POLI/COMR 240 Public Opinion Polling Prof. Wilson

Spring 2006 West 323

Office Hours: Wed. and Fri. Blocks 4, 5 375-2415

and by appt. email: wilson

COURSE OBJECTIVES

As you already know, this is not a traditional course. The objectives are clear and simple. By the end of this course you will have a good understanding of all facets of conducting a public opinion survey. You won=t be an expert, but you will be more than just a well-educated consumer of polling information. You will be exposed to all components of the art of designing and the science of implementing and analyzing a public opinion poll.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

The major activity in the course will be your participation in one or two surveys. I know it’s late to be so vague, but that is still to be determined. One survey is definite. We will be polling Roanoke College alumni regarding their views of the alumni magazine, news letter and e-news. This will be a combination survey—some interviews will be completed via the web and others will be conducted in the more traditional telephone mode.

The other survey is a statewide telephone survey regarding the Virginia Senate election. If we do that, the time frame would be immediately after we return from Fall break. The time frame for the alumni survey is not as crucial.

Your primary responsibility in the course is completing the interviews. Attendance in class is expected. We will not be meeting in class every day, especially during the survey times. You are expected to stay in touch with me when we are not meeting regularly. If I don=t see you in the lab, then stop by the office to check in with me. The interviewing constitutes 60% of your grade in the course. If we do only one survey, then we will have two tests (20% each) and the interviewing will count for 20% of your grade. More important to you, completing your interviewing assignments means you get an “A” for that part of the course.

The data analysis section in this course is relatively easyB-survey reports rarely contain sophisticated statistical analyses. You will have to write a data analysis paper with no more than five pages of text (plus tables, of course). There will also be a short, relatively informal presentation of your results. This will be more like sitting in a circle and discussing our findings, but everyone will participate in the discussion. The paper, your work in constructing the questionnaire and the presentation/discussion constitutes the other 40% of your grade.


ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Any poll is only as good as its data, so I am truly dependent on you for the accuracy of the survey results. There are few opportunities to violate academic integrity in this course, but any violation will be vigorously pursued and will have severe consequences. You must follow correct interviewing procedures! The course will follow the standards of the College handbook.

TEXTS

Weisberg, Krosnick, and Bowen, An Introduction to Survey Research, Polling, and Data Analysis, 3rd ed.

COURSE ORGANIZATION

The lack of dates is intentional. I will let you know in class where we are on the syllabus, but the pace will be dictated, to some extent, by our interviewing schedule. I will add test dates well in advance, if they are necessary. There may also be additional readings on specific topics. At the least, we will follow closely the polls in the Senate race.

Course Basics

Weisberg, Ch. 1-2

Questionnaire Design

Weisberg, Ch. 4, 7

Sampling

Weisberg, Ch. 3

Interviewing

Weisberg, Ch. 5

Coding Data

Weisberg, Ch. 6

Data Analysis I

Weisberg Ch. 8-10

Data Analysis II

Weisberg, Ch. 11-13

Report Writing and Uses of Polls

Weisberg, Ch. 15, 17

Ethics

Weisberg, Ch. 16