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Assignment
The research paper gives students the opportunity to investigate a social policy in greater depth. The policy can be either a national, state, or local issue. You may wish to examine a topic from the syllabus in greater detail or select a different issue. Your analysis can focus exclusively on the United States or use a comparative approach. For instance, in 2017 President Trump and the Republican Congress removed the Individual Mandate from the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). What are the likely impacts on health care coverage of this policy change? What factors motivated their decision? Why is the ACA so controversial for certain groups in the United States? Who benefits and loses under the original version of the ACA, and how does removing the individual mandate change the distribution of benefits and costs?
A second example might engage a cross-national policy study. While our class will focus primarily on American public policy we will examine some international comparisons. For example, a possible topic compares family leave policies in the United States to a Scandinavian country. Why do Scandinavian countries have more generous family leave policies compared to the United States? What factors explain the differences?
The research paper should include the following parts. First, the public policy problem should be defined. This section summarizes the essential elements of the policy and what is unsatisfactory. Second, the paper must identify the major actors who have a stake in the policy and the importance of political institutional arrangements for shaping the policy. What makes these actors influential and what will be their likely positions regarding policy changes? Does this establish the parameters for possible policy change? Third, you should recommend an improvement to the policy. Explain why your recommendation will improve the expected output. Finally, analyze the political feasibility of your recommendation. Typically, a well-researched paper will be about 8-10 pages.
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Databases
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Ultimate offers an extensive collection of peer-reviewed journals, magazines, reports, books, and videos covering various subjects like astronomy, engineering, health, law, mathematics, and more. It's a comprehensive resource for scholars in many fields.
- SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
SocINDEX with Full Text features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. Access contains full text for more than 860 journals dating back to 1908, 830 books and monographs, and over 16,800 conference papers.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Offers full-text access to articles from leading journals in several fields in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of international serials literature in political science and similar fields, including international relations, law, and public policy. WPSA also indexes books, book chapters, reviews, and dissertations.
Data sources
- Roper Center iPoll This link opens in a new windowFrom the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, Roper iPoll is the largest collection of poll data anywhere—from 1935 to present. Contains data from U.S. and international polling firms with broad topical coverage of opinions and behavior on social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, and more. Datasets available for download.