Subject: Public Opinion
Public Opinion is, according to most authors who deal with the subject, a pancultural phenomenon, that is, a phenomenon that appears in any society, at any time, and regardless of the political or social system that identifies a particular culture. Still, it is in the liberal democracy, the prevailing political model in modern western societies, where public opinion attains to its highest relevance. In the democratic model, public opinion is regarded – and unanimously accepted – as the only legitimate source of political and social power. The battle for the public opinion is at long last the battle for power, social influence and moral legitimacy. But public opinion is not only relevant within the limits of politics. Also in the world of business, the value and the future of corporations directly depend on their image in the public opinion.
Course Contents
To understand the true nature of the phenomenon called Public Opinion is necessary to go beyond the concrete contents of public opinion at a particular time, in a particular society, and regarding a particular issue. It is necessary to recognize the social conditions and individual features that make possible the apparition of a public opinion in practically every cell of human coexistence. The Phenomenon must be analyzed from a micro- and a macrosociological point of view, that is, students shall learn the effects of public opinion on the individual, as well as its social function. The public opinion is in a state of constant change. This mutable nature is maybe its most characteristic feature. Therefore, it is necessary to know the social-psychological mechanisms that control or just influence public opinion dynamics. They can explain us how a particular opinion arises, becomes public, and finally disappears and is replaced by another different point of view in the public preference.
Most importantly, this is a methods course. The most important opinion research techniques will also be discussed in the course. Students will learn the different ways to find out tendency and direction of the public attitude regarding a particular issue. Opinion surveys also give us information about currently accepted and prevailing moral values.
Literature
We will be working in this course with original literature (as opposed to textbooks) and a variety of online resources. All the necessary reading material (books and book chapters) will be available in the corresponding learning units in this Web-Site.
Grading Elements
Grading in the class will be based on a number of elements. They are:
| Assessment | Value |
|---|---|
| Midterm Exam | 25% |
| Public Opinion Research Paper | 25% |
| Public Opinion Research Project | 40% |
| Participation | 10% |
Midterm Exam
There will be only one exam in this course. The midterm will focus exclusively on the theoretical contents. All the material you need to prepare the exam will be available in the course’s Web-site.
There will be no make-up exams (except for well documented medical emergencies). All the assessments in this course will take place online, in the Blackboard Vista environment. Please, make sure that you are familiar with the system before the day scheduled for the exams.
Public Opinion Research Paper
In this assignment, you must select a topic the public may fell strong about. The stronger the feelings, the more likely you will find interesting material in your research. Then, you have to find actual data from surveys about that topic. In the “assignments” page within this site, you can find a detailed description of how to structure you paper.
Public Opinion Research Project:
Every student will have to complete a public opinion research project related to any subject with a moral or aesthetic component. you will have to determine the research question, transform it into a questionnaire, publish the questionnaire in an online platform, gather the data and interpret and analyze the outcomes.
Participation
An active and positive participation in the online forums is expected. Students can also improve the participation grade bringing up current public opinion issues.
COURSE CONTENTS AREAS
The course covers three clearly differentiated areas. We will start with public opinion theory, and to some extent, they will chronologically structure the course.
To some extent because there are contents of the third area that we will need to study to complete the first research project.
1 – PUBLIC OPINION THEORY
In its first section, the course discusses what public opinion is, its social, political and economic function and its impact on every individual’s life. In this section of the course, we will study the most important theoretical approaches to the phenomenon public opinion, and will become familiar with the work of the most important authors who have studied the subject.
2 – PUBLIC OPINON STRUCTURE AND RESEARCH METHODS
In the second section of the course, we will focus on the different tools we can use to develop public opinion research instruments. The nature of public opinion research is, of course, quantitative, and these are the only methods we will discuss in the course. We will learn the different types of questions we can use in the different types of data those questions may generate.
3.1 how to define the original research question,
3.2 how to translate the research question into a questionnaire
The different types of questions we can use and the different types of data those questions may generate,
3.3 the advantages and disadvantages of the different sampling methods,
And the strategies to collect the data (interview types, channels, and platforms),
3 – DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
The third block of the course focuses on public opinion research methods. Students learn how to use the standard data processing software (SPSS),
the most common statistical procedures to analyze the data and stablish significance, validity and reliability levels,and finally, how to analyze and interpret the collected data in order to answer the original research question.
Tentative Course Outline
| Date | Contents |
|---|---|
| Week 0 8/26-8/28 | Welcome to the course |
| Week 1 8/30-9/3 | Public Opinion Defined |
| Week 2 9/7-9/10 | Mass Psychology Public Opinion Research-Intro |
| Week 3 9/13-9/17 | Walter Lippmann Public Opinion Research-The Process |
| Week 4 9/20-9/24 | Jürgen Habermas Public Opinion Research - The Questionnaire |
| Week 5 9/27-10/1 | Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann |
| Week 6 10/4-10/7 | Public Opinion Research SPSS - Introduction |
| Week 7 10/11-10/15 | Midterm Exam Friday, October 15th |
| Week 8 10/18-10/22 | Public Opinion Research Descriptive Statistics I October 23: Public Opinion Research Paper Due |
| Week 9 10/25-10/29 | Public Opinion Research Descriptive Statistics II |
| Week 10 11/1-11/5 | Public Opinion Research Inferential Statistics I |
| Week 11 11/8-11/12 | Public Opinion Research Inferential Statistics II |
| Week 12 11/15-11/19 | Public Opinion Research Project |
| Thanksgiving Week | 11/24-11/28 |
| Week 13 11/29-12/3 | Public Opinion Research Project |
| Week 14 12/7 | Last day of classes Public Opinion Research Project Due |
| Final Exams | 12/8-12/14 |