Project Mentor
Dr. Matthew Singer
Department: Political Science
Research Project Overview:
How will public officials will be held accountable for their handling of the COVID crisis? Will governor approval fall in states where the outbreak is largest or where the economic downturn is deepest? We have also seen some governors experience a jump in popularity equivalent to a “rally around the flag” effect as public attention focuses on their leadership, but how widespread is that? Finally, is President Trump’s accountability rising or falling in states where outbreak is most widespread/the recession has been deepest?
This SHARE project focuses on data collection on governor approval and presidential approval at the state level from a subset of U.S. states from 2009-present, updating a database (https://jmj313.web.lehigh.edu/node/6) of governor approval and presidential approval. Having historical data is necessary to put swings into context. Finding this data requires going through media coverage to identify pollsters in each state and obtain their reports. I then use an algorithm that takes series from different sources or use different questions and extracts their common variance (see http://stimson.web.unc.edu/software/), combining surveys from different time periods and firms.
Over the past year, I have largely collected data on governor approval. I currently have RAs working to enter data on presidential approval from the larger firms that do the most polling at the state level. What is missing will be the state-specific polls from pollsters that work in a single state/small handful of states. Identifying and collecting that data will be the goal of the SHARE project.
Role of a SHARE Summer Apprentice:
The researcher will identify data sources and collect data on presidential approval and governor approval (for 2021) at the state level. While I have identified many of these pollsters, students will review local news coverage of potential sources. They will learn about the variety of ways in which these concepts are measured and how data are collected and about the dynamics of leader approval over time and space. They will also learn basic skills in data documentation. The data will also be made available to the student for their own research purposes if they are interested.
I will meet weekly with students to go over their work and also will check their work product several times in the first week (and periodically afterwards) to ensure that the codebook is being followed accurately. I also will have email communication about issues; I maintain a google doc where my RAs can describe issues they are having on uncertainties about coding where we record our response to guide future decisions and this also helps facilitate communication.
Summer Schedule/Time Commitment:
Time commitment is flexible.
Preferred Qualifications:
No specific coursework or skills are needed. Prior experience working with spreadsheets is a plus and interest in politics and being a political science major is preferred.
To Apply:
CLOSED – Click here to submit an online application for this research apprenticeship through the Quest Portal. The application deadline is Friday, March 26, 2021 at 11:59pm.
Click here to view an outline of the application questions. There are no additional questions specific to this apprenticeship application.