Major:
Political Science and Public Relations

Project:
The CRights Data Project

The CRights Data Project is a cross-national coding effort that translates qualitative human-rights reporting into standardized quantitative measures. Using U.S. State Department Human Rights (USSD) reports as primary sources, the fellowship involved coding physical-integrity indicators for countries worldwide — including extrajudicial/political killings, disappearances, torture, and political imprisonment — applying a consistent 0–2 scoring scheme and guidance that prioritizes report language (e.g., “widespread,” “systematic”) while using incident counts when appropriate.

Faculty Mentor:
Brendan Skip Mark, teaching professor of Political Science

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“This fellowship strengthened my skills in rigorous qualitative-to-quantitative coding, close textual analysis, and using standardized protocols to ensure reliable data. I learned how subtle differences in report wording change scores (language often overrides simple counts), and gained hands-on experience with international human-rights sources and coding rules grounded in international law (e.g., ICCPR). I plan to apply these methods and analytical skills to my Public Relations and Political Science studies and in future work that combines research, policy analysis, and advocacy to support evidence-based human-rights work.” – Faith Limose ’28