[EM] Request: Voting method blurbs for research

Jameson Quinn jameson.quinn at gmail.com
Thu Jul 17 15:40:28 PDT 2014


I am continuing my research on voting methods on Amazon Mechanical Turk.
I'm currently looking at 8 voting methods:
approval, Borda, "Condorcet" (minimax), IRV, MAV (Majority Approval Voting;
that is, Bucklin/Medians with ABCDF grades, breaking ties by above-median
votes), plurality, score (0-10), and SODA.

The full protocol is outlined below, but one aspect is that, at the end of
the experiment, each subject takes a quick survey, including their feelings
about the voting system they used. I'd like to test out different system
descriptions, to see if how the description impacts those feelings. So, I'd
like blurbs to describe how you'd vote, and how votes are counted, in each
of these systems. Of course, clarity and brevity are desirable.

So, I have my own blurbs already, but anybody else who can write alternate
blurbs for me, I'd appreciate it. You don't have to cover all 8 systems if
you don't want, but please do as many as you can; at least 5. You can use
html trickery (collapsible sections, popups, tables, images), or not;
however you want.

Here's how the experiment works, as described on the landing page:

Please do not take this HIT until you are told to. Press "Next" below when
you're ready to. Voting Experiment

This is an experiment on voting. 18 voters like you, divided into three
groups, will decide between three options. Depending on the winning option,
participants will earn extra pay of up to $2.40 (paid within hours as a
"bonus" in AMT). The average pay for each participant will be at least
$2.67, and depending on your luck and skill you may earn up to $4.00 in
total. We will be running this experiment several times, using different
voting systems, but you may only participate once.

In order to ensure enough simultaneous participants, we will be starting
this experiment at a defined time. Until the countdown finishes, you can
only view steps 0 (this screen) and 1 (consent form). Press "next" below to
see the consent form and countdown. If you leave this window open, when the
countdown completes, a sound will play ("voting experiment starting") and a
"consent and join" button will appear. At that point, we will accept only
18 subjects per experiment run, on a first-come first-served basis. We ask
that you only "accept" the HIT with Amazon *after* you are allowed into the
experiment. (But we have made more than 18 HITs available for
idiot-proofing.) *Only the 18 workers allowed in will be paid for each run
of the experiment.*
Process
 StepName TimePayout Explanation 0 Overview0-0.5 mins See an outline of the
experiment (this stage). 1 Consent 0-2.5 mins Understand your rights, wait
for the experiment to begin, and informed consent. 2 Scenario 1-15 mins
Understand how much you and other voters will earn depending on which of
the virtual candidates wins.Also, wait until the experiment fills up before
proceeding (a sound will play when ready). 3 Election method practice 1-1.5
mins Learn and practice the election method to be used. 4 Practice results1-0
mins See results of the practice election: the winner and how much you
would have been paid. 5 Voting round 10.5-1 mins Vote. You will be paid
based on results. 6 Payout round 1 0.5-0.5 mins$0-$1.20 See results of the
round 1 election: the winner and how much you will be paid. (Payments will
arrive within 1 day) 7 Voting round 2 0.5-1 mins Vote. You will be paid
again based on results. 8 Payout round 20.5-0.5 mins $0-$1.20See results of
the round 2 election: the winner and how much you will be paid. (Payments
will arrive within 1 day) 9 Survey2-5 mins $1.604-5 simple questions each
about:

   - you (gender, country, etc)
   - the voting system you used (on a 0-7 scale)
   - your general comments about the experiment

10 Debrief 0-0.5 mins Thanks for participating, and a simple explanation of
what we hope to learn from this study. Submit job and receive base pay.
Total 7-16 mins$1.60-$4.00 The total time will mostly depend on how quick
the other turkers in the experiment are. (15 minutes are allowed on step 2
for the experiment to fill, but that is usually much quicker.)

Press the button below to see the consent form and wait for the experiment
to start.
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