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Empirical Political Research Fall, 2000 Dr. Kenneth Wald
* Course
Description and Purpose *
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| class participation | 15% |
| written assignments | 15% |
| midterm examination | 20% |
| final paper | 50% |
The standards for evaluating the final paper, the single largest component of the seminar grade, will vary from student to student in response to methodological background. I assume that all seminar participants have mastered the basics of research design (as conveyed in our "Conduct of Inquiry"), elementary statistics (STA 6126, POS 6737 or the equivalent), and some core questions in political behavior (as explored in POS 6207). Those with skills and background beyond this level will be expected to produce more sophisticated research projects.
The midterm examination will be a take-home exercise in which you are allowed access to your books and notes. The goal of the examination is to determine your mastery of the key concepts and skills covered in the seminar to date.
Earl Babbie, Fred Halley and Jeanne Zaino, Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows 95 /98 (Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2000).*
Kenneth R. Hoover and Todd Donovan, The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking. Sixth edition. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995).
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Topic: Review of POS 6207 (or equivalent source of ) research topics - be prepared to present your idea for a research topic to the seminar. Together, we will review the kinds of research topics proposed by the seminar, and discuss the designs' basic strengths, weaknesses, and possible pitfalls to avoid.
Assignment: Put a copy of your
literature review paper, including instructor's comments, in my mailbox
(either Walker Hall or Turlington) by Friday, August 25.
Topic: Getting Started in Political Science Research
Assignment due in class: Write a three page essay (using an appropriate professional style) describing the process by which you arrived at your research agenda, and defending your research against at least two of the criticisms enumerated in Ethridge, Chapter 14.
Read:
Hoover and Donovan, chaps. 1-4, 6
Ethridge, chap. 1, 14
Creswell, chap. 1-3
Leege and Francis, Political Research,
chap.
1
Most, Benjamin A. 1990. Getting started
on political research. PS: Political Science & Politics 23 (4,
December), 592-6.
Topic: Evaluating Research
Assignments due in class:
(1) Read David C. Nice, "Abortion
Clinic Bombing as Political Violence," AJPS 32 (February 1988),
178-195. Then turn in a short written profile that describes the data and
methodology used (theoretical framework, research design, sample, hypotheses,
identification of independent and dependent variables, measures and conclusions).
Indicate whether or not you would have recommended publication of this
article and why or why not. (A full review normally evaluates the coverage
of the literature, adequacy of the independent and dependent variables,
the quality of the data, and, most importantly, whether the conclusions
were justified by the analysis.)
(2) Turn in a brief summary of your research plans for the major paper. This should indicate the problem you wish to explore, the major theoretical traditions likely to be consulted, and the major data set(s) you will use for the empirical analysis. For the last task, you may use the materials available in the Data Lab.
Read:
Babbie, Halley and Zaino, Parts I
and II
Leege and Francis, Political Research,
chap. 2
Hoover and Donovan, chap. 5
Topic: Using Computers for Quantitative Analysis
Assignment due in class:
(1) Using the GSS data, tell me
| (a) | Are more Americans Democrats, Republicans, or Independents? |
| (b) | Which value do Americans think is most important for children to learn? (Obedience, popularity, independent thinking, hard work, or helping others) |
| (c) | Under which condition are Americans the most supportive of a woman's right to a legal abortion? |
| (d) | Under which condition are Americans the least supportive of a woman's right to a legal abortion? |
(2) Using the dataset that you expect
to use in your analysis, present the appropriate univariate statistics
(frequencies or
descriptives) for your principal
independent and dependent variables.
You will be required to turn in SPSS printouts showing your work, as well as text that explains your interpretations.
Read:
Babbie and Halley, Adventures in
Social Research, (Part III)
Hoover and Donovan, chap. 5
Ethridge, Chapter 12
Topic: Making Sense of Empirical Data
Assignment due in class:
(1) Using variables in the GSS, formulate
two hypotheses which might account for variations in Americans' attitudes
on
abortion. Present tables showing
the association between the independent and dependent variables in your
hypotheses. Write a short paragraph explaining whether the results tend
to support your hypotheses.
(2) What statistic did Tufte use in
calculating the "swing ratio"? He finds that the swing ratio
for Great Britain's House of
Commons is higher than it is for
the U.S. House of Representatives, and that the swing ratio for New Jersey
is higher than that for New York. What does that mean politically?
(Tufte's article is excerpted in Ethridge, Chapter 12. The original
article is Edward R. Tufte. 1973. The Relationship between Seats
and Votes in Two-Party Systems. American Political Science Review
67: 540-554.)
Topic: Converting an Interest into a Researchable Topic - be prepared to discuss the articles in Ethridge from the perspective of conceptualization, measurement, operationalization and the other stages of the research process.
Assignment due in class: Using the dataset that you expect to use in your own analysis, present one or two simple bivariate hypotheses and the appropriate bivariate data analysis.
Read:
Ethridge, select one study each from
chaps. 2-5, 7-9.( Read the article and commentary.)
Creswell, chaps. 4, 7 and either
8 or 9 depending on your research topic and style
Topic: Developing Testable Hypotheses
Assignments due in class:
(1) Using the GSS data, construct
indexes for religiosity, attitudes toward abortion, and sexual tolerance.
Which, if any, of
these indexes are valid? (Again,
show your SPSS printouts and text that explains your interpretations.)
(2) Present a written list of the
major hypotheses that you intend to test in your research paper.
You should present an
argument for the face validity of
your measurements, and tell me how you will determine one other form of
validity or reliability for each of your measurements.
Read:
Creswell, chaps. 5-6
Coogan and Woshinsky, Science
of Politics, chap. 3
Leege and Francis, Political Research,
chap.
5
Topic: Presenting Findings
Assignment due in class:
Using data from the GSS, formulate three or more hypotheses explaining variations in Americans' attitudes toward abortion. Test these hypotheses in an appropriate multivariate analysis. Evaluate your hypotheses. (As usual, show me the printouts and write a short interpretation.)
Read:
Babbie and Halley, Part IV
Ethridge, chaps. 11-13
Creswell, chap. 11
Coogan and Woshinsky, Science
of Politics, chap. 4
Leege and Francis, Political Research,
chap.
10 - as needed
We will not meet as a class on this date. You will have two assignments due to me.
(1) Present a written preview of your intended analysis for the research paper. You will need to indicate which tests you plan to run and why. Also indicate what evidence will be necessary for you to confirm your hypotheses. Due in class on October 24th.
(2) The midterm exam will be handed
out on Tuesday, October 24th and is due back to me by 4:00 on Friday,
October 27th. I expect a hard copy delivered to me at either office.
Do
not slide this under my door! If I'm not in, make sure you hand deliver
it to one of the people in Turlington 3324--call ahead if you're running
late.
Note: Students who observe the
Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur holidays or other religious holidays may need
extra time to complete some of these assignments. I will be happy to provide
it.
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