Week 1 - Department of Political Science and International Relations

POLS 480. FIELD RESEARCH WORKHSOP
Instructor: Emre Erdoğan, PhD.
Objective:
This course aims to give participants the capability of designing and conducting
survey research. Participants will learn about thinking processes of human beings,
history of polling, designing sampling frameworks, developing and testing
questionnaires. A fieldwork will be held by using questionnaires developed by
participants.
Two major topics are proposed for studying. Economic voting and attitudes about
foreign policy issues. It’s possible to change or add up a new topic upon the request
of a minimum number of attendants.
Assignments:
The course is highly dependent to class participation, by reading and criticizing
assignments. Each student is Each student is expected to complete readings and
participate to class discussions. In addition to this “normal” assignment; there are
some formal assignments:
1. According to number of participants and topics to be covered, students are
expected to form Workgroups, to make literature reviews, prepare
presentations about the state of discipline and propose and develop questions
about their issue;
2. Each participant has to conduct indepth and pilot interviews;
3. Each participant has to conduct a minimum number of interviews with the
final questionnaire in selected neighborhoods and prepare reports about these
interviews;

4. At the end of term, a take home exam will be given;
Grading:
1. Class Participation:10 Percent
2. Presentations: 10 Percent
3. Cognitive testing reports: 15
4. Interviews. 15 Percent
5. Take Home Exam: 50 Percent
Week 1-February
24th,
Week 2- March 2nd;
Week 3,
March 9th;
Week 4,
March 16th,
Week 5,
March 23th,
No Class,
No Class
Introduction
What’s Public Opinion
Thinking About Thinking
Sampling
H. of POR, pp.11-24; pp.83-93;
pp.104-112
H. of PM, pp.217-270; Elster, pp.7-
52; Tversky and Kahnemann; H. of
POR, pp.127-140; pp.164-172;
pp.175-183; pp.205-217
H. of POR, pp.294-308; Kalton;
Week 6, March 30th; Psychology of Survey Response; Tourengau et. al, pp.1-61; Alvarez
and Brehm, pp. 15-51; H. of POR,
361-373; pp374-388
Week 6;
April 6th;
Questionnaire Design and
Interviewing
Fowler, pp.1-104
Week 7;
April 13th;
Week 8;
April 20th;
Week 9;
April 27th;
Week 10;
May 4th;
Week 11;
May 11th;
Week 12; May 18th;
Improving Questions
Spring Break
Cognitive Interviewing
Data Entry
Basic Data Analysis
Presentations
Fowler, pp.105-179 and
Presentations
Willis

Basic Readings about Polling
Alvarez, R. M. and Brehm J.; 2002; Hard Choices and Easy Answers; Princeton
University Press;
Elster, J. 2007, Explaining Social Behavior: More Nuts and Bolts for the Social
Sciences, Cambridge University Press.
Fowler, F. J., 1995; Improving Survey Questions; Sage;
Kalton, G., 1983; Introduction to Survey Sampling; Sage University Press;
Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology (HofPM)
The Sage Handbook of Public Opinion Research (HofPOR)
Tourengeau R.; Rips, L. J. Rips, K. Rasinski; 2000; The Psychology of Survey
Response; Cambridge University Press;
Tversky A. and Kahnemann D.; Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases; Science,
New Series, Vol. 185, No. 4157 (Sep. 27, 1974), pp. 1124-1131;
Basic Readings about Topics:
Economic Voting:
Anderson, C. J. (2007), "The End of Economic Voting? Contingency Dilemmas and
the Limits of Democratic Accountability," Annual Review of Political Science
(10:1), pp. 271-296.
Başlevent, C., Kirmanoğlu, H. and Şenatalar, B. (2005), “Empirical Investigation of
Party Preferences and Economic Voting in Turkey”, European Journal of
Political Research, V:44, pp. 547–562

Çarkoğlu, A. (2008), “Ideology or Economic Pragmatism?: Profiling Turkish Voters in
2007”, Turkish Studies, Vol.9, No. 2, pp.317–344
Çarkoğlu, A. and Kalaycıoğlu, E. (2007), Turkish Democracy Today: Elections, Protest
and Stability in an Islamic Society, London : I. B. Tauris,
Esmer, Y. and Pettersson T. (2007) 'The effects of religion and religiosity on voting
behavior.' in Klingeman, H. and Dalton,R.(Eds), The Oxford Handbook of
Political Behavior, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Esmer, Y., “At the ballot box: Determinants of voting behavior in Turkey” In Politics,
Parties and Elections in Turkey, Y. Esmer and S. Sayarı (eds.), Boulder:
Lynn Rienner, 2002.
Hazama, Y., (2006),” Retrospective Voting in Turkey: Macro and Micro Perspectives”,
Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO,
Lewis-Beck, M. S., Nadeau, R. and Elias, A. (2008), "Economics, Party, and the Vote:
Causality Issues and Panel Data," American Journal of Political Science
(52:1), pp. 84--95.
Sanders, D. and Gavin, N. (2004), "Television News, Economic Perceptions and
Political Preferences in Britain, 1997-2001," The Journal of Politics (66:4),
pp. 1245-1266.
Tilley, J. and Hobolt, S. B. (2011), "Is the Government to Blame? An Experimental
Test of How Partisanship Shapes Perceptions of Performance and
Responsibility," The Journal of Politics (73:02), pp. 316--330.

Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Issues
Caspary, W., 1970, “The ‘Mood Theory’: A Study of Public Opinion and Foreign
Policy,” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 64, No. 2, s. 536-547.
Çarkoğlu, A. 2003, “Who Wants Full Membership? Characteristics of Turkish Public
Support for EU Membership,” Turkish Studies, Vol. 4, No 1.
Gönlübol, M. 1968, "Kamuoyu ve Dış Politika," Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler
Fakültesi Dergisi, C. 23, No. 4, s. 87-110.
Holsti O., 1992, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Challenges to the Almond-
Lippman Consensus,” International Studies Quarterly, 1992, 36, s. 440.
Kalaycıoğlu, E., 2009, “Public Choice and Foreign Affairs: Democracy and
International Relations in Turkey,” New Perspectives on Turkey, No. 4,
Bahar 2009.
Peffley and Hurwitz, 1987 "How Are Foreign Policy Attitudes Structured? A
Hierarchical Model," (Jon Hurwitz ile birlikte), American Political Science
Review, 81(4): s. 1099-1120.
Şenyuva Ö. 2006, “Turkish Public Opinion and European Union: The State of the Art
in Public Opinion Studies in Turkey,” Perceptions, Bahar 2006.
Yılmaz, H. 2004,, “Turkey, within or outside Europe? A Historical Perspective,”
Proceedings of IMEIS ve Collingwood College Seminar, University of
Durham, 2004.