“Many individuals would prefer to be working,” Hetling said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “Often they’re experiencing some type of challenge, whether that’s kind of a long-lived or a short-lived one, that prevents them from fully engaging in the labor market right now.”
Topic
SNAP
NJSPL: Chatbot for NJ SNAP Services
Built on OpenAI’s API and leveraging the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) model, the chatbot bridges the gap between users and SNAP resources by delivering answers in English and Spanish (among other languages).
Drs. Porumbescu, Walsh and Hetling on SNAP Learning Costs
Our findings demonstrate that enhancing the SNAP information structure lowers learning costs and indirectly improves public support and perceived deservingness of beneficiaries. We discuss implications for theory and practice.
NJSPL Blog: SNAP Websites’ Chatbot Services
Only 11 out of 56 state sites featured chatbots, with just four offering Spanish support.
Drs. Walsh, Porumbescu and Hetling Study SNAP and Tech
Cumulatively, our findings demonstrate that efforts to reduce SNAP learning costs are generally effective at improving comprehension recall and that the type of intervention matters, with the video increasing comprehension scores more than the flyer and screening tool.
Stephanie Walsh, Ph.D., awarded Outstanding Doctoral Student Award
The award recognizes excellence in doctoral research and scholarship across all disciplines at Rutgers University as well as the importance of research to a given field of study and a track record of academic and professional excellence.
NJSPL – Report Release: Using Technology to Reduce SNAP Learning Costs: Lessons from a Survey Experiment
Stephanie Walsh, Gregory Porumbescu, and Andrea Hetling tested the objective information recall of 1,6777 New Jersey residents by utilizing three different methods of communicating SNAP eligibility requirements: a screening questionnaire, a PDF flyer, and a video tutorial. Which one do you think worked best?
APPAM presentation on SNAP Administrative Burdens by Walsh, Hetling, Porumbescu, and Trehan
Today’s NJSPL blog features a presentation by Stephanie Walsh, Dr. Gregory Porumbescu, Dr. Andrea Hetling, and Vishal Trehan presented at the Fall 22 APPAM conference on SNAP administrative burdens.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Digital Services and Administrative Burdens
Why isn’t the participation rate for the government’s welfare programs at 100%? Research suggests that barriers and costs are not only associated with claiming but also redeeming benefits; these costs, in turn, discourage participation in programs.