Policy Analysis for Political Scientists
The basic goal of a
liberal arts education is often thought of as producing a “good thinking
generalist.” This is a very worthy
goal. What is often “missing” in such an
approach is having students produce a paper where employers or professional
graduate programs see the student apply the norms of a “good thinking
generalist” to specific problems. Policy
analysis offers a particularly good opportunity to attain this goal. Policy analysis inherently involves some use
of microeconomic concepts. This is not a
difficult hurdle to surmount. The
material in the link provided ahead contains all the necessary microeconomic
concepts and explains them in an introductory manner. I’ve used this material as the term paper in
“required” methods courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Students have not found the material “too
difficult.” The body of the paper that appears in the link ahead demonstrates
both writing and analytical skills and is written in the style used by
government agencies and businesses.
This will be clear if you examine the paper. Additionally, you will notice that the use of
technical terms is put in parentheses.
Thus, a “generalist” reader (e.g., a mayor or business supervisor) can
readily understand the paper without knowing the technical terms used. Moreover, a technically oriented reader will
realize that the author has a fundamental grasp of important analytic
concepts. Thus, the paper is written for
two audiences. Furthermore, the two
appendices demonstrate important skills.
The sources provided in the materials in the ensuing link allow anyone
to undertake the project over the internet.
The sources cover such a broad gamut of topics that virtually any
political science student will be able to produce an analysis in almost any
sub-field of political science (e.g., public law, American politics,
comparative politics, international relations, etc.).
Appendix A of the
paper demonstrates the ability to think through a social science modeI, apply
the reasoning to public or business policy questions and formulate questions to
measure important variables. By doing
so, the paper leaves no doubt that the reader has some training in survey
research. This is important because the
ability to conduct a survey can prove very useful for political science
students in the United States.
Realistically, they are competing with people from all over the
world. One of the advantages of the
survey questions is that they alert the reader that hiring a person with these
skills could be useful. Additionally,
this skill maximizes one important advantage American students have over
foreign competition: location. If the
organization wants to conduct a survey in the United States, they need some who
lives in the local area. That helps
American political science students compete.
Appendix B of the paper utilizes the
multivariate statistical skills that political science uses but that are also
widely used in government and business.
I deliberately have the students place the actual computer printout in
the appendix so that the reader will immediately know the student can operate a
statistical package (Stata). The focus
on policy analysis, when coupled with the writing style, skills displayed, and
brevity (the paper is approximately 19 pages long) means that this paper can be
submitted with an application for either employment and/or a professional M.A.
program.
The materials developed for this project
also show how to obtain a “practitioner letter.” Having a letter written on letter-head
stationary by a practitioner from a government agency or business describing
how the paper is useful to their organization is of tremendous value in helping
students obtain a position of interest in an organization and/or placement in a
professional M.A. program. One of the
greatest obstacles for students with a “generalist” degree, such as political
science, to attain their career objectives is the absence of “real world”
experience. The practitioner letter is a
form of “real world” experience. If an
organization of the type your student is interested in working (e.g., a
nonprofit) finds the analysis in the aforementioned term paper useful, then it
can be argued that this is relevant experience similar to what the student
would have gained had they actually worked for the organization. This is what makes the practitioner letter so
useful for either employment or for admission to a more specialized degree
program. Furthermore, since the student
is never physically at the organization nor paid by the organization, the
organization has no legal or financial disincentive to work with the
student. As discussed in the materials
for this course, both initiating and developing a relationship with a
practitioner can be done entirely online.
If you would like a copy of both a sample paper and the materials
necessary to produce it please click here. The seven Stata datasets used in conjunction
with the term paper are also available (for set #1 click here; for set #2 click here; for set
#3 click here; for set
#4 click here; for set #5 click here; for set #6 click here and for set #7 click here). If you don’t have access to Stata just contact
me at chris.dennis@csulb.edu. I have PowerPoint slides for discussing the term paper in class
(for part #1 click here; for
part #2 click here; for
part #3 click here; for
part #4 click here and for
part #5 click here). If you use this term paper in a
quantitative methods course and would like a group of slides that will not take
much class time but will improve both the paper, as well as the ability to
think critically, please click here. While I use this paper in either a
quantitative methods or directed readings course, it would certainly be
appropriate for a policy analysis course.
If you are teaching a policy analysis course and would like an excellent
group of PowerPoint slides on policy analysis that were prepared by Dr. R.
Steven Daniels of California State University at Bakersfield please click here.
The “Statistics for Political
Scientists” page of this website contains material that has all of the
necessary statistical knowledge required for this paper as well as extensive
PowerPoint slides for quantitative methods courses and a book I wrote for use
in a graduate level statistics course.
If you would like this material please click
here.
The “Courses” section of this website
has PowerPoint slides, lecture outlines, syllabi and exams for a wide variety
of courses in American Politics (slides and syllabi for Introduction to
American Government, Political Parties and State Government with lecture
outlines, syllabi and exams for the Legislative Process, Political Behavior and
Public Opinion) as well as public administration courses (slides for
Introduction to Public Administration, Organization Theory, Public Budgeting
and Public Policy Analysis). If you
would like a break from “academic” material you might enjoy seeing beautiful
ocean scenes. If so, go to the “Gallery” section (click here).