public opinion in times of the pandemic
What are the political consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic? In this project, my collaborators and I have conducted a series of survey experiments to understand the effects of the pandemic on political preferences, beliefs, and voting.
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The Effect of Risk Framing on Support for Restrictive Government Policy Regarding the COVID-19 Outbreak
Kirill Chmel, Aigul Klimova, and Nikita Savin
2021
This confirmatory research investigates the influence of risk framing of COVID-19 on support for restrictive government policy based on two web survey experiments in Russia. Using 2x2 factorial design, we estimated two main effects–factors of risk severity (low vs. high) and object at risk (individual losses vs. losses to others). First, focusing on higher risks had a positive effect on support for the government’s restrictive policy. Second, focusing on the losses for others did not produce stronger support for the restrictive policy compared to focusing on personal losses. However, we found a positive moderation effect of such prosocial values as universalism and benevolence. We found that those with prosocial values had a stronger positive effect in the “losses for others” condition and were more willing to support government restrictive policy when others were included. The effects found in our experimental study reveal both positive and negative aspects in risk communication during the pandemic, which may have a great and long-term impact on trust, attitudes, and behavior.
public opinion during wartime
On the night of February 24, 2022, the President of Ukraine addressed the Russian population when the threat of the Russian invasion was imminent. He asked: “Do Russians want war? The answer is up to you”. The question of Mr. Zelensky made me question the validity of the public opinion data collected during wartime. In this project, my collaborators and I seek to explore whether the data which comes from Russia during wartime is valid and reliable for the purposes of political research or not.
public opinion under the media influence
I have collaborated on several research projects in political communications and media. While I am broadly interested in the role of media influence in public opinion formation, I previously focused more on infotainment. In this research, we study the effects of political content in such forms as memes or late-night shows on media habits, political interest, and political awareness.
other projects
As an external consultant at the University of the United Arab Emirates and as a research assistant of Tatiana Karabchuk, I worked on the data collection and analysis of the determinants of research productivity n the Arab Gulf Countries. We published a paper and formulated some policy recommendations for the UAE government to succeed in the academic efficiency of its higher education institutions.