fya69): (a) compare the impact of messages conveyed through earned versus paid media; (b) ask whether Americans are more responsive to messages from federal or from state election officials; (c) explore the impact of videos and static visuals. Taken together, this set of collaborative experiments demonstrates the unique opportunity that research–practice partnerships allow to test real-world messages through strong causal inference techniques, providing rigorous evidence that can inform practice on the front lines of American democracy.Cogitatio Pressapplication/pdfen-USPolitics and Governance; Vol 14 (2026): Causes and Consequences of Confidence in Democratic Elections2183-246310.17645/pag.i478engjournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501literatureVoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| spellingShingle | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections Boudreau, Cheryl elections; experiments; research–practice partnerships; trust |
| status | SINGLETON |
| status_str | VoR |
| subject.fl_str_mv | elections; experiments; research–practice partnerships; trust |
| title | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections |
| title_full | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections |
| title_fullStr | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections |
| title_short | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections |
| title_sort | How Research–Practice Partnerships Can Strengthen Experiments Designed to Build Trust in American Elections |
| topic | elections; experiments; research–practice partnerships; trust |
| topic_facet | elections; experiments; research–practice partnerships; trust |
| url | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11692 |
| visible | 1 |