Professor Jeffrey Karp
Research Interests
Jeffrey Karp's research interests are in the area of comparative political behavior. His research has focused broadly on the question of how institutions affect political attitudes and behavior.
Since 1996 he has served as a co-investigator on the New Zealand Election Study (NZES). The NZES has been gathering data to examine the effects of electoral system change after New Zealand replaced its first past the post (FPP) electoral system with a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system. New Zealand's "natural experiment" has attracted a great deal of interest leading many to rely on data from the NZES to help inform current debates about electoral reform in the UK and abroad.
Examples of recent work include an examination of the effects of descriptive representation on political engagement, popular support for direct democracy, and the effects of electoral systems on mobilization and turnout.
Research Supervision
Public opinion and elections, political parties and voter turnout, survey methodology, and American politics.
Research Students
Lead Supervisor: Helena Cook (2009-), Adrian Millican (2009-),
Co-Supervisor: Kathrin Thomas (2009-), Maarja Lühiste (2009-), Helen Turton (2008-), Korhan Yazgan (2008-)
Mentor: Wael Abdelal (2008-), Khalil Osman (2008-), Oliver Fueg (2007)-
