David W. Nickerson

Mail: 217 O’Shaughnessy Hall, Notre Dame, IN, 46556
Phone: 574-631-7016
Email: dnickers@nd.edu
Website: http://www.nd.edu/~dnickers

1. Education

Yale University: Ph.D., Political Science, 1998-2005.
Williams College: B.A., Mathematics and Philosophy, 1993-1997.

2. Positions

University of Notre Dame, Associate Professor, Political Science, 2011 – Present.
University of Notre Dame, Assistant Professor, Political Science, 2005 – 2011.
University of Notre Dame, Visiting Research Fellow, 2004-2005.

3. Scholarships and Fellowships

Visiting Fellow, Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Princeton University, 2009-2010.
Visiting Research Associate, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, 2007-2008.

4. Distinctions, Honors, Awards

“Scalable Protocols” paper selected as one of “100 Seminal Papers from the last 100 years of journal publishing by Oxford University Press.”
APSA section award for best dissertation in political psychology, 2005.
Miller Prize for best article published in Political Analysis, 2005.

5. Refereed Publications

Gonzalez-Ocantos,Ezequiel, Chad Kiewiet de Jonge, Carlos Melendez, Javier Osorio, and David W. Nickerson. Forthcoming. "Vote Buying and Social Desirability Bias: Experimental Evidence from Nicaragua." American Journal of Political Science.

Butler, Daniel M. and David W. Nickerson. 2011. "Can Learning Constituency Opinion Affect How Legislators Vote? Results from a Field Experiment", Quarterly Journal of Political Science 6(1):55-83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00011019

Bennion, Elizabeth A. and David W. Nickerson. Forthcoming. “The Cost of Convenience: An Experiment Showing Email Outreach Decreases Voter Registration” Political Research Quarterly. doi:10.1177/1065912910382304

Fowler, James H., Michael T. Heaney, David W. Nickerson, John F. Padgett, and Betsy Sinclair. Forthcoming. “Observing Causal Effects in Political Networks.” American Politics Research.

Nickerson, David W. and Todd Rogers. 2010. “Do You Have a Voting Plan? Implementation Intentions, Voter Turnout, and Organic Plan Making.” Psychological Science 21(2)194-199.

Arceneaux, Kevin and David W. Nickerson. 2010. “Negative and Positive Campaign Messages: Evidence from Two Field Experiments.” American Politics Research 38(1): 54-83.

Farrar, Cynthia, Donald P. Green, Jennifer E. Green, David W. Nickerson, and Stephen D. Shewfelt. 2009. “Does Discussion Group Composition Affect Policy Preferences? Results From Three Randomized Experiments.” Political Psychology 30(4): 615-647.

Arceneaux, Kevin and David W. Nickerson. 2009. “Correctly Modeling Certainty with Clustered Treatments: A Comparison of Methods.” Political Analysis 17(2):177-190.

Arceneaux, Kevin and David W. Nickerson. 2009. “Who is Mobilized to Vote? A Re-Analysis of Seven Randomized Field Experiments.” The American Journal of Political Science 53(1):1-16.

Nickerson, David W. 2008. “Is Voting Contagious? Evidence from Two Field Experiments,” American Political Science Review 102(February):49-57.

Nickerson, David W. 2007. "Does Email Boost Turnout?" Quarterly Journal of Political Science 2(4)369-379.

Nickerson, David W. 2007. “The Ineffectiveness of E-vites to Democracy: Field Experiments Testing the Role of E-mail on Voter Turnout,” Social Science Computer Review 25(4)494-503.

Nickerson, David W. 2007. “Quality is Job One: Volunteer and Professional Phone Calls,” American Journal of Political Science 51(2):269-282.

Nickerson, David W. 2006. “Hunting the Elusive Young Voter,” Journal of Political Marketing 5(3):47-69.

Nickerson, David W. 2006. “Volunteer Phone Calls Can Increase Turnout.” American Politics Research 34(3):271-292.

Nickerson, David W., Ryan F. Friedrichs, and David C. King. 2006. “Partisan Mobilization Experiments in the Field: Results from a Statewide turnout experiment in Michigan,” Political Research Quarterly 34(1):271-292.

Nickerson, David W. 2005. “Scalable Protocols Offer Efficient Design for Field Experiments,” Political Analysis 13(3):233-252.

Green, Donald P., Alan S. Gerber and David W. Nickerson. 2003. “Getting Out the Vote in Local Elections: Results from Six Door-to-Door Canvassing Experiments,” Journal of Politics 65(4):1083-1096.

Gerber, Alan S., Donald P. Green and David Nickerson. 2001. “Testing for Publication Bias in Political Science,” Political Analysis 9(4):385-392.

6. Unrefereed Publications

Nickerson, David W. 2011. “Social Networks and Political Context.” in Handbook of Experimental Political Science, edited by Jamie Druckman, Donald P. Green, James Kuklinski, and Skip Lupia. Cambridge University Press, p. 273-288.

Michelson, Melissa and Nickerson, David W. 2011. “Voter Mobilization.” in Handbook of Experimental Political Science, edited by Jamie Druckman, Donald P. Green, James Kuklinski, and Skip Lupia. Cambridge University Press, p. 228-242.

Nickerson, David W. 2009. “The Impact of Email Campaigns on Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Field Experiment,” in Politicking On-line: The Transformation of Election Campaign Communications. Panagopolous, Costas, eds. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Nickerson, David W. 2009. “Experimental Approaches to the Diffusion of Norms,” in Social Capital: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Bartkus, Viva & Jim Davis, eds. Northhampton, MA: Edward Elgar Press.

Nickerson, David W. 2005. “Partisan Mobilization Using Volunteer Phone Banks and Door Hangers,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 601:10-27.

Garrett, Geoffrey and David W. Nickerson. 2005. “Globalization, Democracy, and Government Spending in Middle Income Countries” in Politics Matters: Globalization and the Welfare State in Cross Regional Comparison, edited by Miguel Glatzer and Dietrich Rueschemeyer. Pittsburgh University Press.

7. Lectures and Addresses

a. Invited (past 3 years)

“You Are a Lab Rat for Democracy”, North Illinois University, November 4-5, 2010.

“Detecting Vote Buying using List Experiments”, University of California - San Diego, September 23-24, 2010.

“Best Practices in Mobilizing Voters”, State Voices, June 8, 2010.

“Racialized Descriptive Social Norms and Voter Turnout” (with Ismail White). Paper presented at the New York Area Political Psychology meeting, SUNY-Stonybrook, May 1, 2010.

“Vote Buying in Latin America.” Presented at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics Seminar, Princeton University, April 15, 2010.

“Using List Experiments to Study Vote Buying.” Presented at Democratic Market Failures Conference, Yale University, April 10, 2010.

“How (and how not) to study voter registration experimentally.” Presented at the Triangle Area Research Methods Seminar, Duke University, March 4, 2010.

“Descriptive Social Norms, Group Solidarity, and Voter Mobilization.” Presented at Princeton University, December 4, 2009.

“The Effect of Constituent Opinion on Representative Behavior” (with Dan Butler). Presented at Temple University, November 9, 2009.

“Results from the 2008 State Voices Experiments.” Presented to the Stoneman Family Foundation, Washington, DC, November 6, 2009.

“A Simple Model of Voter Mobilization.” Presented at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Princeton University, September 24, 2009.

“Conducting Experiments in Organic Social Networks.” Paper presented at the Networks in Political Science Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, June 13, 2009.

“Mobilization and Voter Turnout” (with Melissa Michelson). Presentation to Handbook on Experimental Political Science conference, Evanston, IL, May 28-29, 2009.

“Social Networks.” Presentation to Handbook on Experimental Political Science conference, Evanston, IL, May 28-29, 2009.

“Initial Findings from the 2008 State Voices Experiments.” Presentation to the Funders Committee on Civic Participation, Denver, CO, May 21, 2009.

“Evaluating the Effectiveness of Lobbying Work.” Seminar conducted at the State Voices National Summit, Denver, CO, May 19th, 2009.

“The Link Between Registration and Turnout: An Experimental Approach.” Paper presented at the University of California – San Diego, May 14, 2009.

“The Why and How Behind Field Experiments.” Presentation to Wisconsin State Voices, Thursday, March 20, 2009.

b. Contributed / Applied (past 3 years)

“Understanding Experiments with Treatments Assigned by Nature”, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Political Methodology, Princeton University, July 28, 2011.

“Artificial Inflation or Deflation? Assessing the Item Count Technique” (with Chad Kiewet DeJonge). Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, March 31, 2011.

“Informing Legislators of Constituent Opinion” (with Dan Butler), Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 4, 2010.

“The Importance of Taking the Compound Nature of Treatments Seriously” (with Pat Flavin and Mike Keane). Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Political Methodology, Iowa City, IA, July 22-24, 2010.

“Racial Cues, Neighborhood Behavior, and Turnout: Results from a Field Experiment” (with Ismail White). Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Toronto, ON, Canada, September 2-6, 2009.

“A Field Experiment on Nonpartisan Mobilization and Persuasion Down-Ballot” (with Lauren Deschamp). Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Toronto, ON, Canada, September 2-6, 2009.

“The Best Way to Register Voters: Results from Randomized Field Experiments" (with Elizabeth Bennion). Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association 67th Annual National Conference, Chicago, IL, April 2-5, 2009.

“The Link Between Registration and Turnout: An Experimental Approach.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association 67th Annual National Conference, Chicago, IL, April 2-5, 2009.

a. External

$50,000 from Carnegie Foundation for “The Role of Identity Labeling and Cohabitant Encouragement in Voter Mobilization” (with Todd Rogers of Analyst Institute), 2010.

$20,000 from Mott Philanthropic for “The Role of Identity Labeling and Cohabitant Encouragement in Voter Mobilization” (with Todd Rogers of Analyst Institute), 2010.

$125,000 funds from various sources for State Voices 2008 experiments

$215,000 research grant from Young Voter Strategies, George Washington School of Political Management, 2006, co-principal investigator with Elizabeth Bennion.

$83,000 research grant from Young Voter Strategies, George Washington School of Political Management, 2006.

$35,000 research grant from Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Fall 2005, principal investigator.

$20,000 research grant from Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Fall 2004, principal investigator.

b. Internal

$13,280 from ISLA for “Validating the Item Count Technique as a Measurement Tool” (2010).

$5,000 small research grant from ISLA for ““Knowledge of Issue Congruence, Incumbent Evaluation, and Political Participation” (with John Griffin) (2010)

$12,400 Pilot Funds from ISLA for “Measuring the Extent of Vote Buying” (2009)

$12,226 Pilot Funds from ISLA for “Racial Priming and Framing in Policy Evaluation” (2007)

9. Doctoral Dissertations

Michael Keane, June 2010 (committee member)
Lauren Deschamps, expected June 2012 (committee member)
Carlos Melendez (committee member)

10. Professional Memberships

American Political Science Association

• Political Methodology
• Political Psychology
• Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior
• Social Networks
• Experiments

Midwest Political Science Association
Experiments in Governance and Politics, Fall 2008 – present.