POLS 207 1nd Edition2/11 - Midterm # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 – 8 (Chapters 1-5)Introduction: Chapters 1-2, Lectures 1-4Lecture 1 (January 14)- Dr. Tucker mentioned that one of the most important parts of this class is to:  Learn and understand what others believe  Know the facts about what others believe - Beliefs are more important than facts People pay more attention to their beliefs  Beliefs shape what happen Lecture 2 (January 16) - Political Actors vs. Commentators vs. Political Scientists  Who tells the whole truth?  What are their goals? - Most important ideas in the course:  Winning vs. Losing  Individuals vs. Groups  Today vs. Tomorrow  Motivated use of information vs. Scientific use of information - Definition of politics  Politics is concerned - Tucker’s view of politics  It is better to win big than to win small.  It is better to win small than to lose small.  It is better to lose small than lose big. Lecture 3 (January 21)- Tucker on politics  Politics is winning and losing; it is all conflict  You can be a winner and a loser simultaneously, but not everyone can win big.  When it comes to winning, STRATEGIC BEHAVIOR > SINCERE BEHAVIOR - The necessity of gov’t  Private sector is not unbiased  Need free entry and exit into the market Sellers are advantaged with fewer sellers  Buyers are advantaged with more sellers  Government keeps monopolies from happening  What the gov’t makes available: Knowledge necessary for navigating the market  Ways of legally solving disputes  Not a perfect relationship between who pays and who gets - America has a minority view in the world on politics  Individuals are important  Key political and social unites  Gov’t exists to provide for individuals  Organizations should benefit individuals - Multiple levels of gov’t  Efficiency  Equity  Participation  Protection against tyranny  Choice - Scientific Study of Politics  Scientific Method  Subject matter:  Human social behavior  Conflict  Natural science > social science  Agreement on basic concepts  Data validity and reliability  Data errorLecture 4 (January 23)- Maps  Very good for comparing between the states  Populations  Urbanization  Partisan affiliation  Income - Scatterplots  More information than simple maps  What is Texas like compared to other states? Empirical relationships in scatterplots and correlations  Good for comparing two different variables  The scaling on the chart can drastically change the way the data is interpreted Issues in empirical analyses  Measurement  Variable linkage  Is there a relationship?  Issues if there is an empirical relationship  Causal vs. Spurious relationships - Motion graphs  Animated scatterplots  Add information about time Chapter 1 – Fifty States and 90,000 Local Governments – Summary [taken from Comparing the States and Communities, Spring 2014, Tucker & Luttbeg]- American federalism is always changing - The states control the federal government - State and local governments spend close to half of all government revenues in the United States and pass most of the laws that affect us. - Federal grants to states create the impression that states are better stewards of gov’t revenue than the federal gov’t. - Funds for national defense, social security, and Medicare are entirely federal. Expenditureson education, public order and safety, and recreation and culture are almost entirely by states. Spending for health care in general, economic affairs, and general public services are divided between state and federal gov’t.- States differ in many ways, including:  Physical and demographic differences  Wealth differences  Differences in social problems faced - While on any measure some states are “better,” probably no state or states are consistently “best.” - Identifying patterns of state differences may help us create knowledge to identify policies to achieve goals more effectively. - Identifying patterns of state differences may help us create knowledge to identify policies to achieve goals more effectively. - We cannot assign states to treatment and control groups and conduct true experiments. Systematic analysis of comprehensive state and local information is challenging. Success in identifying ways to achieve goals is not guaranteed. Chapter 1 – Fifty States and 90,000 Local Governments – Quiz [taken from Comparing the States and Communities, Spring 2014, Tucker & Luttbeg] Essay Questions 1. What is federalism? How does federalism affect relations between state and local governments?2. Who are the actors in our federal system? What roles do they play?3. How do states act as “laboratories” for “experimenting” with different policies? 4. What happens when a state or local law is declared unconstitutional? Which law is applied then?5. What would be the impact on state and local governments if the federal government stopped transferring federal funds to them? 6. Is the state where you live the “best” state? What empirical data would you use to answer this question?7. Which laws affect us more: federal, state, or local? Multiple Choice Questions1. Who creates local governments? a. Federal government c. Votersb. State government d. Communities 2. Which level of government has the most impact on public policies affecting elementary and secondary education? a. Federal gov’t c. Local gov’t b. State gov’t d. Supreme Court 3. Which level of gov’t is responsible for national defense? a. Federal c. Localb. State d. City 4. Which of the following is financed mainly by the federal government? a. Elementary and secondary education b. Police and corrections c. Fire protection d. Welfare and social services Chapter 2 – State Differences and Relationships – Summary [taken from Comparing the Statesand Communities, Spring 2014, Tucker & Luttbeg]- There is bountiful information available about state + local gov’ts and their attempt to use resources to achieve common goals. We must make thoughtful choices if our use of suchinformation is to be worthwhile. Failing to control for state population size when studying behaviors related to population size almost always results in spurious findings. - The comparative method allows us to explore patterns