By introducing data analysis techniques, analyzing current research in voting behavior, and using the computer for social science research, introductory American Government courses on the undergraduate level are undertaking ambitious goals. Using the SETUPS units for each presidential election since 1972, cadets at the Coast Guard Academy have engaged in a comprehensive approach to the study of American electoral behavior in an interactive data analysis mode. Although SETUPS modules are run at most colleges and universities in batch mode, there are imitations and drawbacks to batch mode. The Coast Guard Academy is able to utilize interactive data analysis as a result of its time-sharing arrangement with the Dartmouth College Time Sharing System (DCTS). In this article we will discuss the use of SETUPS in an interactive mode using the CIDAR interactive data analysis system.

The computer has revolutionized the use of statistical techniques in social science research. In recent years microcomputers have begun to replace large mainframe computers in such applications as word processing, accounting and data base management. While the use of microcomputers as statistical processors is still in its infancy, and existing software leaves a lot to be desired, the economics and convenience of statistical work on microcomputers point to an increasing role for micros in this area.

This article will survey the costs and benefits of doing statistical work with microcomputers. It is not a discussion of individual statistical programs but instead focuses on the general issues of what you need and what you can expect to do.

Microcomputing puts an amazingly versatile instructional tool into the hands of political scientists. It provides the ability to do far more than process data in ways political science SPSS and SAS users are familiar with. Microcomputing enables the student to interact with instructor provided programs which provide immediate feedback tailored to the student's speed and abilities.

One example is a program which will poll voters and provide instantaneous feedback on the results of an individual's vote as averaged with all previous votes. Our department uses this program on “Open House Day”, a high school oriented outreach. It replaces an earlier manual version of the same thing in which visitors to the department's display were asked to vote on forms which were tallied later.

We are now entering a new era of computing in political science. The first era was marked by punched-card technology. Initially, the most sophisticated analyses possible were frequency counts and tables produced on a counter-sorter, a machine that specialized in chewing up data cards. By the early 1960s, batch processing on large mainframe computers became the predominant mode of data analysis, with turnaround time of up to a week. By the late 1960s, turnaround time was cut down to a matter of a few minutes and OSIRIS and then SPSS (and more recently SAS) were developed as general-purpose data analysis packages for the social sciences. Even today, use of these packages in batch mode remains one of the most efficient means of processing large-scale data analysis.

Though humble, the Political ScienceMicro Review (PSMR) is the only social science-oriented microcomputer periodical in the United States. Founded in 1982, it provides low-cost software for microcomputer users at over a hundred institutions affiliated with the network which it serves. Moreover, virtually all microcomputer software produced through the PSMR is donated to the public domain by the North Carolina State University Public Service Research and Computer Laboratory and other network members. Panels and workshops supplement PSMR activities, including three scheduled for the 1983 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting.

Background

In 1979 the public Service Research and Computer Laboratory was established in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at North Carolina State University.

The microcomputer is properly assuming a larger role in the academic setting just as it is in the other professions and in the world of business. Its lower cost and its convenience make it a serious competitor of the mainframe computer which we previously were dependent on for research and instructional support. Graduate and research faculties saw the need for instruction in statistical packages to process their data sets and at Oakland we believed that familiarity with computer techniques would have to begin at the undergraduate level as well. The basic methods course, required of all majors, was the logical place to try out computer techniques. In 1972 our first mainframe computer — a Burroughs 5500 — became available for academic use.

Somewhere around the corner is that better classroom: a place where students are motivated to learn our material and we, the instructors, gain satisfaction from helping them master it. Efforts to turn that corner are nowhere more difficult than in the larger classroom. How can we motivate individual students when there are so many of them that it is hard to remember their faces let alone their names? How can we evaluate each student's work when there are other courses to teach, research to do, committees to serve on, and families to cherish? This essay describes my attempt to deal with this all too common situation by merging a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) strategy with the use of microcomputers.

The political scientists at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, concerned about what becomes of political science majors in today's job market, have completed a survey of the occupational status and quality of life of recent alumni. This paper examines the potential contributions of that survey as a model for future evaluations of political science programs and other liberal arts programs. In the paper, I will discuss the design of the study, its findings, and the lessons that might be useful to those who would wish to do such studies on their own campuses.

Design

The University of Michigan, Dearborn evaluation was done primarily by, and for the benefit of, the political science faculty. Thus, the evaluation was tailored to particular faculty interests and concerns.

The literature of social class analysis is enormous: wealth differences of the population by percentiles, interlocking directories, membership in elite organizations, and educational institutions attended. The list of possible social class indicators is limited only by the researcher's ingenuity. However, teaching about social class is another story. Discussions with my teacher colleagues and visits to their classrooms reveal that our students are relatively unimpressed (as compared, say, to their enthusiasm for the National Football League) by these mountains of facts. This apathy of our students, themselves members of the lower percentiles, is only partly explained by our American belief in the inevitability of upward mobility of the social classes. Somehow, our students don't connect these impersonal printed sources with their own daily lives.

Ed. Note: The questionnaire and tables described in this essay are available from the editor upon request.

After a number of years of relative neglect, scholarly attention is once again being paid to the teaching of political science, particularly the introductory American government course. In many states such courses are required of virtually every college student, usually on the grounds that better citizens will somehow result. The underlying assumption is that learning about the structure and function of government and the rules of democratic procedure will produce citizens more committed to democratic ideals.

Most studies of students’ democratic values have focused on the effect of the college experience as a whole rather than on the specific effect of exposure to political science courses.

Simulations have been an important adjunct to instructional programs for some time. These have ranged from games, or role playing exercises, such as SIMSOC or Internation Simulation, to student-machine interaction, such as the inter-school simulation run out of University of California, Santa Barbara in the early 70's, to the all machine activities found in some of the early SETUPS. Having social science students use the mainframe computer, however, always posed problems: it definitely was not user-friendly and most instructors had little if any training or interest in the use of large scale systems.

The wide-spread use of the micro computer is not only revolutionizing areas traditionally relying upon the computer, but is going to have an impact on the social sciences as well.