Does Evidence Matter? The Impact of Evidence Regarding Aid Effectiveness on Attitudes Towards Aid

Jens Eger (), Sebastian H. Schneider (), Martin Bruder () and Solveig H. Gleser ()
Additional contact information
Jens Eger: German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval)
Sebastian H. Schneider: German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval)
Martin Bruder: German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval)

The European Journal of Development Research, 2023, vol. 35, issue 5, No 7, 1149-1172

Abstract: Abstract Development aid is considered an important instrument in achieving a more sustainable global future. However, the general public perceives aid as rather ineffective. This may be because the public knows little about aid and its effects. Evidence for the effects of aid projects may therefore be of particular importance in shaping attitudes. In a survey experiment carried out among the German population (N ≈ 6000), we presented a claim on the effectiveness of an aid project or the same claim plus experimental evidence, qualitative evidence or anecdotal evidence and compared it to a no information control group. Results revealed that the claim increases both belief in the effectiveness of aid as well as support for aid. Among all forms of evidence tested, anecdotal evidence performs best, followed by experimental evidence. Pre-manipulation support for aid partly moderates the effect of the claim, but those who support aid do not react more strongly to the two forms of scientific evidence (experimental/qualitative).

Keywords: Aid attitudes; Development aid; Elaboration likelihood model; Evidence; Public opinion; Survey experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-022-00570-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:35:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1057_s41287-022-00570-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/41287/PS2

DOI: 10.1057/s41287-022-00570-w

Access Statistics for this article

The European Journal of Development Research is currently edited by Spencer Henson and Natalia Lorenzoni

More articles in The European Journal of Development Research from Palgrave Macmillan, European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().