Luke Ashton’s research while affiliated with University of Technology Sydney and other places

Surveys are regularly used to estimate the prevalence of belief in conspiracy theories and test hypotheses about causes and consequences of these beliefs. In such research, it is typically assumed that belief reports are sincere. However, evidence for sincerity is rarely provided. In the present study we examine the issue of participant sincerity in a sample of 1,044 Australians demographically matched to the voting population. We find endorsement of six preexisting conspiracy theories to be widespread, with 34.4% of participants endorsing at least one and 4.7% of participants endorsing all of them. However, we identified evidence that not all participants who endorsed these conspiracy theories sincerely believe them. Strikingly, we found that among 205 participants who failed at least one of two sincerity checks, 64.0% endorsed at least one conspiracy theory and 25.0% endorsed all six, while of the 839 participants who passed both sincerity checks, only 26.0% endorsed at least one conspiracy theory and only 0.1% endorsed all six. Overall, our results suggest that participants answering surveys might routinely endorse conspiracy theories that they do not sincerely believe.

Report on Australian Cooperative Election Survey 2022 data from the Religion Module.

Empirical research on international student migrants has sometimes homogenised this group, framing it as predominantly made up of privileged members of the global middle-class. This has led to calls to acknowledge and address the precarity faced by international students in their respective host countries more comprehensively. This study aims to explore how levels of financial precarity vary among international students in Australia, and how this in turn contributes to varying levels of precariousness in the personal spheres of students’ lives. In doing so, we centre and refine the concept of precarity for use in studies of internationally mobile students, arguing for its use as a ‘relational nexus’, bridging financial precarity and broader lived experiences. Drawing on a large-scale survey and semi-structured interviews with 48 students, we emphasise the linkages between financial precarity and precariousness as a socio-ontological experience, explored through the examples of time poverty, physical and mental wellbeing, and relationships.

The report looks at the the impact of precarity on international students. It focuses on highly and extremely precarious students.