Events
Adopting Physiological and Eye Tracking Measures in Political Science Research
The homogeneous adoption of research methods, driven by methodological familiarity, institutional pressures and disciplinary norms, may lead a discipline towards standardization and stagnation. The introduction and application of new research methods, either new or imported from neighboring disciplines, may generate new theoretical and empirical insights that advance whole fields of study. Following a short survey of such advances in the field of political science, I will introduce several of my studies that apply uncommon methods to answer pressing questions. The first one employs endocrine measures of stress to test why certain people abstain from voting. The second study combines a simulated cyber-attack with a salivary cortisol test to measure the effect of such attacks on citizens well-being. The last study uses eye-tracking data to enhance political participation and reduce participatory barriers among the technologically challenged.
About the Speaker
Israel Waismel-Manor is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa. His research focuses on political attitude formation and its effects on voting behavior. His current projects explore the ways in which non-verbal communication, physiological stress, institutional settings and new media influence political preferences and behavior. His research was published in such journals as the Journal of Communication, PLOS One, Public Opinion Quarterly, International Journal of Press and Politics, Political Communication, Political Behavior, and European Neuropsychopharmacology. Waismel-Manor has been a visiting professor at Stanford University and Cornell University, and his work has been featured in various media outlets including the New York Times, the Huffington Post, the Jerusalem Post, and Haaretz.
