Research Project

Part 1: Literature Review

Part 2: The Qualities of Public Opinion

Part 3: The Impact of Public Opinion

Part #1: Literature Review

Your first written task in this class is to write an 8-10 page literature review that focuses on public opinion research on a subject of your choice.   You might select a topic that interests you (e.g., the environment, abortion, capital punishment), or you might examine a broader theory (e.g., schema theory, political socialization, social capital).  The choice is yours.  Just be sure to commit to something interesting, since I will expect you to build on the foundation you create here by following the same subject matter in Projects #2 and #3

What is a literature review?

Not to be confused with a book review—or even an annotated bibliography— a literature review surveys scholarly work relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work.  The purpose is to appraise the state of knowledge on a particular subject.

Tips and tricks

When reading articles in preparation for writing a literature review, ask yourself these questions: 

• What is each article’s purpose?  What important questions have been raised?

• What is the author’s main argument, and how well is it supported?  For instance, is their logic sound?  What about their evidence, or their choice of methodology?

• How might you summarize the state of knowledge in the field overall?  Is there considerable consensus, or rather disagreement and debate?  Are there large gaps that have not yet been addressed?

Writing a literature review

In the introduction of your paper, you should:

• Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern, thus providing an appropriate context for reviewing the literature.

• Point out overall trends in what has been published about the topic; or conflicts in theory, methodology, evidence, and conclusions; or gaps in research and scholarship; or a single problem or new perspective of immediate interest.

In the body of your paper, you should do the following:

• Look for ways to group articles according to common denominators such as qualitative versus quantitative approaches, conclusions of authors, specific purpose or objective, chronology, etc.

• Summarize individual studies or articles with as much or as little detail as each merits according to its comparative importance in the literature, remembering that space (length) denotes significance.

• Provide the reader with strong “umbrella” sentences at beginnings of paragraphs, “signposts” throughout, and brief “so what” summary sentences at intermediate points in the review to aid in understanding comparisons and analyses.

Finally, in the conclusion of your paper, be sure to:

• Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction.

• Evaluate the current “state of the art” for the body of knowledge reviewed, pointing out major methodological flaws or gaps in research, inconsistencies in theory and findings, and areas or issues pertinent to future study.

Basic Parameters

• Your finished paper should be roughly 8-10 double-spaced, typewritten pages in length.

• You should discuss at least 5 (but no more than 10) articles.

• The work you review must be academic in nature.  Articles published in Public Opinion Quarterly, or the Journal of Politics are, of course, appropriate.  An article appearing in The New York Times, is not.

Adapted from:  "Review of Literature," published by the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison <http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html>

DEADLINE:  This assignment is due in class on Tuesday, February 28.  Late papers will be penalized.

Part #2: The Qualities of Public Opinion

Your second task in this class is to write an 8-10 page paper that identifies and discusses the qualities of public opinion on a topic of your choice.

“To speak with precision of public opinion,” said V.O. Key, “is a task not unlike coming to grips with the Holy Ghost.” Your goal here is to break the problem down into component parts, into those descriptive pieces Key referred to as properties or “qualities” of public opinion.  They include:

1.       Direction

To observe the direction of an attitude is to start at the very beginning, to reduce the study of public opinion down to its barest essentials.  Do Americans favor or oppose the issue at hand?  Is there a healthy consensus, or instead disagreement?

2.       Strength

A crucial quality according to early scholars such as James Bryce and A. Lawrence Lowell, the strength of an attitude can be measured by reference to several things:  intensity, centrality, and conviction. 

• Intensity refers to a strength (or depth) of feeling.

• Centrality is defined by the level of subjective importance individuals place on the issue at hand.

• Conviction measures the ease with which respondents are influenced by counterarguments and opposing goals, all of which force them to consider the costs associated with their beliefs.

When reading through poll results on your issue, look for questions that speak to these criteria.  Here are a few hints: 

The most direct way to measure attitude intensity is through standard degree-of-concern items, or Likert scales (see Bardes and Oldendick 2003).  For instance, a pollster might ask respondents if they personally worry “a great deal,” “a fair amount,” “only a little,” or “not at all” about a range of environmental problems.  Or, they might ask if the respondent “strongly agrees,” “somewhat agrees,” “somewhat disagrees,” and “strongly disagrees,” with president’s strategy in the war on terror.  Look for similar measures involving your issue. 

To assess centrality, search for unprompted, open-ended answers to questions that ask respondents to name the nation’s “most important problem.”  Or, use batteries of questions that allow respondents to rank your issue alongside others of interest.   In a comparative sense, where does it fall?   How salient is it?

Finally, to test for conviction hunt for paired comparisons or “trade-offs” that position your issue in opposition to other valuable goals (e.g., lower taxes, stronger economic growth, etc.).  When forced to choose, which wins out?

3.       Stability

Is the trend in public attitudes on your issue stable over time, or does it fluctuate?  If the latter, to what does it respond? 

Under some conditions public opinion might be constant, showing little or no change from one year to the next.  In contrast, we might see a pattern of linear change, which increases or decreases over time at a slow, steady, and reliable rate (perhaps due to cohort replacement).  Two final theories recognize the potential of short-term, non-linear change.  In some cases, shifts in opinion might be cyclical, paired with repetitive market trends or election timetables.   In others, change might be episodic, charting sudden and erratic shifts based on events of unique public significance, such as wars and economic recessions.  What pattern(s) seems to suit your issue?

4.       Distribution

How broadly is opinion distributed onyour issue?  If you are able to find poll results broken down into subgroups, do you see clear differences based on age, education, income, gender, and/or partisanship, etc.?

5.       Constraint

Finally, how consistent is public opinion on your issue?  Can you find evidence of a logical, structured, and constrained belief system?  Or, are attitudes crude, disconnected, and narrowly focused instead?  Does there appear to be a connection between abstract principles and specific policy preferences?

When writing your paper, try to assess each of these five characteristics.  Ultimately, that discussion should paint an accurate portrait of public opinion on your issue of choice.

A Note on Sources

Your literature review required you to search for academic books and journal articles—both of which fall into the category of “secondary” sources.  This project demands a different approach.  Here, you will make ample use of “primary” sources.  Think back to the computer labs we scheduled early in the term, and to the polls we explored there. 

Here are some excellent sources:

• The Gallup Organization (see Professor Guber for access to Gallup's extensive database)
• The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (accessible through LEXIS-NEXIS by clicking on "Reference," and then "Polls & Surveys")
• The ANES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior (provided by the University of Michigan
• PollingReport.com (an independent, nonpartisan resource on American public opinion, published in Washington, D.C.)
• Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (survey reports of a wide variety of topics)

Citing Your Data

Your finished paper should be roughly 8-10 double-spaced, typewritten pages in length.  It must include a bibliography. 

To cite the electronic databases you use, follow the parameters suggested by librarians at the University of Georgia, at http://dataserv.libs.uga.edu/other/apastyle.html

About opinion polls: Look for the title and other bibliographic information in the database record, descriptive web page, or publications lists of the resource you are using to access the poll data.

Note: The date on which the poll was taken is commonly included in the title, especially when the rest of the wording does not uniquely identify the poll.

DEADLINE:  This assignment is due in class on Tuesday, April 18.   Late papers will be penalized.

Part #3: The Impact of Public Opinion

V.O. Key once said that the “the exploration of public attitudes is a pursuit of endless fascination—and frustration. Depiction of the distribution of opinions within the public, identification of the qualities of opinion, isolation of the odd and of the obvious correlates of opinion, and ascertainment of the modes of opinion formation are pursuits that excite human curiosity. Yet these endeavors are bootless unless the findings about the preferences, aspirations, and prejudices of the public can be connected” to what political actors and institutions do.

Your final task in this class is to write an 8-10 page paper that discusses the interaction between public opinion and the political system—once again on a topic of your choice. Here are some questions to consider:

• How much congruence is there between public opinion and public policy? Think broadly about the latter. “Policy” certainly includes legislation, but if we expand our focus to include all forms of government decision-making, it might also include bureaucratic implementation, court decisions, etc.

• Overall, what seems to be the direction of causality in your case? Has public opinion influenced policy-making, or instead has policy helped to shape opinion?

• In their varied capacities as voters, citizens, or consumers, do Americans actively seek to shape political outcomes based on the attitudes they hold? For instance, are they likely to vote for candidates who have issue positions proximate to their own?

• Finally, to what extent do political actors (e.g., elected officials, political parties, interest groups, etc.) “pander” to public opinion? Do they seek actively to shape it, even to alter it? How successful are they?

You should feel free to focus on one (or more) of the above questions. Whatever approach you choose, be sure to explore it in depth using any source you like—books, journal articles, polling data, etc. Please cite those sources carefully and completely at the end of your paper.

DEADLINE:  This assignment must be turned in no later than Thursday, May 11 at 4:00 p.m.  Late papers will be penalized, and may (in the case of seniors) delay graduation.