08 Oct Developmental Theories Model

Developmental Theories Model

Political Science 30, Political Inquiry

Homework Project #1

Part A. Hypotheses and Experiments

 Question #1. “Wealthy people are more likely to vote for the Republican candidate in the presidential election.”

a. In this hypothesis, state the independent variable, and give examples of two values that it can take on.

b. State the dependent variable, and give two values that it can take on. c. Propose one intervening variable that could complete the causal path between the independent variable and the dependent variable.

Question #2 This question focuses on the paper, “Information, Knowledge, and Attitudes: An Evaluation of the Taxpayer Receipt,” by Lucy Barnes, Avi Feller, Jake Haselswerdt, and Ethan Porter.

a. What kind of study is this: a natural experiment, a randomized experiment, or a quasi-experiment? Please give an answer, define that type of experiment, and explain why this paper is an example of that type of experiment.

 b. The authors begin their paper by pointing out a possible cofound? What is the confound that plagues these past studies? c. How does the research design rule out that confound?

 Part B. Data Project Throughout the four homework projects, you will test a hypothesis of your own devising. In this homework assignment, we will not ask you to open any datasets or perform any analysis with STATA – which is a good thing, since we have not taught you how to do that yet. For now, you need to choose which dataset to use, and you need to state the hypothesis that you will test in the three assignments that will follow. These three datasets are:

• ANES 2016. This is the National Election Study, which surveyed a random sample of 2,054 Americans over the course of the last election season, asking them about their characteristics, their political opinions, and their voting behavior. All the variables contained in this dataset are listed and described in STATA Manual pp. 124-138. The only variables that you can pick as the dependent variable for your hypothesis are the feeling thermometer ratings

• Congress 2008. This is a dataset describing each of America’s 435 congressional district, as they were drawn in 2008. It provides information on district demographics, campaign spending, how citizens voted in congressional elections, and how Representatives voted on the floor of congress. All the variables contained in this dataset are listed and described in STATA Manual pp. 138-146. You may pick any variables in this dataset as the dependent variable in your hypothesis except STATE, STATENO, CD, MEMBER, INC08, or PARTY08.

• Eurobarometer. This dataset reports the results of a survey of 26,661 residents who live in each of the 27 nations that make up the European Union. The survey asks them about their personal characteristics, their policy preferences, and whether they take part in European Parliament elections. All the variables contained in this dataset are listed and described in STATA Manual pp. 146-153. The only variables that you can pick as the dependent variable for your hypothesis are: V22, V24, or V25. ANES 2016 variables: Choose ONLY V15, V16, V17, V18, V19, V71, V72, V74, V75, V75B, V76, V77, V78, V78H, V79, V80, V81, V81R, V81S, V81T.”

Question #3

a. In one sentence, state the hypothesis that you plan to test using one of the datasets b. In a short paragraph, provide some justification for the causal mechanism in your hypothesis (in other words, tell us your theory and why you think you’ll be right).

c. List your independent variable or variables, and give at least two examples of the values that each independent variable might take on.

 d. List your dependent variable, and give at least two examples of the values that it might take on.