Research Assistant: How Information Shapes Economic and Political Choices

Introduction to the topic

Accurate and abundant information sources are foundations of choice and agency within healthy economies and open vibrant liberal democracies. However, amid the growing backlash against globalization, rising political polarization, disinformation, and the increasing automation of everyday decisions by generative AI, our societies are at risk of eroding people’s capacity to make meaningful choices about their lives and communities. This research project uses the RCT (randomized control trials) methodology to look at how people make important choices by studying how information, narratives, and framing shape economic and political preferences in ways that are often unexpected.

Project details

This project is for DIS students with an interest in developing experimental evidence that is useful for business and policy modeling. RAs will learn about one of the most influential methods in modern social science: the conjoint survey experiment. Widely used by governments, consultancies, technology firms, and academic researchers, conjoint experiments allow us to measure how people make tradeoffs between price and quality, fairness and efficiency, or personal and collective interests, as well as how different forms of information and framing influence decision making. The project combines substantive questions in political economy with hands on training in experimental research design and data analysis. Students learn how to design and implement survey experiments with randomized treatments and how to conduct causal analysis to understand not only what people prefer, but why, and under what conditions those preferences change.

No prior background in statistics or economics is required. What matters is curiosity about why people make the choices they do and a willingness to engage critically with evidence. RAs also participate in a related research project conducted in partnership with the City of Copenhagen and the University of Copenhagen, which links survey-based information treatments in surveys to Danish register data. Working in teams to build and implement new survey data, RAs develop research questions grounded in gaps in the existing literature, conduct statistical analyses, and contribute to the drafting and revision of a manuscript. Throughout the course, RAs engage directly with the publication and peer review process, gaining firsthand insight into how academic knowledge is evaluated, contested, communicated, and refined.

Faculty

John Kennes

PhD (Economics, Western University, 1996). Senior Researcher, VIVE, 2024-2025. Associate Professor (tenured), Aarhus University, 2006-2023. Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen, 2003-2006.With DIS since 2025.