(search for a student research assistant)
Background: within the NWO project “Changing climate – changing behavior” we are trying to explore how risk perceptions of individuals evolve with time as people are exposed to new hazard information and engage in social interactions. A set of techniques is employed to quantify the impacts of the risk perception evolution. These include statistical data analysis, agent-based simulation modeling as well as laboratory experiments. The latter are to be run in early 2015. I am currently searching for a student research assistant (to be hired via UT flex) to help with the review of relevant experimental literature. This project can be extended towards an MSc thesis topic.
Assignment: The overall goal of the assignment is to carry out a literature review on the state-of-the-art in lab experiments in the risk domain. Specifically, the literature on experimental economics and on behavioral economics needs to be reviewed to get insights into the existing theories and approaches to setup lab experiments in order to:
- understand how individual risk perceptions and eventual choices under uncertainty may change when subjects are exposed to additional information on risks – i.e. when they learn individually, and
- understand how individual risk perceptions and eventual choices under uncertainty may change when group interactions and exchange of information about risks in a group take place – i.e. when social learning occurs. In both cases the focus is on the eventual change in risk perception (i.e. learning about risks) as a result of a treatment rather than on the process of learning.
The expected output is a report on the details of:
- theoretical framework and hypothesis behind an experiment;
- details of the experiment setup (number and essence of treatments, number of subjects and sessions, used software, etc.);
- and other issues which are to be discussed during the first meeting.
Requirements
: any starting MSc or finishing BSc student with some knowledge about laboratory experiments.
For any questions please contact Dr. Tatiana Filatova at t.filatova@utwente.nl
