CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

PPA 205:

Research in Public Policy and Administration

Spring, 2003

Professor Ted Lascher Class meeting time and place:

3035 Tahoe Hall Wednesday, 6-8:50 p.m., Sequoia 450

(916)278-4864 (office)

(530)758-5687 (home-- Class office hours: Wednesday 5-6 p.m. and

no calls after 9:00 p.m.) by appointment

tedl@csus.edu

OVERVIEW

This course focuses on the design of social science research. The main goal is to enhance students' understanding of how to fashion studies related to public policy and administration to draw valid inferences. Additionally, PPA 205 aims to promote knowledge of the characteristics and potential pitfalls of various research approaches. The course gives particular attention to case studies, including means of analyzing case study data. As well, PPA 205 is intended to facilitate effective presentation of results and ethical conduct of research projects.

This is not primarily a course on statistical analysis of quantitative information. Another core course, PPA 207, serves that purpose. However, we will give some attention to analyzing case study data. Additionally, we will draw from studies that use quantitative analysis to illustrate points central to the goals of this course.

SPECIFIC LEARNING GOALS

At the end of PPA 205 it is expected that students will:

1. Appreciate the importance of the “front end” of research (i.e., research design).

2. Appreciate that essential unity of the scientific approach across quantitative and qualitative types of research.

3. Understand key principles that can increase confidence in research inferences.

4. Develop the ability to apply the logic of causal order.

5. Understand different approaches to data collection and the advantages and pitfalls of each.

6. Understand the different ways case studies can be used as well as principles for choosing cases wisely.

7. Understand key attributes of an effective research presentation.

8. Appreciate some of the ethical considerations applicable to applied social science research.

CONDUCT OF THE COURSE

This course differs from traditional research methods courses in that a relatively heavy emphasis is placed on classroom discussion. In my judgment it is not enough for students to listen carefully to a lecture; instead, the concepts must be used to analyze real world studies and information. Accordingly, a typical class will begin with assessment of an applied reading or some other means of putting course ideas to work. In the latter part of the class I will draw lessons and further elaborate upon important points from the readings. Discussion questions are also included in the syllabus to help guide your reading.

Especially because of the emphasis on discussion, it is essential that students come to class having done the week's reading. Students should also be prepared to accept special discussion related assignments, such as leading the analysis of a particular study.

READINGS

Required course readings include a course packet as well as the following books.

James A. Davis, The Logic of Causal Order, Sage University Paper series on

Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07-055 (Beverly Hills:

Sage Publications, 1985).

Arlene Fink, How to Ask Survey Questions (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications,

1995).

Gary King, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry:

Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research (Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1994).

Mark S. Litwin, How to Measure Survey Reliability and Validity (Thousand Oaks:

Sage Publications, 1995).

Robert K. Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 3r^d Edition

(Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1994).

All readings are available from the Hornet Bookstore.

ASSIGNMENTS

The most important class assignment will be the development of a research prospectus for a potential study using a case study methodology. Such a prospectus might later be developed into a PPA thesis/project, at the student’s option. Detailed guidelines for the prospectus will be distributed during the semester. The prospectus will be due on the last day of the final exam period.

Additional requirements include a comprehensive final examination, two short papers, and two one page homework assignments. The shorter assignments are “front-loaded,” thereby allowing students time to concentrate on the prospectus and final examination.

GRADING WEIGHTS

Grading will be determined as follows:

Case study prospectus 30%

Final exam 20%

Causal order paper 15%

Survey paper 15%

Class participation 10%

Homework 10%

LATE ASSIGNMENTS AND MISSED CLASSES

Late assignments will not be accepted. At my discretion, a student who misses a deadline may be given a make-up assignment. Whether or not a penalty will be assessed depends on the reason (e.g., a family emergency constitutes a good reason; a competing requirement for another course does not).

A student with more than one unexcused absence from class will be penalized one full class participation grade. A student who misses more than three classes for any reason should drop the course.

DETAILED CLASS INFORMATION

Note: for any particular class session, applied readings are generally listed first.

I. DESIGNING SOCIAL INQUIRY: GENERAL ISSUES

A. INTRODUCTION

January 29

Readings

Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr., In Search of Excellence:

Lessons from America’s Best Run Companies (New York: Warner Books,

1982), ch. 1

Jonathan N. Wand, et al., “The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for

Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida,” American Political Science

Review, 95 (December, 2001), pp. 793-810

King, Keohane and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, pp. 1-13

Discussion Questions

1. Consider the methodology used by Peters and Waterman in their

famous book In Search of Excellence. What’s the “big thing” that’s

wrong with their approach to identifying the key characteristics of

successful companies?

2. What are the various ways that Wand and his colleagues attempted to

verify that the “butterfly ballot” really was responsible for the high

Buchanan vote in Palm Beach?

3. What are the main features of social science research?

4. What is the difference between normative and empirical research?

B. THEORIES, HYPOTHESES, AND VARIABLES

February 5

Homework assignment #1 due

Readings

Cristina Hoff Sommers, “The War Against Boys,” The Atlantic Monthly 285

(May 2000), pp. 59-74

Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot, Social Security: The Phony Crisis (Chicago:

The University of Chicago Press, 1999), pp. 54-60

King, Keohane and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, pp. 14-33, 99-114

Discussion Questions

1. What’s the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?

2. What does it mean to have a falsifiable theory?

3. What is the difference between an experimental and non-experimental

research design?

C. THINKING ABOUT CAUSALITY

February 12

Readings

Alan I. Abramowitz and Kyle L. Saunders, “Ideological Realignment in the U.S.

Electorate,” Journal of Politics, 60 (August 1998), pp. 634-652

Davis, The Logic of Causal Order (entire)

Discussion Questions

1. It is often difficult to sort out the causal effects of different political variables

(e.g., did being a Democrat tend to make one support Bill Clinton or did

approval of Bill Clinton tend to make one a Democrat?). How do Abramowitz

and Saunders make use of the “logic of causal order” to distinguish the

effects of party identification and ideology?

2. More generally, how can researchers determine the correct causal order for

the variables they are examining?

D. VALIDITY

February 19

Causal order paper due

Readings

Robert S. Erikson, Gerald C. Wright, and John P. McIver, Statehouse

Democracy: Public Opinion and Public Policy in the American

States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 12-29

Donald Green, Bradley Palmquist, and Erik Schickler, Partisan Hearts and

Minds (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), pp. 24-51

Note: this reading will be distributed in the prior class

Litwin, How to Measure Survey Reliability and Validity, chapters 1, 3

Discussion Questions

1. How did Erikson et. al. attempt to demonstrate the validity of their measures

of state partisanship and ideology?

2. How do Green et al. ensure that “party identification” is “more than a figment

of social scientists’ imagination?”

3. What is the difference between validity and reliability?

Also, be prepared to discuss your paper in class.

E. RELIABILITY

February 26

Reading

Litwin, How to Measure Survey Reliability and Validity, chapter 2

In-Class Exercise

Read the Litwin selection carefully and be prepared to make reliability

calculations in class.

II. APPROACHES TO GATHERING INFORMATION

A. FINDING AND USING WIDELY AVAILABLE ARCHIVAL DATA

March 5

Web Sites to Visit

Come to class having perused the Web sites for the Social Science Data Base Archive (SSDBA) at CSU Los Angeles ( and

the Inter-University Consortium on Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu).

Reading

Edward L. Lascher, Jr., Michael G. Hagen, and Steven A. Rochlin, "Gun Behind the Door? Ballot Initiatives, State Policies and Public Opinion," Journal of Politics 58 (1996), pp. 760-775.

Discussion Questions

1. Where and how did my coauthors and I find information appropriate for

answering our research question?

2. What were the advantages and disadvantages of the data set my colleagues

and I used?

3. How would you go about finding and obtaining a relevant social science data

set?

B. CONSTRUCTING ONE’S OWN DATA SET FROM ARCHIVAL

INFORMATION

March 12

Homework assignment #2 due

Readings

Andrew M. Shaw, “Term Limits and Legislative Gridlock: California’s

Experience,” MPPA Thesis at CSUS, 2000, pp. 32-52

Lyn Kathlene, "Power and Influence in State Legislative Policymaking: The

Interaction of Gender and Position in Committee Hearing Debates,"

American Political Science Review, 88 (1994), pp. 560-576

Discussion Questions

1. What kind of data did Shaw use for his thesis? Where did he find the

data? What are the advantages and drawbacks of his data?

2. What kind of data did Kathlene use for her article? How difficult was it to

collect such data? How appropriate were the data for her purposes?

C. CONDUCTING SURVEYS: THE BASICS

March 19

Readings

Joseph A. Catania, et al., “Effects of Interviewer Gender, Interviewer Choice, and Item Wording on Responses to Questions Concerning Sexual Behavior,” Public Opinion Quarterly, 60 (1996), pp. 345-375

Bruce E. Keith, et al., The Myth of the Independent Voter (Berkeley: University

of California Press, 1992), pp. 1-5, 9-22

Fink, How to Ask Survey Questions, pp. 1-63

Discussion Questions

1. What does the article by Catania, et al., suggest about factors affecting

responses to survey questions? What are the implications for how surveys

should be conducted?

2. What difference does it make whether “leaners” are coded as Democrats/

Republicans or independents? Why

3. What common problems face people who construct surveys? What can "go

wrong?"

4. How can surveys be made conceptually clear?

D. ASSESSING SURVEY DESIGN AND FURTHER SURVEY TOPICS

March 26

Survey assignment due

Readings

Mick P. Couper, Michael W. Traugott, and Mark J. Lamias, “Web Survey Design and Administration,” Public Opinion Quarterly, 65 (2001), pp. 230-253.

Fink, How to Ask Survey Questions, pp. 65-end

Litwin, How to Measure Survey Reliability and Validity, chapters 4-5

Discussion Questions

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Web surveys?

2. How should questions differ depending on whether respondents are being

asked about attitudes, knowledge, or behavior?

Also, be prepared to discuss your paper in class.

E. THE NATURE, PURPOSES, AND DESIGN OF CASE STUDIES

April 2

Movie (to be viewed prior to class): “All the President’s Men” (1976)

Readings

Yin, Case Study Research, chapters 1 and 2

King, Keohane and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, chapters 4, 6

Discussion Questions

1. How did the “research question” evolve in the Woodward and Bernstein

investigation of Watergate? What types of data did they use? How did

they check the validity of their inferences?

2. What exactly distinguishes case studies from other research approaches?

3. What is selection bias? How should the researcher address potential

selection bias?

4. How does one "maximize leverage" (again a la King, Keohane, and Verba)?

F. ASSESSING DIFFERENT TYPES OF ACTUAL CASE STUDIES

April 9

Readings

Phyllis E. Smith, “The Architecture of Criminal Behavior: An Exploration of the

Effects of Architectural Design on Inmate Behavior,” MPPA thesis at CSUS, 2000, pp. 19-33

Miguel Ceja, “Applying, Choosing, and Enrolling in Higher Education:

Understanding the College Choice Process of First-Generation Chicana

Students,” Ph. D. Dissertation, UCLA, 2001, selections

Discussion Questions

1. What did Phyllis Smith aim to test with her case studies? Why did she

choose her particular cases? Was her choice appropriate?

2. What was Miguel Ceja’s question? Why and how did he use structured,

in-depth interviews of 20 Chicana high school students to answer that

question? To what extent are his findings compelling?

G. ANALYZING CASE STUDY DATA

April 23 (no class April 16; spring break)

Readings

Richard A. Clucas, The Speaker’s Electoral Connection: Willie Brown and the

California Assembly (Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies, 1995,

pp. 131-151

Yin, Case Study Research, chs. 3-5

Discussion

Think especially about the relationship between Clucas’ text and his tables.

We’ll talk about how these elements reinforce one another.

III. PRAXIS

A. PREPARING FOR THE PROSPECTUS

April 30

There will not be a regular class session this week. Instead, people should

use this time to work on their research prospectus. Additionally, you

should arrange to meet individually with me to discuss your project.

B. ENSURING A QUALITY PRESENTATION (OR: “GOOD WRITING

MATTERS”)

May 7

Readings

Kristen Renwick Monroe, The Heart of Altruism: Perceptions of a Common

Humanity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 3-5, 91-118

Jonathan Krasno and Kenneth Goldstein, “The Facts about Television

Advertising and the McCain-Feingold Bill,” PS: Political Science and

Politics, 35 (June, 2002), pp. 207-216

Anonymous article on nonpartisan elections and my critique

Yin, Case Study Research, ch. 6

Discussion Questions

What are the characteristics of an effective presentation using qualitative data?

Using quantitative data?

C. ETHICAL ISSUES AND COURSE WRAP-UP

May 14

Reading

Eyal Press and Jennifer Washburn, “The Kept University,” The Atlantic Monthly

285 (March 2000), pp. 39-54

Discussion Questions

What are researchers' ethical obligations to the subjects of their research? To

their discipline and colleagues? To the larger public?