My general area is American Politics, and my research interests lie at the intersection of American political institutions and representation, with work focusing on how institutional incentives affect legislative behavior.
While much of my research focuses on groups outside of the traditional power structure, I also examine legislative behavior more generally, focusing on the activities members of Congress and other elected officials employ to reap benefits for their constituents. The methodological approaches I employ are primarily quantitative; relying on large original datasets built around quantitative content analysis of legislative speech, writings, and recorded behavior.
A side research agenda also includes pedagogical work on student engagement and instructional design, combining my scholarly work with my interest in teaching innovations more broadly.
Refereed Articles
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole. 2023. ``Promoting Information and Visual Literacy Skills in Undergraduate Students Using Infographics.'' PS:Political Science & Politics. 56(2):321-327
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole and Debra Lynn Leiter. 2021. ``Nasty Women and Bad Hombres: The Effect of Racial and Gender Resentment on Evaluations of Presidential Candidate Valence.'' Politics, Groups, and Identities. 12: 1-29.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole and R.G. Cravens. 2021. ``Does a Wikipedia-Based Assignment Increase Self-Efficacy Among Female Students? A Qualified Maybe.'' Journal of Political Science Education. 17(1): 862-879.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole, Jason MacDonald, and Lauren Santoro. 2021. ``Congresswomen, Legislative Entrepreneurship, and the Basis for Effective Legislating in the U.S. House, 1973-2008.'' Politics & Gender. 1-32.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole and Debra Leiter. 2020. ``That Woman from Michigan: How Gender Resentment Shapes the Efficacy of Stay-at-Home Policies'' Politics & Gender 16(4): 983-990.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole. 2019. ``Reaching Students with Low Interest: Subject Matter Interest and Perceptions of Open Educational Resources in an Introductory American Government Course'' Journal of Political Science Education. 17(sup1), 459-485.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole. 2020. ``Representation by the Minute: The Influence of Ethnicity, Partisanship, and District Fit on Legislator One-Minute Floor Speeches.'' Congress & The Presidency. 47(1): 92-129.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole and Andrew Kear. 2017. ``Framed for Compromise? The Role of Bill Framing in State Legislative Behavior on Natural Gas Policy.'' Policy Studies Journal 46(3): 598-628.
- Mills, Russell and Nicole Kalaf-Hughes. 2017. ``The Importance of Markets, Politics, and Community Support: An Analysis of the Small Community Air Service Development Program.'' Journal of Air Transport Management 65(October): 118-126.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole and Russell W. Mills. 2016. ``Working Together: An Empirical Analysis of a Multi-Class Legislative-Executive Branch Simulation.'' Journal of Political Science Education 12(3): 335-352.
- Mills, Russell and Nicole Kalaf-Hughes. 2015. ``The Evolution of Distributive Benefits: The Rise of Letter-Marking in the United States Congress.'' The Journal of Economics and Politics 22(1):35-58.
- Mills, Russell W., Nicole Kalaf-Hughes, and Jason MacDonald. 2016. ``Agency Policy Preferences, Congressional Letter-Marking, and the Allocation of Distributive Policy Benefits.'' The Journal of Public Policy 36(4): 547-571.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole. 2013. ``Position-Taking in House Debate and the Issue of Immigration.'' Politics, Groups, and Identities 1(4): 488-509.
Other Works
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole. 2023. ”Policymaking Effectiveness and Inter-Branch Communications in the US House: Some Legislators are Objectively Better than Others.” Center for Effective Lawmaking Working Paper 2023-04.
- Heidt-Forsythe, Erin, Nicole Kalaf-Hughes, and Heather Silber Mohamed. 2022. “Roe is gone. How will state abortion restrictions affect IVF and more?” Washignton Post’s Monkey Cage Blog.June 25, 2022.
- “The Rise of “Letter-Marking”. The Ripon Forum (with Russell Mills). February 2018.
- “Republicans will vote against fracking – if the issue is framed the right way.” LSE Blog (with Andrew Kear). November 2, 2017.
- “Exit Earmarks, Enter Lettermarks” (with Russell W. Mills). 2017.
- “This is what will make it harder for Congress to pass a budget this fall.” (with Russell Mills and Jason MacDonald). The Monkey Cage. August 18, 2015.
- Kalaf-Hughes, Nicole. 2015. “South Carolina” in Contemporary Immigration in America: A State by State Encyclopedia. ed.Kathleen R. Arnold. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.