Associate Professor John E. Newhagen
4114 Journalism Building
newhagen@umd.edu
Journalism 471
Public Opinion Research
Tuesday-Thursday
Room 3102
Tues. –Thurs.
Section 0101: 10-11:15 a.m.
Section 0102: 2-3:15 p.m.
Office Consultations
I. COURSE DESCRIPTION: Prerequisite: A University statistics course. Measurement of public opinion, media habits, and the role of the media in the formation of public opinion.
II. TEXTS:
Asher, H. (2004). Polling and the public: What every citizen should know. Washington, D.C., CQ Press.
Meyer, Phillip (2002). The New Precision Journalism: A Reporter’s Introduction to Social Science. Fourth Edition. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. ISBN: 0-7425-1087-5
(Online at http://www.unc.edu/~pmeyer/book)
Fiorina, Morris P. (2005). Culture War? The myth of a polarized America. Pearson Longman. ISBN: 0-321-27640-X
Selected Readings to be distributed in the seminar (While not listed specifically in the syllabus, students should expect to read at least one book chapter or journal article in preparation for each class. Readings will be distributed in class.
III. GRADING: There are three grade requirements:
Theory Paper: (20 percent of grade)
Analysis of a PEW Research Center data set. This component of the course will be broken up into a series of weekly assignments and a final report. (The weekly assignments count as 20 percent of the final grade. The final report counts as 30 percent of the final grade)
Final examination. (30 percent of the final grade)
V. SCHEDULE:
Week 1
Aug.30 Introduction
Assignment 1
Week 2
Sept. 5 Polling and Journalism
Reading, Asher Chap.1, 7
Sept.7 Some polling history
Week 3
Sept. 12 Opinion as social science and journalism
Reading: Meyer Chap. 1
Sept. 14 Beliefs, attitudes, and opinions
Assignment 2
Reading: Fiorina Chap. .1-2, 8; Asher Chap. 2
Week 4
Sept. 19 Ideological belief systems
Reading: Converse
Sept. 21 Schema Theory
Reading: Hastie
Week 5
Sept.26 How George W. Bush engineered his 2004 electoral victory: John Zogby
Reading: Fiorina Chap. 1-3; Asher Chap. 9:
Sept. 28 Levels of measurement, levels of analysis, reification, and the ecological fallacy
Reading: Meyer, Chap. 4
Week 6
Oct. 3 Crafting the questionnaire: ways of asking questions
Reading: Asher Chap.3
Oct. 5 Social Desirability Biasing
Week 7
Oct. 10 Administration: Face-to-face, telephone, snail mail, Internet
Reading: Asher Chap. 5
Oct. 12 Sampling theory: Populations and samples
Reading: Meyer Chap. 6; Asher Chap. 4
Week 8
Oct. 17 Law of large numbers: Why the house always wins
Oct. 19 Variations from the probability sample
Readings: Asher Cahp 8
Week 9
Oct. 24 The data dictionary: Records and fields
Oct. 26 Confidence and standard error
Week 10
Oct. 31 Data culling and descriptive statistics
Nov.2 Causal inference
Week 11
Nov. 7 Generating descriptive statistics
Nov. 9 Confidence and standard error I
Reading: Meyer Chap. 4
Week 12
Nov. 14 Confidence and standard error II
Nov. 16 Chi Square and the cross tab
Week 13
Nov. 21 Thanksgiving
Nov. 23 Thanksgiving
Week 14
Nov. 28 Advanced data manipulation I
Reading: Asher Chap 6
Dec. 3 Advanced data manipulation II
Week 15
Dec. 5 Workshop
Dec. 7 Workshop
Week 16
Dec. 12 Workshop
Final Exam: 0101 TBA (probably Friday Dec. 15, 8a.m.-10a.m.
0201 Monday Dec. 18, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Students with a specific disability (permanent or temporary, physical or learning) needing special accommodation during the semester should make an appointment to meet with the instructor in Room 4114 of the Journalism Building.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: You must do all work for this class yourself, without collaboration with classmates or others, unless I instruct you otherwise. Along with certain rights, students also have the responsibility to behave honorably in an academic environment. Academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Any abridgement of academic integrity standards will be referred directly to the campus judiciary. Confirmation of such incidents will result in the earning of an "XF" grade for the course, and may result in more severe consequences such as expulsion. Students who are uncertain as to what constitutes academic dishonesty should consult the University publication entitled Academic Integrity, available online at: http://www.inform.umd.edu/CampusInfo/Departments/JPO/
ANTICIPATED ABSENCES: Students anticipating an absence, particularly due to a conflict with a religious observance, contact me within the first two weeks of class so that we can arrange appropriate accommodations.