Amanda Weiss
@amandaweiss.bsky.social
Assistant Professor, Cornell Department of Government.
Political methodology, meta-science, American public policy.
www.amandakweiss.com
Opinions my own, reposts not (necessarily) endorsements, etc.
Political methodology, meta-science, American public policy.
www.amandakweiss.com
Opinions my own, reposts not (necessarily) endorsements, etc.
Pinned
Amanda Weiss
@amandaweiss.bsky.social
· Aug 13
🚨 Updated working paper!
Ekin Dursun and I ask what instruments best manipulate emotions on surveys (osf.io/56h4g).
We find that vignettes really work! They have large effects on emotions of interest & smaller effects on emotions *not* of interest.
But as always, it's complicated.👇
(1/17)
Ekin Dursun and I ask what instruments best manipulate emotions on surveys (osf.io/56h4g).
We find that vignettes really work! They have large effects on emotions of interest & smaller effects on emotions *not* of interest.
But as always, it's complicated.👇
(1/17)
This is an absolute crisis time for quantitative research on opinion and pol behavior.
If online survey pools are wrecked, the big surveys like the ANES are losing NSF funding, and the quality/availability of administrative datasets is falling off... well, that's a lot of the field.
If online survey pools are wrecked, the big surveys like the ANES are losing NSF funding, and the quality/availability of administrative datasets is falling off... well, that's a lot of the field.
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
November 19, 2025 at 1:16 PM
This is an absolute crisis time for quantitative research on opinion and pol behavior.
If online survey pools are wrecked, the big surveys like the ANES are losing NSF funding, and the quality/availability of administrative datasets is falling off... well, that's a lot of the field.
If online survey pools are wrecked, the big surveys like the ANES are losing NSF funding, and the quality/availability of administrative datasets is falling off... well, that's a lot of the field.
@maxkagan.bsky.social I just dug into the politicsatwork.org site and it's so cool!
Political scientists have been letting sociologists dominate workplace research for far too long...
Political scientists have been letting sociologists dominate workplace research for far too long...
November 13, 2025 at 3:05 PM
@maxkagan.bsky.social I just dug into the politicsatwork.org site and it's so cool!
Political scientists have been letting sociologists dominate workplace research for far too long...
Political scientists have been letting sociologists dominate workplace research for far too long...
Reposted by Amanda Weiss
I struggle to understand people who hoard power just to refuse to ever use it.
November 10, 2025 at 6:07 PM
I struggle to understand people who hoard power just to refuse to ever use it.
I am pleased to fail to reject the null.
I would, personally, pre-register a prediction that SCOTUS is will strike down the decision in Obergefell. But I don't think that it's obvious. The justices might take this opportunity to pretend that they care about precedent or to provide cover for future violations of precedent and human rights.
November 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I am pleased to fail to reject the null.
Just realized, while prepping slides for tomorrow, that at least 80% of this observational causal inference course is me pointing at a graph and going "This... is bad."
November 2, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Just realized, while prepping slides for tomorrow, that at least 80% of this observational causal inference course is me pointing at a graph and going "This... is bad."
My parents recently got a kitten (very exciting!)
Each of them is spelling the kitten's name a different way.
The kitten has been home for 2 weeks and I am *so curious* to see whose spelling wins.
Each of them is spelling the kitten's name a different way.
The kitten has been home for 2 weeks and I am *so curious* to see whose spelling wins.
October 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
My parents recently got a kitten (very exciting!)
Each of them is spelling the kitten's name a different way.
The kitten has been home for 2 weeks and I am *so curious* to see whose spelling wins.
Each of them is spelling the kitten's name a different way.
The kitten has been home for 2 weeks and I am *so curious* to see whose spelling wins.
@dfroomkin.bsky.social Is your book in need of an epigraph?
“executive branch is not actually the leading institution of the federal government. The Constitution makes this clear in its structure: Article I belongs to Congress..the national legislature is handed a broad array of powers, including powers that, under the Br. constitution, had been the king’s”
Fantastic @jamellebouie.net column today -- and not *just* because he quotes @richardprimus.bsky.social and me ... www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
October 29, 2025 at 4:07 PM
@dfroomkin.bsky.social Is your book in need of an epigraph?
This is such a weird side effect of de-stigmatizing federal benefits.
We want to normalize folks using an EBT card to access CalFresh. But we kind of need folks to be policy demanders for their welfare programs.
We want to normalize folks using an EBT card to access CalFresh. But we kind of need folks to be policy demanders for their welfare programs.
This is likely to be more effective too because many straight up do not know that their state program (Cal Fresh, etc) is SNAP.
TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME: The official Massachusetts SNAP website now warns that Trump is “choosing not to issue November SNAP benefits that help you and many families put food on the table.” It also warns of cuts due to “Congressional Republicans and President Trump” in the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
October 27, 2025 at 11:15 PM
This is such a weird side effect of de-stigmatizing federal benefits.
We want to normalize folks using an EBT card to access CalFresh. But we kind of need folks to be policy demanders for their welfare programs.
We want to normalize folks using an EBT card to access CalFresh. But we kind of need folks to be policy demanders for their welfare programs.
The fact that Medicaid expansion is The No. 1 Diff-in-Diff really blinded me to how little attention Medicaid expansion actually gets.
one of the consistently interesting things about ACA criticism since it was signed into law is how critics discount or ignore the medicaid expansion
October 20, 2025 at 7:30 PM
The fact that Medicaid expansion is The No. 1 Diff-in-Diff really blinded me to how little attention Medicaid expansion actually gets.
One of my students who went home for fall break brought back local candies for me as a present.
I'm staunchly opposed to clientelism but also 🥹🥹🥹
I'm staunchly opposed to clientelism but also 🥹🥹🥹
October 15, 2025 at 8:20 PM
One of my students who went home for fall break brought back local candies for me as a present.
I'm staunchly opposed to clientelism but also 🥹🥹🥹
I'm staunchly opposed to clientelism but also 🥹🥹🥹
The real reason we can't shrink PhD cohorts.
Gotta keep the husbands of doctors/lawyers/executives/etc. busy somehow.
Gotta keep the husbands of doctors/lawyers/executives/etc. busy somehow.
Solvable by getting a PhD. Having a wealthier wife while you make less: you aren’t even the one who has to make the kid, fucking pull it together dude. Having a wealthier wife with a PhD: you are a bohemian intellectual in a loving relationship with someone subsidizes your life of the mind.
October 15, 2025 at 4:05 PM
The real reason we can't shrink PhD cohorts.
Gotta keep the husbands of doctors/lawyers/executives/etc. busy somehow.
Gotta keep the husbands of doctors/lawyers/executives/etc. busy somehow.
I would be all about a grout robot.
But to this day, my parents like to lecture about how something is lost when we don't do our own cleaning & driveway repairs (big Midwest energy!)
And I think that's why AI skepticism is rare. Different people want to eliminate different kinds of labor.
But to this day, my parents like to lecture about how something is lost when we don't do our own cleaning & driveway repairs (big Midwest energy!)
And I think that's why AI skepticism is rare. Different people want to eliminate different kinds of labor.
"I built an AI that can be your friend!"
"Listen. I have friends. I need an AI that will re-grout my tub and mop the kitchen floor. Chop chop, motherfucker."
"Listen. I have friends. I need an AI that will re-grout my tub and mop the kitchen floor. Chop chop, motherfucker."
October 10, 2025 at 9:04 PM
I would be all about a grout robot.
But to this day, my parents like to lecture about how something is lost when we don't do our own cleaning & driveway repairs (big Midwest energy!)
And I think that's why AI skepticism is rare. Different people want to eliminate different kinds of labor.
But to this day, my parents like to lecture about how something is lost when we don't do our own cleaning & driveway repairs (big Midwest energy!)
And I think that's why AI skepticism is rare. Different people want to eliminate different kinds of labor.
I wonder if these types of labels serve as an information treatment for Americans.
In general, economic voting does not depend on accurate blame attributions - just people taking out grumpiness on incumbents. But does anything change if Trump voters connect higher prices to tariffs?
In general, economic voting does not depend on accurate blame attributions - just people taking out grumpiness on incumbents. But does anything change if Trump voters connect higher prices to tariffs?
If this price differential for a high-street brand skirt is due to US #tariffs, it suggests a tariff pass-through rate of 100%, controlling for the exchange rate. But of course, there could be other factors at play.
September 29, 2025 at 2:03 PM
I wonder if these types of labels serve as an information treatment for Americans.
In general, economic voting does not depend on accurate blame attributions - just people taking out grumpiness on incumbents. But does anything change if Trump voters connect higher prices to tariffs?
In general, economic voting does not depend on accurate blame attributions - just people taking out grumpiness on incumbents. But does anything change if Trump voters connect higher prices to tariffs?
Just dug up this banger of a @mattblackwell.bsky.social post to use in my instrumental variables slides.
Pumped to be teaching the next generation about choosing estimands based on identification assumptions. 😂🙏
Pumped to be teaching the next generation about choosing estimands based on identification assumptions. 😂🙏
September 22, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Just dug up this banger of a @mattblackwell.bsky.social post to use in my instrumental variables slides.
Pumped to be teaching the next generation about choosing estimands based on identification assumptions. 😂🙏
Pumped to be teaching the next generation about choosing estimands based on identification assumptions. 😂🙏
Okay, follow-up on the students' first grades of the semester.
On the one hand: *So many* Calendly sign-ups.
On the other hand: it feels like a huge teaching win that one of my students told me this morning that they were disappointed in their grade, but also understood it based on my comments.
On the one hand: *So many* Calendly sign-ups.
On the other hand: it feels like a huge teaching win that one of my students told me this morning that they were disappointed in their grade, but also understood it based on my comments.
September 15, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Okay, follow-up on the students' first grades of the semester.
On the one hand: *So many* Calendly sign-ups.
On the other hand: it feels like a huge teaching win that one of my students told me this morning that they were disappointed in their grade, but also understood it based on my comments.
On the one hand: *So many* Calendly sign-ups.
On the other hand: it feels like a huge teaching win that one of my students told me this morning that they were disappointed in their grade, but also understood it based on my comments.
I was skeptical of Vancouver APSA.
But I just posted my first grades of the semester from JFK and maybe another country is the right place to be headed after giving some folks what could be their first-ever sub-A grades.
But I just posted my first grades of the semester from JFK and maybe another country is the right place to be headed after giving some folks what could be their first-ever sub-A grades.
September 11, 2025 at 7:58 PM
I was skeptical of Vancouver APSA.
But I just posted my first grades of the semester from JFK and maybe another country is the right place to be headed after giving some folks what could be their first-ever sub-A grades.
But I just posted my first grades of the semester from JFK and maybe another country is the right place to be headed after giving some folks what could be their first-ever sub-A grades.
There is, unfortunately, a precedent of sorts. Trump sent in the National Guard to D.C. after Edward "Big Balls" Coristine was assaulted by some teenagers
The pretense for WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The pretense for the 1982 Lebanon war was the PLO's attempted assassination of Israel's ambassador to the UK, Shlomo Argov.
So, yeah, this tragic assassination may not end well.
So, yeah, this tragic assassination may not end well.
September 11, 2025 at 1:16 AM
There is, unfortunately, a precedent of sorts. Trump sent in the National Guard to D.C. after Edward "Big Balls" Coristine was assaulted by some teenagers
Reposted by Amanda Weiss
Very, very bad stuff coming from leading right-wingers
September 10, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Very, very bad stuff coming from leading right-wingers
I have yet to find a way to incorporate the bear-skinning episode into my observational causal inference course, but I have until Monday.
For my political behavior writing seminar, I assigned a "pastiche op-ed," where the students have to use current events as the hook for an opinion column... I'm making them all use the bear.
I look forward to reading a lot of op-eds about hunting regulation written in the voice of Maureen Down.
I look forward to reading a lot of op-eds about hunting regulation written in the voice of Maureen Down.
Greetings from upstate NY ithacavoice.org/2025/09/corn...
September 10, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I have yet to find a way to incorporate the bear-skinning episode into my observational causal inference course, but I have until Monday.
For my political behavior writing seminar, I assigned a "pastiche op-ed," where the students have to use current events as the hook for an opinion column... I'm making them all use the bear.
I look forward to reading a lot of op-eds about hunting regulation written in the voice of Maureen Down.
I look forward to reading a lot of op-eds about hunting regulation written in the voice of Maureen Down.
Greetings from upstate NY ithacavoice.org/2025/09/corn...
Cornell students found skinning bear carcass in campus residence hall - The Ithaca Voice
Update (Sept. 9): The Department of Environmental Conservation provided a comment for this story after publication. It has been added. ITHACA, N.Y. — Sometimes you eat the bear, as the […]
ithacavoice.org
September 10, 2025 at 4:42 PM
For my political behavior writing seminar, I assigned a "pastiche op-ed," where the students have to use current events as the hook for an opinion column... I'm making them all use the bear.
I look forward to reading a lot of op-eds about hunting regulation written in the voice of Maureen Down.
I look forward to reading a lot of op-eds about hunting regulation written in the voice of Maureen Down.
Reposted by Amanda Weiss
John Oliver: "While get the appeal of thinking just one more concession, one more payoff might safeguard your independence or let you live to fight another day, it's worth asking at what point have you compromised so much that
the thing you're supposed to be defending is gone."
the thing you're supposed to be defending is gone."
Trump vs. Higher Education: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
September 9, 2025 at 12:45 AM
John Oliver: "While get the appeal of thinking just one more concession, one more payoff might safeguard your independence or let you live to fight another day, it's worth asking at what point have you compromised so much that
the thing you're supposed to be defending is gone."
the thing you're supposed to be defending is gone."
I am a HUGE pre-registration booster. But IMO this is the biggest problem with pre-reg (especially pre-reg without analysis plans): It's hackable if people pre-reg anything and everything.
Like I've heard people *brag* about having the foresight to pre-register a lot of hypotheses. Don't do that!
Like I've heard people *brag* about having the foresight to pre-register a lot of hypotheses. Don't do that!
They can preregister the shit causal model or protocols, etc and it’s really important not to emphasize the lack of preregistration as credibility reducing because in doing so we’ll give it credibility when they prereg some “both go up” model.
September 8, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I am a HUGE pre-registration booster. But IMO this is the biggest problem with pre-reg (especially pre-reg without analysis plans): It's hackable if people pre-reg anything and everything.
Like I've heard people *brag* about having the foresight to pre-register a lot of hypotheses. Don't do that!
Like I've heard people *brag* about having the foresight to pre-register a lot of hypotheses. Don't do that!
The bartender at the JAWS happy hour last MPSA tried to convince me to order Malort. And I kind of wimped out. But now I'm curious!
September 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM
The bartender at the JAWS happy hour last MPSA tried to convince me to order Malort. And I kind of wimped out. But now I'm curious!
Reposted by Amanda Weiss
I refuse to give em dashes to the AI
September 3, 2025 at 12:56 AM
I refuse to give em dashes to the AI