Paper in Progress
Cluster: Effective Government
Manager: Giulia Matteucci
Assistant Manager:  Julia Flam
Research Associates: Christian Festa, Julia Flam, Abby Miles, Brandon Twomey, & Ronnie Ward
Research Assistants: Chris Byrnes, Elizabeth Dixon, Camille Gitow, Lily Kubany, Naya Kurdy, Sammie Natividad, Eric Ponieman, Alyssa Queensborough, Rhea Sibal, & Drew Thomas

Do American policymakers respond to high-quality evidence? We tested this question in a national survey of verified legislators, school board members, legislative staffers, and other politically engaged citizens. More specifically, we conducted three experiments to evaluate the impact of evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in education policy. First, we tested whether positive experimental results increase support for a program. Second, we evaluated whether null results reduce support for a program. Finally, we measured the impact of an RCT pilot provision in a new policy proposal. We find that evidence matters, but policymakers respond to claims of RCT evidence and “vague” evidence (i.e., evidence without reference to methodology) about equally.

Project members collected 80,000+ verified emails of school board members, state lawmakers, state legislative staffers, county party leaders, and college partisan clubs across the 50 states and D.C., as well as political candidates in North Carolina. A total of 2,575 respondents participated in all three experimental modules in our study.