Masters in Public Administration (MPA) 504 Quantitative Methods

Dr. Sandra M. Emerson

Office Bldg 94; Room 309
Telephone (909) 869-3879
E-mail: smemerson@csupomona.edu
Fax: 909 869-6995.

Students enrolled in MPA 504 for spring 2009, please access course materials through Blackboard. To enter you will need your CAL POLY email name and password.

Goal and Objectives:

The primary goal of this course is to take the fear and mystery out of quantitative analysis for students and practitioners. Students will be introduced to the logic of the social scientific method and the rationale for using systematic, measurable, and verifiable means for describing, explaining, and predicting consequences in public policy.

The discussion will center on how data is analyzed and how conclusions are drawn from the data. Students will focus on describing and graphing data to make analysis and findings understandable to themselves and members of the general public.

Quantitative data is used to explain cause-effect relationships between variables that may enable one to predict future events. The ability to understand relationships and predict probable outcomes aids in developing reasoned recommendations and suggestions for policy alternatives.

Texts and Related Materials

Meier, Kenneth, Jeffrey Brudney and John Bohte. 2006. Applied Statistics for Public and Non Profit Administration, 6th edition. Belmont, CA.: Thomson.

Pollock, Phillip. 2003 An SPSS Companion to Political Analysis . Washington D.C.: Congressional Quarterly. ( P-SPSS) ANSWERS will be distributed in Week 1.

SPSS
Software is available to you at the Computer Lab and on Saturdayin 1-317. You may also access SPSS for your personal use via a short term lease from http://www.onthehub.com/spss/.

You can "lease/rent" the software for a limited period of time through E-Academy at: (613) 526-3005. E-Academy is available from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST only.

American Evaluation Association 2004. " Guiding Principles for Evaluators

Meier, Kenneth, 2006. Gender and Emotional Labor in public Organizations. An Empirical Examination of the Link to Performance. PAR 66:6, 899-910.

Valenty, Linda O. and Ronald D. Sylvia. 2004. " Thresholds for tolerance: the impact of racial and ethnic population composition on the vote for California propositions 187 and 209", Social Science Journal41, 433-446.

Wang, X . Assessing Participation in U.S. Cities. Public Performance and Management Review, 24:4, 322-336.

Writing Clearly - See web site for how to write in the public sector. For academic writing see the Political Science research tool web page.

Course Requirements

Students will be evaluated on the basis of two examinations and a final research project/ presentation .

• Mid-term 30 percent of the grade: Please bring assigned article for Part A and a 100 item Scranton for Part A and Part B of the examination. Part B is not open book. Students may bring one page (81/2 X 11 inches -both sides) of notes for Part B
  
• Final exam 30 percent of the grade. Please bring a blue book for part 1 of the examination copies of the assigned articles. You will need a 15 item Scantron for the computer part of the exam. You may bring a one page (81/2 X 11 inches -both sides) of notes for the computer section of the exam.
  
• Paper and Presentation – the presentation is 10 and the research paper is 30 points. Prepare a brief 5-8 minute presentation of you hypothesis, and your analysis and conclusions. Also part of "presentation" is your feedback to another presenter.
  
  
  Topics for Spring 2009

• Examples of Course Projects : Sorensen

Grades :

**Plagiarism, the presenting of other's work as your own, is an automatic F in this course. There are no exceptions to this rule. See MPA Student Handbook for details. Students will be held to the professional standards of behavior as described in Appendix F of the handbook.

Student Participation and Course Protocol

Students are expected to read all materials prior to class and do all exercises in Pollack. Exam questions and project papers are taken directly from these readings and exercises. Students are to attend each class session, come with all relevant materials and participate as a professional with colleagues.

Paper to Demonstrate Student's Competence in Analyzing Quantitative Data

The objective of this paper is to provide the student with an opportunity to demonstrate a competency with manipulation and interpretation of data. Therefore each paper will be judged based on the following criteria:

• The student has developed a viable hypothesis from existing theory and has cited references. The hypothesis has been adequately stated.

• The student has tested the main hypothesis. Alternative variables have been taken into account and employed to enhance the analysis or dismissed as not statistically significant. Student has demonstrated an understanding of PRE tests and/or coefficients in the analysis of data .

• The student has utilized appropriate statistical tests and appropriate displays of data have been integrated into the paper and presentation.

• Appropriate conclusions been drawn from the data.
  

• Reference lists and works cited conform to academic standards.
  

• The student can present their analysis to others in a clear, well thought out and coherent manner.

For details visit the course web page on Blackboard.

THE PLEDGE