This page is under construction, and all assignments are preliminary. Prospective students
and colleagues should feel free to email suggestions to me over the summer (the sooner the
better).
POS 6208 Political Behavior Research
Professor Martinez Fall 1997
Phone: 392-0262 ext. 282 Email: martinez@polisci.ufl.edu
Office Hours: MW 9:30 a.m. - 12 noon
My goals in this seminar are
to have general discussions with you about how we do research in political science, how we judge research in political behavior, and how research problems are conceptualized;
to acquaint you with some of the important sources of secondary data that are commonly used in the study of political behavior;
to introduce you to SPSS for Windows, a standard statistical package which is widely used in the discipline; and
to help you conduct a piece of research based on a literature review and research design
that you wrote in a previous semester.
In the first part of the seminar, we will read and discuss a variety of materials related to
the general research process. I will also introduce you to secondary data and the SPSS statistical
package.
The second part of the seminar will be devoted to the development of your own research
topics. Works in progress will be discussed and evaluated by the seminar.
Seminar meetings will be suspended in the third part of the seminar, so that participants
may pursue their individual research projects. I expect to have as much or more contact time with
you during this part of the semester as during the other portions. The difference is that most of
that contact time will be one-on-one, rather than in seminar meetings.
The seminar will culminate with panel presentations of paper topics, which will be similar
in format to panels at professional meetings. I will recruit one or two colleagues to discuss your
papers, and will invite faculty and graduate students to attend these panel discussions. Following
the panel presentations, students will be given a short period of time to revise their papers to take
into account the suggestions of the discussant and panel chair.
Grades
| Seminar weekly papers and participation | 40% |
| Midterm exam | 20% |
| Panel presentation | 20% |
| Final research paper | 20% |
Calendar
During the first part of the course, written assignments are due in my box no later than 1
p.m. on the day preceding seminar meetings.
August 29 - No class (American Political Science Association meetings)
September 5 - Class begins: Overview
September 12 - Introduction to Computer Analysis using SPSS and secondary data
September 19 - Criticism
September 26 - Replication discussion
October 3 - Replication
October 10 - Conceptualization and design
October 17 - Midterm
October 24 -
October 31 -
November 7 - No class (Homecoming)
November 14 -
November 21 - Seminar: Pre-Panel Presentation workshop
November 26 - Wednesday (Deadline for delivery of papers to panel discussant and chair)
November 28 - No class (Thanksgiving)
December 5 - Panel Presentations
December 17 - Revised Papers due
Overview
Read
Hoover, Kenneth and Todd Donovan. 1995. The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking. Sixth
Edition. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Ethridge, Marcus E. 1994. "Introduction: A Science of Politics." In Ethridge (ed.) The Political
Research Experience: Readings and Analysis. Guilford, Connecticut: Dushkin.
Most, Benjamin A. 1990. "Getting started on political research. (The Profession of Political
Science)" PS 23 (4, December): 592-596.
Useem, Bert. 1997. "Choosing a Dissertation Topic." PS 30 (2, June): 213-216.
Write
Put a copy of a literature review and research design submitted for a previous class, including the instructor's comments, in my box by Wednesday, September 3. Include a three to five page appendix discussing the viability of the proposed research project in light of the assigned readings.
Introduction to Computer Analysis using SPSS and secondary data
Read
Kiecolt, K. Jill and Laura E. Nathan. 1985. Secondary Analysis of Survey Data. Beverly Hills:
Sage.
(Probably) Green, Sam et al.1997. Using SPSS for Windows: Analyzing and Understanding
Data. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Instructions to Contributors for two general political science journals (such as AJPS, JOP, APSR,
PRQ, Political Behavior, or American Politics Quarterly).
Write
Imagine that you are asked to review an article for a general political science What general criteria
would be important in recommending publication (or non-publication) to an editor? You should
look at the instructions to contributors of the major journals to get some hints. But basically, you
will need to reflect on how to assess what is important knowledge to be distributed in the
academic community.
Criticism
Read
Anonymous. 1994. Political Socialization of Inner-City Adolescents. Unpublished (?)
manuscript.
Anonymous. 1993. Women, Issues, and Voter Turnout. Unpublished (?) manuscript.
Write
Assume that you have been asked to review these two manuscripts for publication in a general
political science journal. In one or two typed single-spaced pages per review, assess the strengths
and weaknesses of each manuscript. Using the criteria that you developed in your previous essay
and we discussed in seminar, advise the editor to accept for publication, reject, or invite a revision
and resubmission.
Replication
Read
King, Gary. 1995. Replication, Replication. PS 28: 444-452.
Herrnson, Paul S. 1995. Replication, Verification, Secondary Analysis, and Data Collection in
Political Science. PS 28: 452-455.
Ringquist, Evan J,. Kim Quaile Hill, Jan E. Leighley and Angela Hinton-Andersson (1997).
Lower-class mobilization and policy linkage in the U.S. states: a correction. American Journal of
Political Science 41 (1, January): 339-344.
Useem, Bert. 1997. Choosing a Dissertation Topic. PS 30 (2, June): 213-216.
Write
What is replication? Is there any value of replication in social science? Should the journals
allocate more space to replication? Is a replication likely to be of any value as a dissertation or a
part of a dissertation?
Pick an article that you have read (in American politics or political behavior) that you can
replicate using NES data. (So, pick something that interests you but is also something that you
think that you can handle with NES data.) Write a short review of that article, including a brief
explanation of what concepts you would need to measure and what statistical methods you will
employ in replicating the study.
Conceptualization and Design
Read
Ethridge, Marcus E. 1994. "Introduction: A Science of Politics." In Ethridge (ed.) The Political
Research Experience: Readings and Analysis. Guilford, Connecticut: Dushkin. Chapters 2-5
(including excerpts).
Carmines, Edward G. and Richard A. Zeller. 1979. Reliability and Validity Assessment. Beverly
Hills: Sage.
Write
Write a short paper in which you formally state the hypotheses that you intend to test in your
research, describe the data set that you intend to use, and describe the measures in that dataset
that will be used in your research. Why is this dataset appropriate to your research question?
Why are these measures appropriate indicators?