Information, Accountability, and Cumulative Learning
Lessons from Metaketa I

Examines a set of voter information campaigns worldwide to assess their effectiveness, and develops a new social science research model aimed at cumulative learning.

Thad Dunning (Edited by), Guy Grossman (Edited by), Macartan Humphreys (Edited by), Susan D. Hyde (Edited by), Craig McIntosh (Edited by), Gareth Nellis (Edited by)

9781108435048, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 July 2019

504 pages, 54 b/w illus. 3 maps 50 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 2.4 cm, 0.81 kg

'Though social science aspires to the production of generalizable insights, all of the incentives drive scholars toward project differentiation rather than knowledge cumulation. In this important book, Dunning and co-authors illuminate a different path. They introduce a major methodological innovation, the metaketa, and apply it to one of the oldest questions in political science: the relationship between transparency and accountability. The book demonstrates powerfully how creativity and cumulation can coexist, and offers essential insights into how we can learn best from carefully designed research conducted across different contexts. A must-read for social scientists!' Jeremy Weinstein, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

Throughout the world, voters lack access to information about politicians, government performance, and public services. Efforts to remedy these informational deficits are numerous. Yet do informational campaigns influence voter behavior and increase democratic accountability? Through the first project of the Metaketa Initiative, sponsored by the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) research network, this book aims to address this substantive question and at the same time introduce a new model for cumulative learning that increases coordination among otherwise independent researcher teams. It presents the overall results (using meta-analysis) from six independently conducted but coordinated field experimental studies, the results from each individual study, and the findings from a related evaluation of whether practitioners utilize this information as expected. It also discusses lessons learned from EGAP's efforts to coordinate field experiments, increase replication of theoretically important studies across contexts, and increase the external validity of field experimental research.

Part I. Information, Accountability, and a New Approach to Cumulative Learning: 1. Do informational campaigns promote electoral accountability? Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Gareth Nellis
2. The Metaketa Initiative Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde and Craig McIntosh
3. Informational interventions: theory and measurement Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Gareth Nellis
Part II. Field Experiments: 4. Under what conditions does performance information influence voting behavior? Lessons from Benin Claire Adida, Jessica Gottlieb, Eric Kramon and Gwyneth Mcclendon
5. When does information increase electoral accountability? Lessons from a field experiment in Mexico Eric Arias, Horacio Larreguy, John Marshall and Pablo Querubin
6. Candidate videos and vote choice in Ugandan parliamentary elections Melina R. Platas and Pia Raffler
7. Budgets, SMS texts, and votes in Uganda Mark T. Buntaine, Sarah S. Bush, Ryan Jablonski, Daniel L. Nielson and Paula M. Pickering
8. Performance-based voting in local elections: experimental evidence from Burkina Faso Malte Lierl and Marcus Holmlund
9. Horizontal but not vertical: accountability institutions and electoral sanctioning in Northeast Brazil Taylor C. Boas, F. Daniel Hidalgo and Marcus A. Melo
10. Dilemmas and challenges of citizen information campaigns: lessons from a failed experiment in India Neelanjan Sircar and Simon Chauchard
Part III. Cumulative Learning: 11. Meta-analysis Thad Dunning, Clara Bicalho, Anirvan Chowdhury, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Gareth Nellis
12. Learning about cumulative learning: an experiment with policy practitioners Gareth Nellis, Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Catlan Reardon
Part IV. Conclusion: 13. Challenges and opportunities Thad Dunning, Guy Grossman, Macartan Humphreys, Susan D. Hyde, Craig McIntosh and Gareth Nellis
Part V. End Matter: 14. Appendix: meta-preanalysis plan (MPAP)
15. References
Part VI. Online Appendix.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Social research & statistics [JHBC], Research methods: general [GPS], Data analysis: general [GPH]