Laura Zwicker's Qualifying Exam

Ms. Laura Zwicker will stand for the Qualifying Examination for acceptance into candidacy for the Ph.D. degree on Monday, December 16 at 11:00 a.m. in Kroon 319. Copies of her dissertation prospectus and qualifying exam questions and answers will be available in the Doctoral Program Office by contacting Elisabeth Barsa (elisabeth.barsa@yale.edu). All faculty are welcome and invited to attend. Ms. Laura Zwicker’s written examination consisted of two questions related to a study of Climate Change Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behaviors and the Role of Political Communication in Shifting Them Toward Effective Policy. She uses a mixed-method approach and tries to tease out ways to overcome the obstacles inherent in the social norms approach. The committee members are Professor Gerald Torres (Chair), Professor Amity Doolittle (YSE), and Professor Alexander Coppock (Yale Political Science).

1. Underlying Normative Perspective

You focus on the boundary issues related to the disciplines you want to employ. However, the research aims are rooted in your normative commitment to changing opinions in a specific direction. To what extent are the inquiry and the desired research findings limited by the bounds of political reality? Are the disciplines and research design sufficient to explain the limits to political change we observe, or should we consider other normative constraints? In other words, what else should you consider to assure the reader that your research will contribute to a better understanding of the formation of political commitments, especially where, as you posit here, the stakes of misunderstanding are so great?
2. How does the methodological approach you are designing protect against the various normative concerns raised in QUESTION ONE and methodologically contribute to our understanding of opinion formation and change?
The methodological approach you’ve described includes a review of existing survey data, qualitative interviews, and a random assignment experiment. While these methods can provide valuable insights, in such a comprehensive and multi-faceted study design, you must carefully consider potential biases, different validity measures, and the integration of findings. While your proposed mixed methods research combining qualitative and quantitative approaches may give us a more comprehensive understanding of your research problem, how will you resolve the competing methodological demands of each discipline?
How will you create a coherent theoretical framework that will adequately integrate the methodologies to make your study’s findings consistent with your objective of resolving some of the obstacles posed by the social norms approach?

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