Getting Out the Vote With Evaluative Thinking

Yosef Bhatti; Jens Olav Dahlgaard; Jonas Hedegaard Hansen; Kasper Møller Hansen

doi:10.1177/1098214015588183

Getting Out the Vote With Evaluative Thinking

Yosef Bhatti, Jens Olav Dahlgaard, Jonas Hedegaard Hansen, Kasper Møller Hansen

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Democratic institutions often do not evaluate their instruments. By working closely with authorities, we developed a field experiment to examine an initiative to increase voter turnout among 18-year-olds that had not previously been evaluated. Particular attention was paid to developing an appropriate program theory and to designing the evaluation in a manner that was consistent with legal and ethical requirements. The program distributed different versions of mobilization letters to the newly enfranchised voters. The treatment effect was positive on turnout and diminished the gap in turnout across population groups, and the effects of the treatments were strongest for individuals with the lowest initial propensity to vote. Cost-effectiveness analysis indicated that the price of an additional vote was approximately USD$136. Our findings influenced policy design and helped establish the principle of evaluative thinking as an integrated part of the future program.

Original language	English
Journal	American Journal of Evaluation
Volume	36
Issue number	3
Pages (from-to)	389-400
Number of pages	12
ISSN	1098-2140
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214015588183
Publication status	Published - 6 Sept 2015

Keywords

Faculty of Social Sciences
voter turnout, field experiment, get-out-the-vote, humor, nudging

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10.1177/1098214015588183

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abstract = "Democratic institutions often do not evaluate their instruments. By working closely with authorities, we developed a field experiment to examine an initiative to increase voter turnout among 18-year-olds that had not previously been evaluated. Particular attention was paid to developing an appropriate program theory and to designing the evaluation in a manner that was consistent with legal and ethical requirements. The program distributed different versions of mobilization letters to the newly enfranchised voters. The treatment effect was positive on turnout and diminished the gap in turnout across population groups, and the effects of the treatments were strongest for individuals with the lowest initial propensity to vote. Cost-effectiveness analysis indicated that the price of an additional vote was approximately USD$136. Our findings influenced policy design and helped establish the principle of evaluative thinking as an integrated part of the future program.",

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AU - Bhatti, Yosef

AU - Dahlgaard, Jens Olav

AU - Hansen, Jonas Hedegaard

AU - Hansen, Kasper Møller

PY - 2015/9/6

Y1 - 2015/9/6

N2 - Democratic institutions often do not evaluate their instruments. By working closely with authorities, we developed a field experiment to examine an initiative to increase voter turnout among 18-year-olds that had not previously been evaluated. Particular attention was paid to developing an appropriate program theory and to designing the evaluation in a manner that was consistent with legal and ethical requirements. The program distributed different versions of mobilization letters to the newly enfranchised voters. The treatment effect was positive on turnout and diminished the gap in turnout across population groups, and the effects of the treatments were strongest for individuals with the lowest initial propensity to vote. Cost-effectiveness analysis indicated that the price of an additional vote was approximately USD$136. Our findings influenced policy design and helped establish the principle of evaluative thinking as an integrated part of the future program.

AB - Democratic institutions often do not evaluate their instruments. By working closely with authorities, we developed a field experiment to examine an initiative to increase voter turnout among 18-year-olds that had not previously been evaluated. Particular attention was paid to developing an appropriate program theory and to designing the evaluation in a manner that was consistent with legal and ethical requirements. The program distributed different versions of mobilization letters to the newly enfranchised voters. The treatment effect was positive on turnout and diminished the gap in turnout across population groups, and the effects of the treatments were strongest for individuals with the lowest initial propensity to vote. Cost-effectiveness analysis indicated that the price of an additional vote was approximately USD$136. Our findings influenced policy design and helped establish the principle of evaluative thinking as an integrated part of the future program.

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JO - American Journal of Evaluation

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Getting Out the Vote With Evaluative Thinking

Abstract

Keywords

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