PPOL 505 Applied Public Policy Research Methods Assignment- Liberty University
Topic: Introduction to Research and Research Questions
Applying Course Concepts
Citing the required course readings for this week and at least 1 additional, peer-reviewed source (in addition to the Bible), address the following concepts:
o Research a current newspaper or popular-press magazine article that cites some sort of data. Explain how data support the message of the article. Would the article seem less authoritative without the data? Were the analyses descriptive or inferential? Provide a link to the article you discuss.
o Discuss why statistics is important to public policy.
o Based on the requirements laid out in O'Sullivan et al. Chapter 1, develop a research question in some area of public policy that interests you. Explain why your question meets the two criteria for a good research question.These questions are only a guide to your discussion, and while you should thoroughly answer them, you should also feel free to move beyond these questions in your discussion.
POSSIBLE RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Below is a list of research questions you can use to guide your research project. These are all questions that can be answered using the States_Student.sav SPSS dataset located in the Policy Research Project folder. Please remember that the question you choose will be the focus of your research paper and all related assignments over the course of the term.
Choose your top 3 questions from this list and include them in the Module 1 Discussion Board.
Tax policy:
o What is the relationship between cigarette taxes and the percentage of the states population who smoke? Or, do higher cigarette taxes discourage smoking?
o What is the relationship between citizen education and cigarette taxes? Or, do states with higher levels of overall citizen education have higher or lower cigarette taxes?
o What is the relationship between the partisan makeup of the state legislature and cigarette taxes?
o What is the relationship between the percentage of female legislatures and cigarette taxes? Or, do states with a higher percentage of female legislators have higher cigarette taxes?
o What is the relationship between the partisan makeup of the state legislature and cigarette taxes?
Abortion policy:
o Do states with higher percentages of pro-life residents have more restrictive abortion laws than states with lower percentages of pro-life residents?
o What is the relationship between the percentage of a state's population that is pro-choice and the percentage of the state legislature that is Democratic?
o What is the relationship between citizen education and abortion restrictions?
o What is the relationship between the percentage of female legislatures and restrictive abortion laws? Or, do states with a higher percentage of female legislators have less restrictive abortion laws?
o What is the relationship between the partisan makeup of the state legislature and abortion restrictions?
o What is the relationship between the percentage of the public who consider themselves pro-choice and the percentage who consider themselves conservative?
Voting behavior:
o What is the relationship between the percentage of the state's population who frequently attend religious services and the percentage of the vote Obama received?
o What is the relationship between the percentage of the state that considers themselves conservative and the percentage of the vote Obama received?
o What is the relationship between the percentage of the workforce that is unionized and the percentage of the vote Obama received?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
o The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
o The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
o Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.