Overview of presentations

Introduction The main question Why should we care... Define terms Assume reader doesn’t know

Introduction Example: – Ranked Choice Voting – In the USA, other places – Does it lead to more / less ‘civility’

Review literature Academic, legal, journalistic – What history, background is relevant? – Why is this subject an issue today – What do we know from previous studies?

Review literature Example – Ranked Choice Voting Studies show voters understand Used in elections in Australia, a few US places Advocates argue candidates less adversarial Studies of Proportional Representation show people more satisfied

Hypotheses In designing our research, we were interested in understanding what people thought about this issue – What initial expectations? – Why – What causes variation in attitudes, support Differences across groups, etc.

Hypotheses Example, RCV – We expect that people living in US cities with RCV elections will me see elections as less negative – Might see candidates acting differently in RCV vs. non-RCV places – Several other hypotheses...

Data and Methods How did you conduct the research – Survey How long, how many questions, how conducted, when conducted, where conducted? What sort of sample? Problems? – How representative? What bias? Response rate?

Data and Methods How did you conduct the research – Measurement What were you trying to measure? How did you write questions to measure that?

Data and Methods Example, RCV – Survey of 2400 voters & likely voters Post election 2013, telephone – Youngest male / female... RCV cities (1200) – Minneapolis, St. Paul, Cambridge MA Non-RCV cities (1200) – Seattle, Boston, Cedar Rapids, Tulsa, Lowell, Worchester

Data and Methods Example, RCV – Survey of 2400 voters Problems – Tulsa election schedule – Some skip patters – Minneapolis election winner delay In some cities, hard to find voters

Data and Methods Example, RCV – Survey of 2400 voters Measurement – Perceptions of campaigns – Did you see candidates attacking each other? – Was the campaign dull or interesting – More negative than...? (PROBLEM) – Satisfied with campaign overall?

Analysis & Results This might be the longer part – Describe (your dependent variables) What % of people were in favor... Make graphs – Explain Hypothesis tests Significant, or not?

Analysis & Results Example, RCV Describe: – What % overall said satisfied? – What % said negative? – What % said dull? – etc.

Satisfied with way city is run? Q27 On the whole, | are you very | satisfied, fairly | satisfied, not very | satisfied, | Freq. Percent Cum Very satisfied | Fairly satisfied | 1, Not very satisfied | Not at all satisfied | No opinion_DK | Refused | Total | 2,

Campaign Interesting or Dull? Q28 Would you | describe the recent | local election as | interesting, or dull? | Freq. Percent Cum Interesting | 1, Dull | [DO NOT READ] Neither | DK | Refused | Total | 2,

Satisfied with the campaign? Q29 In general, are | you very satisfied, | fairly satisfied, | not very satisfied, | or | Freq. Percent Cum Very satisfied | Fairly satisfied | 1, Not very satisfied | Not at all satisfied | No opinion_DK | Refused | Total | 2,

Time criticizing others Q32 Thinking about the [CITY] | election, how much time would | you say the candidat | Freq. Percent Cum A great deal of time | Some of the time | Not too much, or | They werent doing this at all | Dont know | Refused | Total | 2,

Analysis & Results Explain – See graphs

Discussion / Conclusions How do your results compare to what we know (from the literature review) What did you find that supported your expectations? What did you find that you did not expect? What would you do differently?