Joshua Weidmann

Welcome! I am a predoctoral fellow at Harvard University's Department of Economics supervised by Prof. David Y. Yang. My research focuses on harnessing technological innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) for social science research as well as on mass preferences over political representation.

I hold an MA in Politics and Public Administration from the University of Konstanz and an MSc in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Work in Progress

1. "Dialing Up the Empathy: Using AI Chatbots to Conduct Qualitative Interviews in Mass Surveys" (with Michael M. Bechtel, Aaron Cannon, and Michael Hess). [Preregistration] [Abstract]
   
   The availability of artificial intelligence (AI) may enable researchers to study preference formation qualitatively through unstructured question formats that used to be too costly for inclusion in mass surveys. We experimentally assess whether AI chatbots and their empathic capabilities affect answers to sensitive and non-sensitive questions in qualitative conversations. Our design randomly assigns respondents to a series of pre-set, open-ended questions, a weakly empathic chatbot interviewer, or a highly empathetic chatbot. We evaluate chatbot performance with respect to the informational value of survey responses, perceived empathy and rapport, and price per complete. Our applications include political science (vote choice) and consumer research (drivers of purchasing behavior) questions. Since qualitative interviews promise to increase respondents’ willingness to provide truthful responses to sensitive questions that are particularly prone to social desirability bias, we also investigate attitudes toward abortion and hiring discrimination. The results shed light on whether AI chatbots are a more useful tool to qualitatively explore the determinants of preferences and overcoming social desirability problems compared to using fixed, open-ended questions determined by the researcher.
    
2. "Geographic, Substantive, and Descriptive Representation Through the Lens of the Represented" (with Michael M. Bechtel, Simon Lüchinger, and Lukas Schmid). [Preregistration] [Abstract]
   
   A central question in the study of democracy is how different types of political representation affect the performance of democratic systems and, in turn, support for democracy. We contribute to this question by investigating mass preferences over geographic, substantive, and descriptive representation through the lens of citizens. We explore preferences over democratic representation using data from surveys fielded to samples of the adult population in eight industrialized democracies (Australia, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey, and the United States). Our main evidence is based on a novel conjoint-experimental design that presents respondents with scenarios varying the level of over- and under-representation along geographic, substantive, and descriptive dimensions. By analyzing how changes in the level of representation drives both support for a scenario and agreement with a set of statements that followed each conjoint task we identify whether preferences over representation type mirror diverging beliefs about economic performance, redistribution, and legislative outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of electoral accountability, perceived responsiveness, and satisfaction with democracy.
    

Talks

• 2024: EPSA