POSC 146
Final Exam Study Guide
The exam is comprehensive and but will be weighted more heavily towards the
second part of the course. So you will want to review the study guide from the
midterm and see areas where you can improve, but will want to spend the majority
of your time studying for the second part of the course. The format will be similar to
exam one, consisting of short answer and multiple choice.
See study guide from midterm.
Asher – Polling and the Public
Chapters 3-5, 7 (no Asher chapter 8)
Chapter 3: Words and Context of Questions:
Why is question wording important? Why can it create different answers/public
opinion?
What are potential problem with wording in straightforward factual questions?
Double-negative questions; argumentative and leading questions.
What are some impacts and problems with response alternatives. Know examples.
Does alternative question wording make a difference? What can be done to deal
with question wording issues?
What is pretesting? What is branching: know party ID as an example
What is indexing/multiple items: Know that social dominance orientation is used as
a multiple item measure.
What is the norm of reciprocity?
Question order and context: what are some examples? What are possible
problems/issues with question order?
Chapters 4-5: Sampling techniques and Data Collection:
What’s the key difference between probability and non-probability sampling? Is
CNN poll on their website a probability sample – representative of ``the public’’?
What are the various sampling designs: simple random sample, systematic random
sampling, stratified random sampling, cluster and multi-state sampling? You don’t
need to know the formulas, etc., but should know the differences and why pollsters
use one over the other.
What is RDD vs. listed sample?
Likely voter models vs. Registered voter models
Sample size and sampling error? If you see a poll that is of 1000 respondents and
51-49 Obama-Romney, what would you conclude?
Response rates: nonresponse, what are the problems with this? What have
contributed to lower response rates?
What is a call disposition? What are the four outcomes AAPOR recommends should
be made available to the public/reporters?
What is weighting and why is it important?
Know the modes of interviewing and data collection. Why are some preferred over
others, which modes are better for “sensitive” questions?
What are interviewer effects? Does race and gender of interviewer have an impact
on some types of questions? How can interviewers affect reliability of the data?
What are some interviewer demeanors that are useful/necessary? Who is the “best”
type of interviewer and why?
What are some of the pros/cons of internet polling? What is sample matching?
Chapter 7
Who sponsors polls? Why might a candidate-sponsored poll published in the media
not be reliable?
What are tracking polls? Trial-heat surveys? Cross-sectional vs. panel surveys? What
are focus groups? Deliberative opinion polls? Exit polls? Push polls?
What are some of the reasons candidates use polls?
What are some of the reasons why a presidential poll might be wrong? Who is Nate
Silver? What does the book say about estimating turnout in an election/timing of
polls? Do respondents lie?
Media and the Polls
Clawson and Oxley Chapter 3:
What should citizens expect from mass media in a democracy? key terms:
intermediary, watchdog, forum for diverse views.
What characteristics of mass media shape news coverage? Corporate, hard
news/soft news, concentrated, conglomerate.
What are news norms: objectivity, neutrality, official sources, accuracy, newsbeats,
newsworthiness, horse race, traditional journalism, advocacy journalism, tabloid
journalism.
Nothing else after page 83.
Asher Chapter 6:
Know about standards for reporting results (NCPP). I will not ask you to list all the
principles of disclosure, but you should be able to discern between real principles
and ones I make up.
Are these standards effective? Why or why not? Can they be enforced?
How do the media interpret polls? Based on book/lecture, what are some ways that
media gets it “wrong.” Know the intelligence design example given in class.
What is news reporting emphasis of polls (p. 155)? Is the media sometimes guilty of
this?
Be familiar with media misreporting examples from the slides in class (5/14/13).
What is accessibility bias?
Iyengar: Chapters 8, 3, 5, 6, 7, (No chapters 9 and 10)
Chapter 8
Conceptualization of media influence. What are the advantages of experiments vs.
surveys in studying media effects? What did earlier studies show about media
effects before experiments were used?
What is “minimal consequences”/minimal effects?
What are media effects and varieties of them? Learning, agenda control, setting elite
agenda, psyc accounts of agenda setting. What are priming effects? What are
framing effects? What is difference between the two? What is persuasion?
Chapters 3, 5
What is “media marketplace”? How has it changed over time?
Why are audience relevant? Has newspaper circulation increased/decreased over
time? Do many companies own newspapers?
What are Nielsen Ratings? How are they measured? How have ratings influenced the
news? What is the “best” tv news show according to Collingwood and the book?
What is the typical nightly viewing audience on broadcast?
Do people have confidence in the press? Has this gone up or down over time –
relative to other institutions? What are some of the effects of not having confidence
in the press?
Generally, what gets reported? Negative or positive events more likely to be
reported and why? How do market pressures play a role?
How do organizational processes and routines influence new reporting? What are
autonomy and objectivity?
What is interpretive journalism? What is the “strategy frame” – what are some
hallmarks of this?
What is pack journalism?
What is difference between how news is reported now compared to traditionally?
What changed these?
Who gets news on their smart phones, young or old people? What is composition of
online news audience?
Know that top news sites tend to be connected to traditional media.
What is selective exposure to online news? Attentive public hypothesis? Partisan
polarization hypothesis? Issue public hypothesis?
Impact of internet on campaign organizations. What was role of Dean campaign is
this? 2008 first real “internet” election.
Iyengar 6, 7
How has campaigning through the media changed over the years? When did
campaign advertising start at the presidential level?
Do reporters generally act as campaign agents? How does practice of interpretive
journalism affect reporting of campaigns?
What are the 7 ways that candidates can “manage” the press?
Know the example of John Kerry and flip-flopping in 2004 general election.
What is the objectivity imperative? What’s the expectations game?
What are some ways that candidates/campaigns can “manage” events? What is
regulating access? What is playing one source against another; dueling press
releases?
Advertising strategy: What is targeting the audience, how might this differ from
typical advertising? Where might candidates target voters, geographically?
Has negative advertising increased or decreased over time?
Do candidates advertise on local news? Why or why not? What’s a news adjacency?
What’s the role of campaign budget in advertising? Why might campaigns not
advertise in NYC and LA?
What are GRPs?
What kinds of campaign spots are aired early in the election cycle? Know about
biographical spots. What is first goal of bio ads? What are image and issue ads?
What is issue ownership and why is it relevant in campaigns? What are the two
“rules” of using issue ownership in advertising?
What are wedge issues and which party has historically used these more? What is
the Willie Horton ad? Is this used as a wedge issue?
Know the slides on negative advertising, what is the most common genre of negative
advertising? Why might direct mail be used in certain media markets rather than TV
ads?
What is governing through the media? What is going public?
How has presidential workings/dealings with Congress changed over time? (smoke
filled rooms, bargains, to bully pulpit pres popularity)
Why is presidential popularity so important to “get things done” in Washington?
-Know the example of Reagan
Why might hard edged rhetoric and political attacks in advertisements affect
polarization in Congress/Washington?
Know about presidential communication and the various aspects of the White House
Press office.
What are three opportunities presidents may use to get the message out? How has
the press conference changed over time?