Research

My research fits into two clear, but interconnected tracks. Please click on the links below to see more detail on projects associated with each track.

Development and Civil Society

Substantively, I study the political economy of development. I am particularly interested in the role that civil society organizations such as NGOs and grassroots organizations play in development and how development support from donors - both private and from other states - affects civil society organizations and civil societies in recipient countries. I use survey experiments, field experiments, and other innovative causal inference methods in these projects.

Methodology

My methodological research largely supports the substantive research agenda. My dissertation project explores three ways to facilitate and improve survey-based analysis. Other strands of this track explore measurement - I am particularly interested in measuring civil society and regime types. In all of these projects, I use a diverse array of methods, including machine learning, Bayesian statistics, and developing novel statistical models.