Political Mobilization in Rural India – Follow-Up Survey 2010

This survey was the follow-up to voter education campaigns conducted in 2007 (randomized trial) in the same region. However, the survey did not target subjects who participated in those campaigns, and no questions pertaining to those campaigns were asked. The survey consisted of a cover sheet, a consent form, six pages of questions, and an interviewer’s assessment form. In the questionnaire one section comprised of three vignette-styled questions. The vignettes are the heart of the survey. Each vignette describes two hypothetical candidates in a hypothetical district of Uttar Pradesh, providing varying pieces of information, and at the conclusion of each, vignette asks respondents to indicate which candidate they prefer. The hypothetical scenarios will demonstrate if caste- or party-affiliation fully determine voting behavior, or if information on other candidate characteristics (such as rumors of corruption or criminal charges) counterbalances or overwhelms these affiliations. The data collected from this survey will be critical in developing effective designs for voter education campaigns conducted in rural areas of South Asia. In this survey based study MORSEL was involved from the pilot survey to data entry. MORSEL surveyed in 5000 households in 250 villages in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh.