I am a PhD student currently conducting research on political polarization and persuasion. I am running an experiment that requires a database of trivia questions which conservatives are likely to get correct, and liberals are likely to get wrong (and vice versa). Our pilot testing has shown, for example, Democrats (but not Republicans) tend to overestimate the percentage of gun deaths that involve assault-style rifles, while Republicans (but not Democrats) tend overestimate the proportion of illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes. Similarly, Democrats (but not Republicans) tend to overestimate the risks associated with nuclear power, while Republicans (but not Democrats) underestimate the impact of race-based discrimination on hiring outcomes.
Actually designing these questions is challenging, however, because it’s difficult to know which of one’s political beliefs are most likely to be ill-informed. As such, I am running a crowdsourcing contest in which we will pay $100 for any high-quality trivia question submitted (see contest details here: https://redbrainbluebrain.org/). The only requirements are that participants submit a question text, four multiple choice answers, and a credible source. The deadline for submissions is October 15th, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.
My intuition is that the LessWrong community will be particularly good at generating these kinds of questions given their commitment to belief updating and rationality. If you don’t have the time to participate in the contest, I welcome any ideas about potential topics that might be a fruitful source of these kinds of questions. Would also appreciate any clues as to what other communities may be particularly good at generating these kinds of questions.
[Link] What do conservatives know that liberals don’t (and vice versa)?
I am a PhD student currently conducting research on political polarization and persuasion. I am running an experiment that requires a database of trivia questions which conservatives are likely to get correct, and liberals are likely to get wrong (and vice versa). Our pilot testing has shown, for example, Democrats (but not Republicans) tend to overestimate the percentage of gun deaths that involve assault-style rifles, while Republicans (but not Democrats) tend overestimate the proportion of illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes. Similarly, Democrats (but not Republicans) tend to overestimate the risks associated with nuclear power, while Republicans (but not Democrats) underestimate the impact of race-based discrimination on hiring outcomes.
Actually designing these questions is challenging, however, because it’s difficult to know which of one’s political beliefs are most likely to be ill-informed. As such, I am running a crowdsourcing contest in which we will pay $100 for any high-quality trivia question submitted (see contest details here: https://redbrainbluebrain.org/). The only requirements are that participants submit a question text, four multiple choice answers, and a credible source. The deadline for submissions is October 15th, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.
My intuition is that the LessWrong community will be particularly good at generating these kinds of questions given their commitment to belief updating and rationality. If you don’t have the time to participate in the contest, I welcome any ideas about potential topics that might be a fruitful source of these kinds of questions. Would also appreciate any clues as to what other communities may be particularly good at generating these kinds of questions.