Étienne Proulx

Master's Student in Political Science | Université Laval

FR
Photo of myself folding a chair on a dock in Portneuf, Quebec

About

I am a master's student in political science at Université Laval, where I study AI governance and how different actors, from industry to policymakers, shape what gets called "the public interest" in AI debates.

Going forward, I'm interested in both ends of the spectrum: how institutional elites construct governance norms, and how communities like free and open-source software movements articulate alternative visions. My work combines discourse analysis and computational methods in R, applied to legislative corpora from Canada, Europe, and the United States. I have contributed to a publication in Social Science Computer Review and collaborate with the Chair of Leadership in Teaching Digital Social Sciences at Université Laval.

Research Interests

My research lies at the intersection of political science, communication studies, and digital social sciences. I am particularly interested in:

Publications

Published and Accepted Articles

Prompting the Machine: Introducing an LLM Data Extraction Method for Social Scientists
Foisy, L.-O. M., Proulx, É., Cadieux, H., Gilbert, J., Rivest, J., Bouillon, A., & Dufresne, Y. (2025). Social Science Computer Review, 0(0).
Published
Religiosity in Times of Crisis: Uncovering Canadians' Responses to COVID-19 through Terror Management Theory
Pelletier, C., Proulx, É., Foisy, L.-O. M., Drouin, J., Cadieux, H., & Dufresne, Y. (2025). Mental Health, Religion & Culture.
Accepted
Weighting Pledge Trackers Scores: A Measure Based on Pledge Salience
Tremblay-Antoine, C., Fortier-Chouinard, A., Cloutier, A., Proulx, É., & Dufresne, Y. (2024). Canadian Political Science Review.
Accepted

Under Review

AI Politics and Regulation in the European Parliament: Ideological Divides and Policy Convergence Before and After ChatGPT
Proulx, É., Jacob, S., Beaulé, A., Dinan, S., & Dufresne, Y. (2026). British Journal of Political Science.
Submitted
Zooming on the Zoomers: A Comprehensive Analysis of Quebec's Shifting Secession Dynamics
Proulx, É., Cadieux, H., Bouillon, A., & Dufresne, Y. (2025). Nations and Nationalism.
Revise and resubmit
From Checkbox to Textbox: Can LLM-processed Open-Ended Questions Measure the Same Latent Factors as Traditional Closed-Ended Questions?
Foisy, L.-O. M., Pelletier, C., Proulx, É., Cadieux, H., Temporão, M., & Dufresne, Y. (2025). British Journal of Political Science.
Submitted

Teaching

Introduction to Data Analysis with R

Comprehensive training to get started with data analysis using R for social sciences. Introduction to R, data manipulation, basic visualizations, and elementary statistical analyses. Includes theoretical presentation, practical exercises, and complete R scripts.

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Reference Management with Zotero

Comprehensive training on Zotero, the reference management software. Installation, collecting references, organization, integration with Word/LaTeX, advanced plugins to optimize your academic research workflow.

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Curriculum Vitae

Download CV (PDF)