Research
How do media and civil society organizations work to mitigate misinformed beliefs and to build common ground?
Uninformed and misinformed beliefs about politics and others give rise to distrust, prejudice, and violence that may destabilize democracy. Some political actors generate baseless claims to instigate divisions. Many others consume and spread this misinformation both intentionally and unintentionally. Yet, some actors and groups—such as civil society organizations, media, scientists, and government—work to mitigate its spread and social divisions . The relationship between these opposing forces motivates my research.
Dissertation: Building Bipartisan Trust in Political Fact-Checking
Fact-checking, a genre of news reporting dedicated to assessing the accuracy of political claims, has the potential to bridge partisan divides. I use it as a forum for research into how media and civil society organizations can more effectively build public trust in evidence-based sources.
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“The Objectivity Dilemma in Fact-Checking: The Effects of Asymmetric Coverage on Source Credibility” (Job Market Paper, Under Review)
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U-M Center for Political Studies Blog, "Could Balanced Coverage Improve Public Trust in Fact-Checking Sites?" (Oct 17, 2022)
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"Why Favorable Views but Limited Use of Fact-Checking? Familiarity with and Trust in Fact-Checking Sites and Conventional Media.” (Under Review)
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“Achieving Democratic Accountability via Fact-Checking: The Effects of Topic Coverage Scope on Source Credibility.”
The Role of Shared Experiences and Emotions
Vivid, emotional, firsthand experiences may shift even long-held beliefs and predispositions. Using experiments, I investigate conditions under which shared experiences and emotions trigger a reassessment of political reality, bridge partisan divides, and promote democratic accountability.
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"Can Corruption Connect You to Politics? The Effects of Corruption Scandals on Blaming the Government for Personal Concerns" with Deanna Kolberg-Shah. (Revise & Resubmit at Political Psychology)
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“Disaster Experience Mitigates the Partisan Divide on Climate Change: Evidence from Texas” with Ted Hsuan Yun Chen, Christopher Fariss, and Xu Xu. (Under Review; paper available upon request)
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“Impede or Imperil? Distinguishing the Roots of Public Anger and Fear” with Ted Brader and Erin Cikanek.
Measurement and Inferences for Social Science
Given the importance of careful measurement and inferences in social science research, I have also pursued methodological work, such as developing and refining survey measurements of psychological tendencies not directly observable, and exploring ways to improve inferences from social science research.
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“The Reasoning through Evidence versus Authority (EvA) Scale: Scale Development and Validation” with Priti Shah and Stephanie Preston. (Under Review)
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“Ordered Bayesian Aldrich-McKelvey Scaling: Improving Bias Correction on the Liberal-Conservative Scale” with Kevin McAlister and Erin Cikanek.
- Received the Samuel Eldersveld Outstanding Paper Award, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan. 2019.
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“What Can We Learn from Social Science’s Steroid Era? A Proposal to Reinterpret Fifty Years of Statistical Significance Claims” with Nicolás Idrobo, Arthur Lupia, and Rocío Titiunik. (working paper available upon request)
Peer-Reviewed Publications
While the regional focus of my current research is the U.S., I have published papers that examine how emotions and collective experiences shape public opinion and influence electoral accountability in the contexts of the U.S. (e.g., terrorist attack), Mexico (e.g., Mexican civil war) and South Korea (e.g., catastrophic ferry capsize, local-level infrastructure projects).
United States
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Shin, Hwayong. 2015. “Perceived Threat as a Motivator of Policy Voting: Analysis of the 2012 US Presidential Election.” American Studies 38(1): 77–101.
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Received the Muhyang Scholar’s Best Paper Award, American Studies Institute, Seoul National University, 2016.
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South Korea (written in Korean)
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Shin, Hwayong, T.K. Ahn, and Won-ho Park. 2015. “Between Public Interest and Personal Interest: Survey Experiment on the Local Context of Political Issues and Policy Preferences.” Korean Political Science Review 49(4): 301–333.
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Park, Won-ho and Hwayong Shin. 2014. “Emotional Underpinnings of Partisanship: The Sewol Ferry Disaster and the 2014 Korean Local Election.” Korean Political Science Review 48(5): 119-142.
Mexico (written in Spanish)
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Shin, Hwayong. 2014. “Una Lectura de El Llano en llamas desde Corea: El Valor Social de la Facultad Emotiva.” México y La Cuenca del Pacífico 17(51): 75-95.