Ideas on Research Papers
 

I have two objectives in assigning this type of empirical research paper in this introductory class. The first is to help you learn about American politics. The second is to equip you with important analytical skills that will serve you in academic life and in your career after leaving Northwestern.

You will use a computer to analyze responses from over 7,700 respondents in the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany interviewed during 1990-91. The data available for analysis are described in Appendix B of Russell J. Dalton, Citizen Politics, 2nd ed. (1996). The dataset consists of some 70 variables on citizens' attributes and attitudes in these countries. By analyzing these data, you can compare public opinion and citizen behavior in the U.S. with the opinions and behavior of citizens in other countries.

This report suggests several likely paths of investigation to guide your research. It identifies some promising topics that you can analyze with these variables, it proposes lines of analysis, and it warns you about certain pitfalls. You can take it from there. You will be expected to generate the appropriate tables with the Crosstabs procedure in the SPSS statistical package, to interpret the results, and to present your findings in a short paper. (Another section of our web site provides guidelines for writing up your research.)

These suggestions assume that you have read the assigned chapters in Citizen Politics and The Challenge of Democracy. Of special help will be Chapter 5 of The Challenge of Democracy on"Public Opinion and Political Socialization, for most of the variables deal with public opinion.
Available Variables and Suggestions for Topics

On page 290, Russell Dalton groups the variable in his dataset under various categories. Here is the same grouping of his variables but this list reports the variables by their names in the SPSS file. So what he calls "V03" is named DISCUSS in the SPSS file and needs to be referenced by DISCUSS and not V03.

As I mentioned in class, the media refers to U.S. citizens as being politically apathetic, but both your texts (Dalton and Janda-Berry-Goldman) say that's a bad rap. True, American tend to vote in elections are lower rates than citizens in most other emocracies, but they participate as much or more in other ways. Why not see for yourself what U.S. respondents claim to do compared with respondents in the other three countries?

Political Involvement

  • DISCUSS V03 - Do you DISCUSS POLITICS often?
  • INTEREST V04 - How INTERESTED are you IN POLITICS
  • PETITION V05 - Would you SIGN a PETITION?
  • BOYCOTT V06 -Would you JOIN in BOYCOTTS?
  • AGITATE V07 - Would you ATTEND DEMONSTRATIONS?
  • STRIKE V08 - Would you JOIN STRIKES?
  • SIT.IN V09 - Would you OCCUPY BUILDINGS?
  • PROTEST V10 - PROTEST SCALE - Sum of acts V05 to V09

How do Americans compared with people in other countries on basic values such as trust and the components of the "port-material" scale, and on more patently political values such as political ideology, party preference, and left-right voting?

Political Values

  • TRUST V11 - Can you TRUST PEOPLE?
  • PM.SHORT V12 - POSTMATERIAL--SHORT scale, 4 items
  • PM.LONG V13 - POSTMATERIAL--LONG, 12 items
  • L.RSCALE V14 - LEFT/RIGHT SCALE
  • PARTY V15 PARTY PREFERENCE
  • L.R.VOTE V16 - LEFT/RIGHT VOTE

Another fruitful topic would involve analyzing socioeconomic attitudes by nation.

Socioeconomic Attitudes

  • INEQUAL V17 - INCOME INEQUALITY
  • GOVTOWN V18 - GOVT OWNERSHIP OF BUSINESS?
  • WELFARE V19 - Should Govt Guarantee well-being?
  • JOBS V20 - Should Govt guarantee employment?

Or, environmental attitudes could be analyzed across nations.

Environmental Attitudes

  • PAY.ENVR V21 - Would you PAY MORE FOR ENVIRONMENT?
  • TAX.ENVR V22 - Would you TAX more FOR ENVIRONMENT?
  • NO$.ENVR V23 - Save Environment at no cost
  • NOT.ENVR V24 - The environment is not so important

Are American attitudes toward minority groups truly different from the attitudes of citizens in other nations? If so, how?

Discrimination

  • JOBS.SEX V25 - don't block women from jobs
  • JOBS.OLD V26 - Don't block the elderly from jobs
  • JOBS.FOR V27 - Don't block immigrants from jobs
  • JOBS.DIS V28 - Don't block the disabled from jobs

France has a reputation for having "loose" morals, while the U.S. is regarded as uptight. The variables below could test those expectations.

Moral Values

  • GOOD.BAD v29 - Belief in GOOD AND EVIL?
  • GOD V30 - BELIEVE IN GOD?
  • AFTRLIFE V31 - BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE?
  • DEVIL V32 - BELIEVE IN DEVIL?
  • HEAVEN V33 - BELIEVE IN HEAVEN?
  • HELL V34 - BELIEVE IN HELL?
  • FREESEX V35 - Do you Favor SEXUAL FREEDOM?

Is there any relationship between morality and attitudes toward women? If so, does it hold across nations?

Gender-Related Issues

  • MOM.JOB V36 - Working mom can raise a child
  • KID.JOB V37 - CHILD SUFFERS if mom works
  • HOUSEWRK V38 - HOUSEWORK is as FULFILLING as a job
  • OWN.JOB V39 - A JOB makes a woman independent
  • ABORTION V40 - ABORTION is JUSTIFIABLE

"Postmaterialism" is supposed to be manifested in issues of "new politics," such as protecting the the environment, concern for human rights. How does the American electorate compare with citizens in other countries on such issues?

Social Movements

  • ECOLOGY V41 - Feeling about ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
  • NONUKES V42 - Feeling about ANTINUCLEAR MOVEMENT
  • DISARM V43 - Feeling about DISARMAMENT MOVEMENT
  • RIGHTS V44 - Feeling about HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT
  • WOMEN V45 - Feeling about WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
  • APARTHEI V46 - Feeling about ANTIAPARTHEID MOVEMENT

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the proudest nation of all?" These variables on political support should document how citizens feel about their countries.

Political Support

  • NATPRIDE v47 - NATIONAL PRIDE
  • FIGHTFOR V48 - Would you FIGHT FOR COUNTRY?
  • CHANGE V49 - Feeling about SOCIAL CHANGE
  • JUDICIAL V50 - Confidence in LEGAL SYSTEM
  • PRESS V51 - Confidence in PRESS
  • UNIONS V52 - CONFIDENCE in UNIONS
  • POLICE V53 - Confidence in POLICE
  • PARLMENT V54 - Confidence in PARLIAMENT
  • BUREAUCY V55 - CONFIDENCE in CIVIL SERVICE
  • BUSINESS V56 - CONFIDENCE in BUSINESS
  • UNJUST V57 - I COULD CHANGE UNJUST LAW

Finally, few analyses are complete without paying attention to social characteristics. Often these are used as control variables, but these variables can also be used to study the social bases of political parties.

Social Characteristics

  • RELIGION V58 - RELIGION
  • CHURCH V59 - How often Attend CHURCH?
  • PIOUS V60 - How RELIGIOUS are you?
  • ETHNIC V61 - ETHNIC GROUP
  • GENDER V62 - GENDER
  • AGE V63 - AGE group
  • SCHOOL V64 - Level of EDUCATION
  • OCCUPATN V65 - OCCUPATION Class
  • TOWNSIZE V66 - Urban Population

Political Parties

  • PARTY.US - Parties in the United States only
  • PARTY.UK - Parties in the United Kingdom only
  • PARTY.WG - Parties in West Germany only
  • PARTY.FR - Parties in France only
  • PARTY.EG - Parties in East Germany only

As you become familiar with the data and the method, you will probably develop other topics for your papers, but these ideas should get you started.