Political Science 319
Public Opinion
Dr. Sellers
September 10, 2007

Paper #2

In Paper #1 you reviewed the broader dynamics of legislators' attempts to manipulate public opinion, placing your assigned issue in the context of those dynamics.  In this paper, you need to explain how you will use our survey of Davidson students to investigate the effectiveness of elites' framing on your issue.  

First, you need to create your own survey question(s) capturing opinion on your assigned issue (look here for previous surveys about your issue). 

Second, you need to propose 5 independent variables that could influence opinion on that issue.

1. Competing interpretations of the issue. You should create different versions of your main question, each version capturing one interpretation of your issue. Each version should present identical options from which to choose, i.e., "do you support the Bush tax cut plan, oppose it, or don't know?" The versions vary in how they describe those options.  For example, one variation of a question could precede these possible answers with a Democratic description of the Bush plan, and another version of the same question could use a Republican version.  In the Davidson survey, each half of the sample will read one version of your question.
2. Question variations unrelated to the issue. Possibilities include varying question order, including/excluding a middle evaluative position, and using filter questions.  Again, one half of the Davidson survey sample will answer one version of your question, and the other half will answer the other version.  With all these variations, make sure that you explain which answer is more likely with each version.
3. Characteristics of the survey respondents.
   1. Partisan: party, ideology, presidential vote, etc. 
   2. Demographic: age, gender, region, level of political knowledge, source of political information, frequency of watching television, frequency of reading the newspaper, etc. 
   3. Related to Davidson: major, eating house affiliation, frequency of reading the Davidsonian, etc.

For the last 3 independent variables, you may consider more than their direct effects (Republicans support tax cuts more strongly than Democrats). These independent variables can also have indirect effects, mediating the link between the question format and respondents' answers.  For example, Democrats and Republicans might ignore the interpretation of the issue, having already formed their opinions about the most desired position on the issue.  Independents, on the other hand, might have less clearly formed opinions, and therefore might pay closer attention to the interpretation of the issue. 

For each independent variable, you need to explain as clearly as possible how and why you expect it to influence respondents' answers.  We will include many, if not all, of your proposed variables in the survey of Davidson students.  Thus, you will be able to test whether your expectations were accurate. Make sure that your paper provides the exact wording of all survey questions.  To save space, put the exact wordings in a table on another page ( which does not count against the one-page limit).  Then, refer to the question number (i.e., Question 1A or Question 2B) in your paper, instead of providing the complete wording in the text of your paper.  

To formulate the survey questions and to write this paper, you will need to work with the other student(s)  in the class assigned to your issue.  Your group will work together to produce a single set of questions capturing attitudes about your assigned issue (the questions and independent variables emerging from sections I. and II. above).  Each person in the group will also need to formulate his or her own unique set of independent variables involving respondent characteristics (sections III.i, ii, and iii above). Each person in the group will turn in his or her own paper; the papers will propose the same questions capturing opinions about the issue, but different questions about the respondents' characteristics.

Your paper should be typed, with 1-inch margins and a font no smaller than 10 point.  The paper can be either single- or double-spaced.  The maximum length is one page; when grading, I will not read any material past the first page (except notes).  The paper should contain appropriate in-text citations for any sources used; if footnotes or endnotes are used for these citations, the notes can be placed on a second page.  The paper is due at the start of class on September 24.  Papers turned in 10 minutes after the start of class will be considered late.  Paper grades are lowered by ten points (out of 100 total points) for each 24-hour period (after the start of class) that they are late.  Finally, the assignment is bound by the Honor Code; make sure that you pledge your work.