Award Abstract #2028485

RAPID: COVID-19 Information Exposure and Messaging Effects

NSF Directorate:
SBE - Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
NSF Division:

Division of Social and Economic Sciences

Initial Amendment Date:

Latest Amendment Date:

Award Number:

2028485

Award Instrument:

Grant

Program Manager:

Robert O'Connor

Start Date:

End Date:

Awarded Amount to Date:

$199,027.00

Investigator(s):

Brendan Nyhan [email protected] (Principal Investigator)
John M Carey (Co-Principal Investigator)
Jason A Reifler (Co-Principal Investigator)
Andrew Guess (Co-Principal Investigator)

Sponsor:

Dartmouth College
OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROJECTS
HANOVER NH 037551421

NSF Program:
Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci
EPSCoR - Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Funding
Program Reference Code(s):
096Z
7914
9150
9179
Program Element Code(s):
1321
9150
Abstract:

Fighting the COVID-19 pandemic requires understanding what information people have about the disease and how officials can improve public knowledge and encourage behaviors that will protect public health. By measuring COVID-19 beliefs and attitudes, this study provides insights into public beliefs about COVID-19 and the efficacy of government and health messaging about the pandemic, and how those quantities change over time. In addition to measuring respondents’ knowledge about COVID-19, the research team assesses how people’s online media consumption is related to their patterns of knowledge. Finally, the study provides information about the effectiveness of public health messages on respondents’ knowledge about COVID-19 and support for public health policies.

The research team is collecting behavioral and survey data from Americans in a multi-wave nationally representative survey. This survey includes oversamples of respondents who live in areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases and who have voluntarily agreed to provide data on their online browsing activity. Each wave measures both the prevalence of different types of beliefs about COVID-19 and reported support for and adherence to recommendations from public health authorities. To evaluate responses to information from public health officials, the second survey wave includes a randomized experiment evaluating the effects of messaging from health and medical authorities. Finally, the study characterizes the information people consume online about the pandemic by analyzing the behavioral data provided by respondents using a combination of human-coded and machine learning approaches.

This project is jointly funded by DRMS and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.