Research In Progress | Completed Projects | Upcoming Projects | Legacy Projects | Prioritization
These are the main projects currently underway at Faunalytics.
Testing Approaches to Reducing Chicken and Fish Suffering
In our studies of U.S. and international beliefs about fishes and chickens, we examined the associations between beliefs about these small-bodied animals on the one hand, and behaviors that would reduce their suffering on the other: signing a petition to support welfare improvements and taking a reduction pledge. These studies provide evidence of how common different beliefs are and how strongly they are related to pro-animal behavior, which provides a suggestion of which beliefs may be ripe for intervention. In this study, we are testing several possible interventions to try and identify the most successful avenues for advocates to reduce chicken and fish suffering.
The pre-registration for this study will be published on Faunalytics’ Open Science Framework page.
This project is made possible thanks to generous funding from an anonymous donor.
Going Vegan Or Vegetarian: A Longitudinal Study of Veg*n Retention
In this six-month longitudinal study, we are looking at how new veg*ns transition to and maintain their new diets in the crucial early months. In partnership with Carleton University (Ottawa, ON, Canada) and with generous funding from VegFund and the Animal Advocacy Research Fund, we were able to conduct this large-scale study, which will yield enough data for at least three reports. The first report, which focused on success rates and transition methods, and the second report, which examine motivations and influences, can be found on the Completed Projects page. The third report will follow in the coming months and will examine new veg*ns’ supports, barriers, and strategies to overcome those barriers. With this data, Faunalytics will be able to provide advocates with information about which habits, tools, and resources help people stick with veg*nism over time.
This study is pre-registered on the Open Science Framework.
Farmed Animal Protection In China: Phase Two
The first phase of this project, comprising interviews with members of the animal protection community in China, can be found on the Completed Projects page. This phase follows on that research by interviewing members of the Chinese public.
Although China’s per capita meat consumption is lower than most wealthier, Western countries, its size and growing industry means that it houses and slaughters more farmed animals than any other country in the world. Despite that, the number of people who are working to protect the lives and welfare of farmed animals is currently quite small compared to more established communities in some other countries. Both phases of this study are intended to provide data to support that community. Because of the scale of China’s agriculture industry, even small changes have the potential for an outsized effect.
The pre-registration for this study is available on Faunalytics’ Open Science Framework page.
This project is made possible thanks to generous funding from the Culture & Animals Foundation, the Centre for Effective Altruism, and three anonymous donors.
Examples of Successful Anti-Subsidy Lobbies
Government subsidies for animal agriculture pose a well-known and difficult barrier facing animal advocates around the globe. They are also, according to the UN FAO (2021), “price-distorting and largely harmful to the environment.” Our goal is to facilitate knowledge sharing among diverse advocacy groups around the world, providing animal advocates with recommendations and lessons emerging from interviews with global animal protection groups that have previously attempted anti-subsidy lobbying. These interviews will be designed in consultation with lobbyists who specialize in animal law to elicit information about tactics that were successful vs. unsuccessful in interviewees’ particular political and cultural contexts, as well as the cost in time and resources of these initiatives. We will provide recommendations about best practices and their cost-effectiveness, which should allow groups around the world to learn from each other and optimize their methods.
The pre-registration for this study is available on Faunalytics’ Open Science Framework page.
This project is made possible thanks to generous funding from an anonymous donor.
Local Laws as a Strategic Stepping Stone for Legislative Efforts
Legislation is a key avenue animal advocates use to effect change at scale, but there is not much research about how to choose tractable issues and lobby for them successfully. As the strongest animal protections exist at the municipal level, the goal of this project is to look at whether local laws have ever led to the passage of similar laws at higher levels of government. In partnership with a law student or lawyer, we will review the legal literature relating to animal welfare in the U.S. to determine whether local laws have laid the groundwork for future laws at the state and federal levels of government. The scope of this review will include legislation related to any animal welfare topic, but with due consideration to its generalizability (e.g., companion animal legislation to farmed animal issues).
This project is made possible thanks to donations from Faunalytics supporters like you.
Chicken and Fish Substitution Meta-Analysis
Substitution of one animal product for another is always an undesirable outcome for reduction campaigns, but poses a particular problem when a smaller-bodied animal is substituted for a larger one, because of the larger impact in animal lives. For this research, being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Maya Mathur and Rethink Priorities, we will conduct a meta-analysis (an analysis of previously published data) to examine whether there is evidence of a substitution effect across many intervention studies. More specifically–although we will look for substitution across all products–we are most interested in whether the consumption of fish and chicken products increases when the consumption of cow and pig products decrease. If there is evidence of substitution effects, we will also use the available evidence to suggest characteristics of interventions that caused it, and suggest how advocates may be able to avoid them in their campaigns.
This project is made possible thanks to generous funding from the Centre for Effective Altruism and an anonymous donor.
