Political Science 380, Winter 2004 Evaluation
- Attached is the political science 380 syllabus. There are several things to be changed in my opinion, but on the whole, I strongly recommend this model. To tackle the last problem first, I comment on the causes of and the cures for the grading crunch that occurred.
- First, the grading crunch occurred for the following reasons:
a. Giving students too much time to find their “own” data.
b. Not scheduling other graded tasks while they are finding the data.
c. My own problem with the International students’ dinner being right before finals rather than in late February as it usually is.
d. My other problem with little tolerance for reading assignments on a computer screen.
e. The problem caused by trying to save paper and printing costs in the department.
f. Too much travel out of town, including three out of state- four trips in March, and
g. A few students being required to revise and re-submit their analyses based on issues of the sources used for SPSS data analysis.
- Proposed solutions:
a. Drop the ungraded theory submission; it wastes time and is often not related to the data used. It immerses many students in individual level hypotheses, but they find it difficult to find individual level data to fit their preferred topics.
b. Move the minor paper to second week in course while students are hunting for data.
c. Combine the SPSS data submission with the graphics assignment to save time and paper and eliminate confusion around the time of mid-terms.
d. Require everyone to submit each assignment only in the format specified; no email submissions allowed as they cause confusion as to whether they are on time, sometimes are difficult to open, end up being lost among a slew of emails, etc.
Minor (hard copy) 10%
SPSS file summary and graphics (floppy) 20%
Writing assignments (hard copy) 20%; revision 10%
Special skills – (floppy, zip disk, web page, video, etc. according to format) 15%
Statistics exams (bluebooks) basic 15%; advanced 10%
4. Other comments:
a. Almost all the students benefit from a critical writing; it’s the single most important activity in the course in my opinion.
b. The minor papers were in general personal and insightful. A few were exceptional and deserved far more than the 5% assigned. At a minimum the value for this assignment should go to 10% of the course grade (taking away 5% from the statistics assignments). The Department should ask those students whose papers were exceptional for permission to use these in our program review. Those essays say a lot about the major, the minors, and our degree candidates’ career goals and objectives.
c. The SPSS data graphics and statistics exams represent the hard data skills and not surprisingly tended to create a bimodal distribution among those enrolled in the class.
d. The special skills assignment (summary attached) worked very well, considering the diversity that had to be accommodated. As with the minor papers several were excep-tional. The major problem is to make the assignments equivalent. With the benefit of hindsight I can say one of the in-class assignments was too easy, and two of the in-class were too “lengthy” for the testing period. The public speaking/legislative research, etc. also needs more thought and development. But I love having all the task work done in P.S. 380, so that the Senior Seminar can be devoted to serious discussion. As with the minor papers, we should ask the students to allow the Department to use the best special skills submissions to market the major.
5. Most definitely, I am ready to teach P.S. 380 at least one more year to refine and improve this year’s version and am open to suggestions from both the faculty and students.
Political Science Laboratory (P.S. 380) Stanley E. Clark, Instructor
Winter 2004, TTh 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Rm. 240A Business Development Cent
Office Hours: Ph. 661-664-2353 or 2141; FAX 661-665-6075
M 9:30 a .m.- Noon; TTh 8 -10 a.m. & by appt. Email:
Course Purposes: This course follows Political Inquiry (P.S. 300) in the Political Sci-ence major. The faculty intends that it should provide application and experience in the most commonly required activities in social and political research. Although some topics are more “advanced” than in P.S. 300, none of the course topics is highly specialized. For such specialization, especially in order to graduate with honors, students should enroll in P.S. 480, P.S. 481, or P.S. 499. This course focuses on entry level skills for social and political research careers although it is also an important step for those who intend to do a master’s or doctorate in the discipline. Please consult with the instructor for advice as to how the course topics relate to your specific career goals.
Texts: The required text is one used Fall 2003 in P.S. 300, Johnson, Joslyn, and Reynolds, Political Science Research Methods, 4th ed. Also recommended is John H. Kranzler, Statistics for the Terrified, 3rd. ed. Both texts should be available in the Runner Bookstore.
Grading: Listed by each topic for which specific grades will be assigned is the percent-age for calculating course grades. These components will include class participation where that is appropriate. Please note that plagiarism results in an F grade. There is no final examination in the course, but there will be exams in Topics IV, V, and VIII – Statistics and Revising. Note also that all graded materials in P.S. 380 should be retained for possible inclusion in your portfolio. See Department of Political Science handout about portfolio guidelines and standards.
Topics and Assignments (Please allow for changes in dates due to adjustments in amount of time required for different topics; dates shown are approximate)
I. Theory - You must submit a paper or thesis discussion that embodies a social or political theory. Papers, including research designs from P.S. 300, are acceptable. So are papers from other courses. Although no grade will be assigned, it will be critiqued and returned to you on the basis of its theoretical precision.
January 6, 8: Johnson, et al., Chapters Two and Three
II. Data Acquisition or Identification – You must identify or acquire data to which you will apply your theory. Please do not attempt a new opinion survey unless it can be completed in one or two days. The best sources for such data are existing data bases and archives. One most important requirement is that the data be in raw form: We must be able to identify individual units of analysis in our data manipulation. If possible, your data should be a “sample.”
January 13, 15: Johnson, et al., Chapters Four and Seven
III. SPSS 10% – We will enter data into SPSS with complete variable and value labels and run descriptive summaries.
January 20, 22: Class Handout
IV. Statistics 15% - We will review basic principles of levels of measurement and descriptive and inferential statistics. This will include homework and other practice in calculating statistics by hand and calculator.
January 27, 29: Johnson, et al., Chapters Eleven and Twelve
Kranzler, Chapters One through Six
V. Statistics 15% - Each student should attempt a statistical test that was not used in P.S. 300, one that can be applied to his or her own data.
February 3, 5: Johnson, et al., Chapter Thirteen
Kranzler, Chapter Seven, Eight, Ten, and Thirteen
VI. Graphics 10% - This section will focus on data presentation in tables, graphs, and charts prepared in computer readable formats and in software, including SPSS.
February 10, 12: Kranzler, Chapter Four; Johnson, et al., Chapter Four
VII. Writing 20% - Each student will write a short paper integrating theory, data presen-tation and analysis, and discussion of findings and conclusions.
February 17, 19: Johnson, et al., Chapters Five, Six, and Eight through Ten
VIII. Revising 10% – As necessary, each student should expand the short paper and edit and revise in order to round out the analysis.
February 24, 26: Writing Handouts
IX. Minor 5% - Each class member should submit a 3-5 paper that reflects his or her most advanced level of study in the minor.
March 2
X. Special Skills 15% - Each class member should submit a project that demonstrates a skill typically useful to persons in social research careers. The skills listed below are “pre-approved,” but there are others acceptable not on the list. The instructor will assign a specific application to test your competency in the skill you have identified for yourself.
March 4, 9, 11
Editing others’ writing
Second language writing, reading
Graphic arts, or Film, or Digital
Advanced statistics (Johnson, et al., Chapter Thirteen; Kranzler, Chapters Nine, Eleven, and Thirteen)
Sampling design and execution (Johnson, et al., Chapter Seven)
Ethnographic Research (Johnson, et al., Chapters Eight, Nine, and Ten)
Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
Webpage design
Political Science 380, Winter 2004, Special Skills
Name Skill Testing Context
Acosta Film production Outside
Alva Webpage Design Outside
Acre de Smith Written Spanish Class, March 11 (1)
Brittan Event Planning Class, March 11 (3)
Burroughs Speech Writing and
Legislative Analysis Class, March 16
Calderon Webpage Design Outside
Fitzjerrell Advanced Statistics Class, March 11 (2)
Galloway Advanced Statistics Class, March 11 (2)
Garcia Written Spanish Class, March 11 (1)
Gridiron Event Planning Class, March 11 (3)
Hernandez Data Base Access Class, March 11
Horner Public Speaking Class, March 16
Iger Graphic Arts Outside
Jiminez Written Spanish Class, March 11 (1)
Kennedy Editing, Analysis Class, March 11 (4)
Kremers Public Speaking Class, March 16
Molinar Editing, Proof Reading Class, March 11 (4)
Molitoris Film Analysis Outside
Olivarez Research and
Resource Location Class, March 11 (6)
Orozco Written Spanish Class, March 11 (1)
Pentico Advocacy Class, March 16
Shields Editing Class, March 11 (4)
Smith, Andrew Editing Class, March 11 (4)
Smith, Chad Information, data retrieval Class, March 11 (6)
Starr Editing Class, March 11 (4)
Tanprayutt Acting Outside
Tyner Event Planning Class, March 11 (3)
Watson Public Speaking Class, March 16
Wehunt Editing Class, March 11 (4)
Zarutski Russian, English Texts Class, March 11 (5)
In Class, March 11
(1) Written Spanish
(2) Advanced Statistics
(3) Event Planning
(4) Editing, proof reading, text analysis
(5) Russian language
(6) Information, data retrieval