Political Behavior

Course objectives:  How much do ordinary citizens know about politics, and does it matter if some people don't know very much? Why do some people participate a lot in politics, and other people never even bother to vote? Does political participation really matter, and if so, what could be done to encourage more people to participate? Are elections just "beauty contests" between parties and candidates, or do they really mean something? How similar is Americans' political behavior to that of citizens in other western democracies?

We will discuss these questions throughout the semester, as well as look at how political scientists go about addressing these questions. Students will have the opportunity to read and discuss some original research on these subjects, as well as use some existing social science data to discover relationships on their own. I will also introduce students to the Survey Data Analysis system and use of basic data analysis techniques to learn about political behavior. These techniques will be especially valuable for students who will be writing an empirical Honors Thesis in Political Science or another social science discipline.

Course requirements include
 

homework and in-class assignments	periodic	15%
a mid-term exam	Tuesday, March 2, classtime	25%
a paper analyzing voter choice	Tuesday,  April 20	25%
a final exam	Tuesday, April 27, 7:30 am to 9:30 am	35%

Readings

Dalton, Russell J. 2008. Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Western Democracies. Fifth Edition. CQ Press.  ISBN 978-0-87289-537-9 . The companion website for Citizen Politics is found at http://www.cqpress.com/cs/dalton/ Assigned journal articles will be generally available for free through J-STOR.

Course Requirements

There will be two exams. Each exam will have two components. The first will be a series of true-false-justify statements. For each statement, you will be asked whether the statement is true or false, and to provide some justification for your answer. The justification is far more important than the true-false answer itself. The second component will be a long essay. The final exam will be comprehensive, though its clear emphasis will be on the last half of the course. The mid-term exam on March 2 contributes 25% to your final course grade, and the final exam on April 27 contributes 35%.

Periodic assignments will include some simple analyses of data using the SDA system.  No prior knowledge of SDA is assumed, but it will be important to attend class to learn about the basics of using this system.  On some days, it may be useful to bring a wireless-enabled laptop, if you have one, so that you can follow along with examples shown in class. The periodic assignments will also be announced in class. Cumulatively, these assignments will contribute 15% to your course grade.

There are also a paper assignment, due April 20.  The goal of the paper will be to review both literature (books, chapters, or journal articles) about factors that affect either participation (eg., why some people vote on election day and some stay home) or voter choice (eg., why some people voted for John McCain and others voted for Barack Obama).  This paper will also require that you do some simple analyses of data (using the SDA system that I will introduce in class, or another system that provides you with the ability to do simple crosstabulation analysis), and explain whether your data analysis tends to support or tends to undermine the theory and previous findings in your literature review.  A preliminary research question and bibliography will be due March 16. The final paper contributes 25% to your course grade.

Some materials and links to sources will be made available to registered students through E-Learning.  Students will be required to submit the paper assignment using the Turnitin.com links within the assignment folders in E-Learning.  Turnitin.com provides students will an electronic time-stamped receipt, and also checks for plagiarism by comparing your submission to online sources and previous submissions.  Students will also be able to use E-Learning to access grades throughout the semester.

You should view this class as an opportunity for an exchange of ideas by scholars with common interests. Obviously, I will contribute the most to the discussion, but I expect participation from the class, and I expect your individual participation to be especially insightful when we are discussing topics related to your chosen paper topics. I reserve the right to reward outstanding participation by as much as one-half a letter grade (for example, from a "B" to a "B+") at the end of the term.

The grading scale is as follows:
 

			A	91.0 - 100.0		A-	89.0 - 90.9
B+	87.0 - 88.9		B	81.0 - 86.9		B-	79.0 - 80.9
C+	77.0 - 78.9		C	71.0 - 76.9		C-	69.0 - 70.9
D+	67.0 - 68.9		D	61.0 - 66.9		D-	59.0 - 60.9

Special Assignments

POS 4934 (Honors Preparation): Honors Preparation students will write a literature review covering some topic in political behavior. The literature review will survey the existing academic literature to tell me the current state of knowledge about that topic, and propose an empirical question for the honors thesis. I will give you some leads on where to look, and will be happy to discuss your progress on the paper throughout the term. I expect it will be between ten and fifteen pages in length. (Students who are interested in the Department's Honors Program should consult with Professor Rosenson.)

General Stuff

Do not telephone me about a grade. No smoking. Please do not receive or transmit electronic messages (calls, text messages, tweet, facebook, email, IM, or other) during class. Doing so during an exam constitutes provision and/or receipt of outside information, which is cheating. If you bring food, bring enough for 50 people.

All written work submitted must comply with the UF Student Honor Code.  Plagiarism (whether inadvertant or overt) corrupts our ability to exchange ideas freely, and will not be tolerated.

Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.

The class listserv will allow me to make announcements to the class by email.  Students who are registered for the class are automatically subscribed.  The listserv address is Spring-5399-L@lists.ufl.edu .