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MVZ 449 Spring 2010
Dave McCuan Masaryk University
MVZ 449 Take Home Midterm Exam Ideas
Early Spring 2010
Extended Answer Questions (Answer three of the following five questions in up to
three paragraphs, 45 points)
1. What are the key determinants of political participation in the United States?
Can you identify AND explain in a short sentence for each determinant how
they contribute to political participation? Can you name at least (5) of these
variables and up to (8) total?
2. Describe the relationship among social capital, civic engagement and political
participation. Can you describe each term and provide an example?
3. How have Candidate-Centered Campaign Organizations (CCCOs) changed
American politics?
4. Explain how the key demographic variables including age, education,
occupation, income, race, ethnicity, gender indicate and interact to influence
political participation.
5. Discuss the process of socialization. Who are the key players in the
development of political attitudes among pre-adults, and what specific roles
do they play in conjunction with, and independently from, each other?
6. Describe the process of opinion formation with the context of the "two-step
flow of information." What role do political elites play in the formation of
public opinion, and how is their influence affected by individual level
differences?
7. Discuss the importance of ideology to the American public. How, and to what
extent, do Americans identify themselves ideologically? How does the way in
which we measure ideological "sophistication" effect our understanding of the
importance of ideology?
8. Discuss the role of party identification in the shaping of political attitudes and
behavior. How, and to what extent, has this role changed over the past four
decades, and how has the partisanship of the American electorate in general
changed?
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Short Answer Questions (Pick any five of the following ten questions to answer in a
few sentences and up to one paragraph, 25 points)
1. Explain briefly why elections are important for democracy?
2. How do we measure both "political ideology" and "partisanship" in Political
Science? What are the limitations of this approach?
3. What are the components of the Zaller "Memory Based Model?"
4. What is the "Michigan Model of Vote Choice" and what are its components?
5. What demographic variables have the largest effect on turnout? Why?
6. What is "public opinion?" And, what do we mean by the term "political
socialization" when measuring "public opinion?"
7. What is the "Retrospective Voting Model" offered by Fiorina?
Closed-ended Specific Knowledge Questions (Answer the questions listed below, 30
points)
1. Illustrate in OLS notation the linear model:
y =  0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + i
Where: 1 is: 2 is: 3 is:
2. What is Downs' Median Voter Theory? How does this work? Can you
illustrate (draw!) how this model works and explain its components?
3. Describe briefly how attitudes and trust in government have changed since
1964?
4. TRUE or FALSE? Since 1968, the importance of PID as a predictor of VC
has declined? Explain your answer
5. Illustrate in OLS notation the "Michigan Model" which includes the "Funnel
of Causality:"
y =  0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + i
Where:
1 is: 2 is: 3 is: