Rubic_Print_FormatCourse CodeClass CodeNRS-429VNNRS-429VN-O505Family Health Assessment Part I150.0CriteriaPercentageUnsatisfactory (0.00%)Less than Satisfactory (75.00%)Satisfactory (79.00%)Good (89.00%)Excellent (100.00%)CommentsPoints EarnedContent80.0%Interview Questionnaire Assessing Functional Health Patterns 15.0%Interview questionnaire is omitted. The interview questionnaire presented does not include family-focused functional health patterns. More than three of the functional heath patterns have been omitted. Four or more of the functional health patterns have fewer than three open-ended questions.The interview questionnaire presented is incomplete. One or two of the functional heath patterns have been omitted. Two or three of the functional health patterns have fewer than three open-ended questions. Overall, the interview questionnaire is inconsistent with the assignment criteria. The interview questionnaire presented. One of the functional heath patterns has been omitted. One of the functional health patterns has fewer than three open-ended questions. Overall, the interview questionnaire is consistent with the assignment criteria. Some of the open-ended questions are not family-focused or not relevant to the scope of the assignment.The interview questionnaire presented. All functional heath patterns are included, and each has three open-ended questions that are family focused and relevant to functional health patterns. The interview questionnaire is consistent with the assignment criteria. Overall, the open-ended questions are family-focused and relevant to the scope of the assignment.The interview questionnaire presented and demonstrates strong insight into family-focused assessment strategies. All functional heath patterns include three highly relevant open-ended questions. Family Structure (individuals, relevant attributes of family composition, race/ethnicity, social class, spirituality, environment)15.0%Description of family structure omitted.A partial description of family structure is presented. Not all individuals are included. Relevant attributes are listed but incomplete. Some attributes are missing. There are inaccuracies.A summary of family structure is presented. All individuals are included. Most relevant attributes listed are summarized. Some aspects are vague. There are minor inaccuracies.The family structure is described. All individuals and relevant attributes are presented. Overall, the discussion provides insight into the family structure.The family structure is clearly described. All individuals and relevant attributes are discussed in detail. The discussion demonstrates an in-depth perspective into family structure.Family Health and Health Behaviors15.0%Health behaviors and current health of the family are not presented.Health behaviors and current health of the family are partially presented. Overall, the health and health behaviors of the family are unclear. Health behaviors and current health of the family.
1. Rubic_Print_FormatCourse CodeClass CodeNRS-429VNNRS-
429VN-O505Family Health Assessment Part
I150.0CriteriaPercentageUnsatisfactory (0.00%)Less than
Satisfactory (75.00%)Satisfactory (79.00%)Good
(89.00%)Excellent (100.00%)CommentsPoints
EarnedContent80.0%Interview Questionnaire Assessing
Functional Health Patterns 15.0%Interview questionnaire is
omitted. The interview questionnaire presented does not include
family-focused functional health patterns. More than three of
the functional heath patterns have been omitted. Four or more of
the functional health patterns have fewer than three open-ended
questions.The interview questionnaire presented is incomplete.
One or two of the functional heath patterns have been omitted.
Two or three of the functional health patterns have fewer than
three open-ended questions. Overall, the interview
questionnaire is inconsistent with the assignment criteria. The
interview questionnaire presented. One of the functional heath
patterns has been omitted. One of the functional health patterns
has fewer than three open-ended questions. Overall, the
interview questionnaire is consistent with the assignment
criteria. Some of the open-ended questions are not family-
focused or not relevant to the scope of the assignment.The
interview questionnaire presented. All functional heath patterns
are included, and each has three open-ended questions that are
family focused and relevant to functional health patterns. The
interview questionnaire is consistent with the assignment
criteria. Overall, the open-ended questions are family-focused
and relevant to the scope of the assignment.The interview
questionnaire presented and demonstrates strong insight into
family-focused assessment strategies. All functional heath
patterns include three highly relevant open-ended questions.
Family Structure (individuals, relevant attributes of family
composition, race/ethnicity, social class, spirituality,
environment)15.0%Description of family structure omitted.A
2. partial description of family structure is presented. Not all
individuals are included. Relevant attributes are listed but
incomplete. Some attributes are missing. There are
inaccuracies.A summary of family structure is presented. All
individuals are included. Most relevant attributes listed are
summarized. Some aspects are vague. There are minor
inaccuracies.The family structure is described. All individuals
and relevant attributes are presented. Overall, the discussion
provides insight into the family structure.The family structure is
clearly described. All individuals and relevant attributes are
discussed in detail. The discussion demonstrates an in-depth
perspective into family structure.Family Health and Health
Behaviors15.0%Health behaviors and current health of the
family are not presented.Health behaviors and current health of
the family are partially presented. Overall, the health and health
behaviors of the family are unclear. Health behaviors and
current health of the family are summarized. Overall, the health
and health behaviors of the family are generally
presented.Health behaviors are identified and presented. The
current health behaviors of the family are described. Health
behaviors are identified and presented in detail. The current
health of the family is described. A clear understanding of
family health and health behavior is demonstrated.Findings
(functional health patterns strengths, health problems or barriers
to health)15.0%Functional health pattern strengths, health
problems, and barriers to health are not presented as indicated
in assignment criteria.Two functional health pattern strengths,
and three health problems or barriers to health are partially
presented. Some aspects presented are not relevant, or are not
consistent with findings.Two functional health pattern
strengths, three health problems, and barriers to health are
summarized. Aspects presented are relevant and generally
consistent with findings. Two functional health pattern
strengths, three health problems, and barriers to health are
discussed. Aspects presented are relevant and consistent with
findings.Two functional health pattern strengths, three health
3. problems, and barriers to health are discussed. Discussion
identifies and assesses key aspects from findings. Discussion
demonstrates insight into assessment of findings to identify
functional health pattern strengths and health problems or
barriers.Application of Family Systems
Theory20.0%Application of family systems theory is not
presented.Application of family systems theory is partially
presented. It is unclear how the theory will be applied to
positively change overall family functions over time. There are
inaccuracies in the application or representation of the theory.
Application of family systems theory is presented. A general
discussion on how the theory will be applied to initiate positive
changes in family functions over time is presented. There are
minor inaccuracies in the application or representation of the
theory.Application of family systems theory to initiate positive
changes in family functions over time is discussed. The manner
in which the theory is applied is relevant and generally supports
steps toward the desired outcomes.Application of family
systems theory to initiate positive changes in family functions
over time is thoroughly discussed. The manner in which the
theory is applied is highly relevant and strongly supports steps
to achieving the desired outcomes.Organization and
Effectiveness 15.0%Thesis Development and Purpose5.0%Paper
lacks any discernible overall purpose or organizing claim.Thesis
is insufficiently developed or vague. Purpose is not clear.Thesis
is apparent and appropriate to purpose.Thesis is clear and
forecasts the development of the paper. Thesis is descriptive
and reflective of the arguments and appropriate to the
purpose.Thesis is comprehensive and contains the essence of the
paper. Thesis statement makes the purpose of the paper
clear.Argument Logic and Construction5.0%Statement of
purpose is not justified by the conclusion. The conclusion does
not support the claim made. Argument is incoherent and uses
noncredible sources.Sufficient justification of claims is lacking.
Argument lacks consistent unity. There are obvious flaws in the
logic. Some sources have questionable credibility.Argument is
4. orderly, but may have a few inconsistencies. The argument
presents minimal justification of claims. Argument logically,
but not thoroughly, supports the purpose. Sources used are
credible. Introduction and conclusion bracket the thesis.
Argument shows logical progressions. Techniques of
argumentation are evident. There is a smooth progression of
claims from introduction to conclusion. Most sources are
authoritative.Clear and convincing argument that presents a
persuasive claim in a distinctive and compelling manner. All
sources are authoritative.Mechanics of Writing (includes
spelling, punctuation, grammar, language use)5.0%Surface
errors are pervasive enough that they impede communication of
meaning. Inappropriate word choice or sentence construction is
used.Frequent and repetitive mechanical errors distract the
reader. Inconsistencies in language choice (register), sentence
structure, or word choice are present.Some mechanical errors or
typos are present, but they are not overly distracting to the
reader. Correct sentence structure and audience-appropriate
language are used. Prose is largely free of mechanical errors,
although a few may be present. A variety of sentence structures
and effective figures of speech are used. Writer is clearly in
command of standard, written, academic
English.Format5.0%Paper Format (use of appropriate style for
the major and assignment)2.0%Template is not used
appropriately or documentation format is rarely followed
correctly.Template is used, but some elements are missing or
mistaken; lack of control with formatting is apparent.Template
is used, and formatting is correct, although some minor errors
may be present. Template is fully used; There are virtually no
errors in formatting style.All format elements are correct.
Documentation of Sources (citations, footnotes, references,
bibliography, etc., as appropriate to assignment and
style)3.0%Sources are not documented.Documentation of
sources is inconsistent or incorrect, as appropriate to
assignment and style, with numerous formatting errors.Sources
are documented, as appropriate to assignment and style,
5. although some formatting errors may be present.Sources are
documented, as appropriate to assignment and style, and format
is mostly correct. Sources are completely and correctly
documented, as appropriate to assignment and style, and format
is free of error.Total Weightage100%
Milestone 2: Topic Approval
Your mentor submits the topic (Sections 1 and 2 of the
Dissertation Research Plan) to (blanK)mfor official review and
approval. Before the mentor submits to the school, the learner
will submit their research topic to the mentor for feedback and
approval. The topic is the overarching area of inquiry to be
explored in the dissertation. Researching, crafting, and revising
the topic are to be expected before the milestone is completed.
Significance: The topic of the dissertation will guide the
structure of the dissertation work yet to be done.Introduction
At This, earning your PhD requires that you demonstrate the
achievement of your program and specialization outcomes. Your
learning process is guided by the course and PhD Dissertation
Research Seminar track competencies that align with your
program and specialization outcomes. Competencies represent
the skills and knowledge you will incrementally develop to
achieve your program and specialization outcomes. The
dissertation is the final project for all.
Successfully completing your dissertation will demonstrate that
you meet all program and specialization outcomes and that you
are prepared to enter the PhD academy in your field.
The identification of a dissertation topic may sound simple, but
identifying an appropriate topic is a complex activity. A
dissertation topic must be acceptable within the discipline,
school, and specialization.
A dissertation topic must first align with your discipline. You
will utilize the scientific literature in your discipline to
maintain alignment and narrow the scope of your topic. The
process begins by aligning your topic with the discipline and
6. then, step by step narrowing the focus of your topic to respond
to a specific gap in the body of knowledge for your
specialization. Always keep in mind the dissertation
demonstrates your ability to conduct independent research,
extend theory, and fill a gap in the literature of your
specialization area.Developing Your Research Topic
Crafting the research topic is the very first step in creating a
successful research design. Too many learners rush the process,
settling for a sloppy and unfocussed topic statement and
hurrying to identify a research question or methodology. A
well-crafted topic statement identifies the key concepts that will
be investigated, and does so using the terminology used in the
specialization.
When the key concepts and the specific population of interest
are correctly identified and articulated, keywords for a
literature review can more readily be generated. The literature
review is the second step in research design—it provides the
evidence that justifies doing the study in the first place. So a
sloppy and unfocused research topic will result in a sloppy and
unfocused literature review, and it is highly likely that the study
will not be justified. Care in formulating your research topics in
the beginning will greatly enhance your likelihood of producing
a successful and justified Research Plan.Reviewing the
Scientific Merit of a Proposed Topic and Developing Your
Research Problem Statement
In addition to understanding research ethics, you must
demonstrate that your research study will have scientific merit,
which means that it provides a real scientific benefit to the
community. You will explore these concepts now by:
· Developing a well-formed topic.
· Entering the literature related to the key terms in your topic so
that you are able to discover a gap in the literature that you
might be able to fill with a new study.
· Turn your research topic into a research problem, which is the
third step in creating the foundation for your research
7. design.Developing the Research Problem Statement
A well-crafted research topic provides the initial key words for
an in-depth mining of the literature on those key words and
their related terms. This literature search:
· Familiarizes you with what is known about the research topic.
· Allows you to become aware of gaps in the literature.
Gaps in the literature may include:
· Conflicts or disagreements about the topic.
· Design flaws or limitations in the existing research.
· New questions that previous findings raise.
One or more of these gaps, flaws, or new questions will then
form the basis for a research problem statement. This unit will
show you how to move from a research topic to a research
problem, which is perhaps the pivot or centrally important
element in conceptualizing your study. Everything flows from a
well-developed research problem.
Read Developing a Research Problem From a Research Topic to
help you form your research topic and problem statement.
Your assignment in this unit is evaluated using the Research
Topic and Problem Statement Scoring Guide. You will use your
instructor's evaluation and feedback to further refine and
improve your research problem statement.
Milestone 2 Assignment: Research Topic and Problem
Statement
This assignment aligns to sections 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, and 6 in the
Dissertation Research Plan. You will be able to use the
feedback that you receive from this completed assignment to
further refine your problem statement. Address the following
sections in your paper, using the headings provided:Section 1.1:
Research Topic (2 paragraphs)
State your research topic as you have refined it to this point.
Ensure that you address the following elements in Section 1.1:
· First paragraph: Describe the specific topic to be studied in a
clearly stated paragraph, including relevant, appropriately-
focused key concepts.
8. · Second paragraph: Describe the significance of the topic to
your program or field (such as Psychology, Counseling,
Business, Technology, Public Service Leadership, Education)
AND its significance to your program specialization.
The Research Topic should be correctly formed:
· Your research topic should be appropriate for your
specialization.
· Your research topic should use appropriate language for key
concepts/phenomena.
· The target population should be named.
· The concepts should be appropriately focused.
Note: You do not need to describe the relationships between or
among the concepts for this assignment. Section 1.2: Research
Problem (1 paragraph)
Write a brief statement that fully describes the problem being
addressed. In simplified terms, the research problem should take
this form:
"The research literature onindicates that we know, we know, but
we do not know."
The Research Problem should be correctly stated:
· Existing literature and key findings should be summarized.
· Gaps or problems in the existing literature should be clearly
formulated.
· The Research Problem should be explicitly stated, not
implied.Section 2.1: Research Problem Background (3
paragraphs)
Provide a brief SUMMARY of your review of the research
literature on the topic. This should include citations from at
least 5 articles, but should indicate that you have performed a
review of the literature (acceptable for Track 1) on the topic.
This should be demonstrated by providing a statement about the
body of existing literature on the topic, then, summarizing
recent research findings on the topic, highlighting the findings
that are most relevant to your proposed study, demonstrating
how your proposed research could add to the existing literature
9. on the topic. Be sure to provide appropriate in-text citations and
include references in the reference section.
Note: The Research Plan requires a minimum of 75 articles. For
this activity, you only need 5 articles, to create your initial
foundation. You will continue to build towards your full
literature review throughout your dissertation process.Section 6:
References
· Provide a reference list for all of the articles cited in this
assignment, following APA 6th edition formatting (see chapter
7 of the Publication Manual for examples).
· Use current (within 5–7 years), scholarly, PRIMARY
resources to support statements throughout your paper.
Review the Research Topic and Problem Statement Scoring
Guide to ensure you meet all grading criteria. Review the
assignment due date information provided in both the Syllabus
and the Faculty Expectations discussion to effectively plan your
time. Post the Research Topic and Problem Statement to the
assignment area.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool
to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the
linked resources for helpful writing information.Resources
· The Writing Center – Graduate Resources.
· Writing Feedback Tool.
· Smarthinking.
Milestone 3: Mentor-Approved Research Plan
Your mentor works with you to complete the remaining sections
of your Research Plan. Once complete, submit the full Research
Plan to your mentor for feedback and final approval. Your plan
may require multiple iterations before mentor approval is
obtained. Once your Research Plan is approved by your mentor,
Milestone 3 is marked complete.
Significance: Your Research Plan specifically addresses all
aspects of your proposed study and will be the outline of your
dissertation research. Your Research Plan forms the foundation
of your study.Milestone 3 Assignment: Mentor Approval
10. Documentation
Submit your completed (and Turnitin-verified) Research Plan in
the assignment area for mentor approval. Your mentor may also
request a copy of the Turnitin report. Your research plan may
require multiple iterations before approval is granted. When
your mentor has approved your plan, he or she will check the
Yes box in the scoring checklist to indicate that Milestone 3 has
been completed.
Please note: It is very important that the iterative process of
feedback take place through the assignment area to ensure that
all this work is documented and can be captured and saved in
your ePortfolio.
Note: Your mentor may use the Writing Feedback Tool to
provide feedback and resources to improve your writing.
Portfolio Prompt: Save each iteration of your research plan,
your Turnitin report, and your mentor's feedback to your
ePortfolio.Resources
· Research Plan – Mentor Approval Documentation Scoring
Guide
· ePortfolio
· Writing Feedback Tool
Milestone 4: Committee-Approved Research Plan
For Milestone 4, your mentor shares your approved Research
Plan with your dissertation committee (not including the SMR
reviewer) for review, feedback, and approval. Your plan may
require multiple iterations before final approval from your
dissertation committee is obtained. Once your Research Plan is
approved by your committee, Milestone 4 will be marked
complete.
Significance: This step informs the committee of your proposed
Research Plan and provides the committee with an opportunity
to ask questions and offer input to your work.Milestone 4
Assignment: Research Plan – Committee Approval
Documentation
Submit the mentor-approved version of your Research Plan in
11. the assignment area. Your mentor will compile the feedback
from your dissertation committee and send your plan with that
feedback back to you for revision. Make the revisions and
resubmit through the assignment area. Once the committee has
approved your Research Plan, your mentor will check the Yes
box of the scoring checklist to indicate that Milestone 4 has
been completed.
Please note: It is very important that the iterative process of
feedback and revision take place through the assignment area to
ensure that all this work is documented and can be captured and
saved to your ePortfolio.
Note: Your mentor may use the Writing Feedback Tool to
provide feedback and resources to improve your writing.
Portfolio Prompt: Be sure you save the Milestone 4 committee
approval documentation to your ePortfolio.Resources
· Research Plan – Committee Approval Documentation Scoring
Guide
· ePortfolio.
· Writing Feedback Tool.
Milestone 5: Scientific Merit Approval
For Milestone 5, your mentor submits your mentor- and
committee-approved Research Plan to the Doctoral Success
Center (DSC). The DSC sends the plan to the SMR review team
lead, who distributes it to the SMR reviewer. The SMR reviewer
returns a formal review to your mentor and copies the DSC.
Your mentor shares feedback for revisions, you revise based on
that feedback and resubmit to your mentor. Once your mentor
validates that concerns have been sufficiently addressed, he or
she submits your plan to the DSC and the process begins again.
It typically requires multiple iterations before your Research
Plan obtains SMR reviewer final approval. Once the SMR
reviewer has approved your Research Plan, Milestone 5 is
marked complete.
Significance: A demonstration of scientific merit in all research
plans is a necessary condition for IRB approval.Milestone 5
12. Assignment: Scientific Merit Documentation
Submit your mentor- and committee-approved Research Plan in
the assignment area. Your mentor will submit it to the Doctoral
Success Center (DSC) and return it to you with feedback from
the SMR Reviewer for your revisions. You may need to make
multiple revisions before it is approved. Once it has been
approved, your mentor will check the Yes box in the scoring
checklist to indicate that Milestone 5 has been completed.
Please note: It is very important that the iterative process of
feedback and revision take place through the assignment area to
ensure that all of this work is documented and can be captured
and saved to your ePortfolio.
Note: Your mentor may use the Writing Feedback Tool to
provide feedback and resources to improve your writing.
Portfolio Prompt: Be sure to save your SMR-approved Research
Plan and the notice that the plan was approved to your
ePortfolio.Resources
· Scientific Merit Documentation Scoring Guide.
· ePortfolio.
· Writing Feedback Tool.
1
10
I am attaching the SMART form and your project description
with a few comments. My sense is you are trying to add too
much to the paragraph. Just describe the project. Is this a
program evaluation or case study? I would think a case study
would go smoother. Make sure to add a part on the goal (better,
processes, etc) and complete the remainder of the form.
Let me know if you have any questions.SMART: Learner Form
PSL Scientific Merit Action Research Template (SMART) Form
(Research Plan)Scientific Merit Process
Learners who are doing action research for their dissertation
will use this form to go through the process of scientific merit
13. review. The goals of this process are: (1) to facilitate the
planning of the details of your action research project, (2) to
ensure that the proposed project has rigor and allows for
scientific merit review, and (3) to facilitate your progress
through the dissertation. This is not an addition to your
dissertation but a step to assist you in obtaining mentor,
committee, school, and IRB approval more efficiently. You
must obtain mentor, committee, and school approval of your
research plan before submitting your IRB application.Scientific
Merit Criteria The following criteria will be used to establish
scientific merit. The purpose of the review will determine if the
proposed project: 1. Contributes to society by improving a
practice.2. Documents need for change by utilizing evidence-
based needs assessment.3. Meets certain “hallmarks” of a good
action research project including:· Action research design:·
Practical.· Participatory.· Defined action plan.Scientific Merit
ApprovalYour completed SMART form will be approved, not
approved, or deferred for major or minor revisions. Your
committee will use a checklist to determine if the study meets
the criteria for scientific merit and the committee will provide
specific feedback designed to identify any issues related to the
scientific merit that must be resolved. You will have up to three
opportunities to submit this form for committee approval.
Obtaining scientific merit approval does not guarantee you will
obtain IRB approval. The IRB review will focus on ethical
issues. A detailed ethical review will be conducted during the
process of IRB approval.Recommendations for How to Use This
FormThe SMART form is intended to help you and your mentor
plan the design and details of your dissertation. Once your
mentor approves your SMART form, your entire committee will
review the form for scientific merit. After the entire committee
approves your SMART form, it will be submitted for school
approval. It is recommended that you use this form in a step-by-
step way to help plan your design. Expect that you will go
through a few revisions before your mentor and committee
approve this form.
14. Tips for filling out the SMART form:
· Prepare your answers in a separate Word document for ease of
editing and revision.
· Copy and paste items into the right-hand fields when they are
ready.
· Retain the descriptions in the left column.
· Keep the form unlocked for ongoing editing and revision.
· Leave no blank spaces in the form. If an item does not apply
to your study, type “NA” in its field.
· Read the item descriptions carefully. Items request very
specific information. Be sure you understand what is asked
(Good practice for your IRB application!).
· Use primary sources to the greatest extent possible as
references. Textbooks (Patton, Leedy and Ormrod, and so on)
are not acceptable as the only references supporting
methodological and design choices. Use them to locate the
primary sources.Upcoming Milestone Steps:
Milestone Group 1
· Milestone 1: Learner Completed CITI Modules
· Milestone 2: School approved topic (Sections 1 & 2 of
SMART form)
· Milestone 3: Mentor Approved Research Plan (complete
SMART form)
Milestone Group 2
· Milestone 4: Committee Approved Research Plan
· Milestone 5: School Approved Research Plan
· Milestone 6: University Approved IRB
· Milestone 7: Committee Conference Call
15. SMART Learner FormSECTION #1To be completed by
learner1.1 Learner Name
Yolanda Tucker1.2 Learner Program
Doctor of Public Administration1.3 Learner Email
[email protected]1.4 Learner Phone
301-922-13001.5 Mentor Name and Email
Rod Erakovich
[email protected]1.6 Committee Member #1 Name and Email
Dr. Devin Daugherty
[email protected]1.7 Committee Member #2 Name and Email
Dr. Cheryl Nelson
[email protected]1.8 Dissertation Title
Program evaluation and performance measurement; A case of
Prince George County Election BoardComment by Rodney
Erakovich: I suggest leaving out the specific organization.
Simply state an election board. You note a case study yet the
project states program evaluation.1.9 Site Selected
Prince George’s County1.10 Contact Info for Site Approver and
Expected Approval Date
To be determined.SECTION #2To be completed by learner2.1
Project
Write one paragraph that describes the action research project
and the basis for it being addressed.
Program evaluation and performance measurement are often
regarded as complementary approaches that are not only critical
to creating information but also important to decision makers
and stakeholders in both public and private institutions.
McDavid, Huse & Hawthorn, (2018) pointed out that such a
system of evaluation fits perfectly for result-based
organizations as it points out the strengths and limitations
which leads to a thorough understanding howComment by
Rodney Erakovich: Can this part be more specific as to the
project? I would suggest you start off describing the project and
topic, the target population, that it is a program evaluation and
the method used. Are you sure you want to do a program
16. evaluation? Would a case study or action research be more
appropriate? With program evaluation, you will need access to
considerable data. A logic model is part of program evaluation
so I would leave that out. Specific if the study is qualitative or
quantitative. Also note how you will provide the results to
stakeholders.
to evaluate the effectiveness of programs. This research paper
intends to conduct a program evaluation and performance
measurement for Prince George’s Election Board whose
objective is to promote voter education, administer an efficient
voting process, maintain an accurate voter registration database,
and ensure that elected officials are elected in accordance with
Federal, State, and County election laws. The study is a
program evaluation that will use a Logic Model to show
intended causal linkages and visually summarize the structure
of the electoral board at Prince George County (Stufflebeam &
Coryn, 2014).
The need to evaluate the elections board in the United States
comes in the wake of increased criticism towards the current
system. According to the National Conference of State
Legislatures, administering an election is becoming an
increasingly complex task. Moser, Scheiner & Stoll, (2018) also
pointed out that the diversity of election administration
structures between and within states further raises concern as to
whether this level of local control can lead to mismanagement
and inconsistencies, such as the application of the law. As such,
the researcher feels that there is need to come up with program
evaluation and performance measures that will allow
shareholders to make key decisions regarding the mission of
election boards throughout the states. The study will use Prince
George’s Board as a case study, using a Linear Program Logic
Model that outlines how the board runs its affairs, whether they
meet expectations and if it implements activities that work as
planned to fulfill its responsibilities.
17. Important Readings
https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/559/Board-of-
Elections
https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-
binaries/51113_ch_1.pdf
REFERENCES
McDavid, J. C., Huse, I., & Hawthorn, L. R. (2018). Program
evaluation and performance measurement: An introduction to
practice. Sage Publications.
Moser, R. G., Scheiner, E., & Stoll, H. (2018). Social Diversity,
Election Rules, and the Party System. In The Oxford Handbook
of Electoral Systems.
Stufflebeam, D. L., & Coryn, C. L. (2014). Evaluation theory,
models, and applications (Vol. 50). John Wiley & Sons.
ilable at ScienceDirect
Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e9
Contents lists ava
Electoral Studies
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/electstud
Election administration and perceptions of fair elections*
Shaun Bowler a, Thomas Brunell b, Todd Donovan c, *, Paul
Gronke d
a UC Riverside, USA
b University of Texas, Dallas, USA
20. l Science, MS 9082,
Bowler), [email protected]
(T. Donovan), paul.
body of research on electoral integrity is that the proce-
dural quality of elections should contribute to democratic
legitimacy (for an overview, see Norris, 2014; Birch, 2008).
Part of the process by which supporters of losing parties
and losing candidates see winners as having legitimate
authority is that at some level, they view the electoral
process as fair, and consent to the results of elections they
lose (Anderson et al., 2005).
But how is it that people come to perceive outcomes of
elections as legitimate and procedurally fair? In older,
established democracies, it is likely that citizens have some
base level of political socialization that causes them to view
electoral procedures as fair in themselves. In these nations,
the same social processes that transmit civic duty (Blais
et al., 2004; Blais, 2006), patriotism, or even party loy-
alties (Campbell et al., 1960; Niemi and Jennings, 1991)
likely also build some reservoir of support for the outcomes
of democratic institutions (Dalton, 2009). Regardless win-
ning or losing, and regardless of procedural faults or
glitches on election day, socialization processes may cause
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21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2015.01.004
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S. Bowler et al. / Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e92
people in established democracies to see elections as
routine events and to regularly accept election results as
legitimate (Mozaffar and Schedler, 2002). Political social-
ization is not, however, sufficient to explain how all people
view electoral integrity at a particular point in time.
Although socialization may well provide a reservoir or
benchmark of support it is not plausible to suggest that the
level of support remains unchanged through a life cycle of
perhaps a dozen or more national elections. Several
scholars note that younger generations are being socialized
toward democracy differently (Denemark et al., 2012), with
less deference to authority (Inglehart, 1990) and with civic
duty acting as a weaker force in motivating political
participation (Blais et al., 2004). The media environment
that generates information about democratic institutions
has also changed (Moy and Pfau, 2000) - a competitive,
partisan media context can increase incentives news out-
lets have to bring attention to procedural flaws in elections,
and allegations of fraud.
Beyond any socialized acceptance of election results
then, citizens' views of electoral legitimacy are conditioned
by their perceptions of electoral and political performance
(Norris, 2014, 2004; Elklit and Reynolds, 2005; Elklit and
Reynolds, 2002). For example, Europeans who perceived
that officials were bribed were less trusting of democratic
institutions (Anderson and Tverdova, 2003). Russians who
perceived elections as unfair were less supportive of po-
litical parties, parliament, and their government
(McAllister and White, 2011). Although we have evidence
22. that satisfaction with democracy is related to broad mea-
sures of procedural performance of government (Norris,
2004),1 and evidence that specific electoral rules (propor-
tional representation and publicly financed elections)
correspond with greater popular confidence in elections
(Birch, 2008), we know less about how the quality of how
election administration affects mass perceptions of elec-
toral performance in established democracies.
2. The research question
In light of the preceding discussion our research ques-
tion can be stated: To what extent are perceptions of
electoral performance affected by the actual procedural
quality of elections? By investigating this question, we can
broaden our understanding of how citizens reason about
political institutions in general. That is, are popular atti-
tudes about democratic institutions, at least in part, struc-
tured by the quality of institutional practice?
Our primary question also has implications for the
utility of efforts to improve the administration of elections.
We know that, independent of the procedural quality of
elections, a particular event or election rule can be viewed
quite differently by different groups. In the US, for example,
partisanship plays a major role in structuring whether or
not people view key aspects of elections as unfair or
corrupt. Party structures how people perceive the role of
campaign finance in elections (Persily and Lammie, 2004),
1 Also see Putnam et al. (1994), who argue that government
performs
better where there is greater civic engagement.
how they view the relationship between campaign finance
and the legitimacy of election results, how they viewed the
legitimacy of the disputed 2000 presidential election (Craig
et al., 2006), and how they viewed the utility and fairness of
23. voter identification laws (Bowler and Donovan,
2013:30e31; Bentele and O'Brien, 2013). Indeed, at the
mass and elite levels, Americans' attitudes about what does
and what does not constitute electoral 'fraud' are defined
sharply by their partisanship (Wilson and Brewer 2013;
Ansolobehere and Persily 2008).
However, if we find that people view elections as more
legitimate where objective measures show they are better
administered, this would suggest that efforts that succeed
at improving electoral performance can enhance the ability
of democratic elections to impart legitimate political au-
thority. We should note that there are some grounds for
scepticism that election administration will have an inde-
pendent effect on public opinion. Bowler and Donovan
(2013) have demonstrated a wide range of electoral rules
and reforms have little identifiable relationship with po-
litical trust, efficacy, and citizen engagement with politics.
These findings suggest a more limited role for “institutional
effects” than one might expect given the argument that
“institutions matter.” We might also see these results as
suggesting a limited role for the effect of election admin-
istration. One reason for such null results with respect to
broad institutional changes is that although an electoral
rule may exist, it need not necessarily be implemented in a
fashion that citizens are able to detect. In this study, how-
ever, we are not assessing how the presence or absence of
an electoral institution affects attitudes, rather, we examine
how the implementation of elections affects attitudes.
At this point we should note that the general hypothesis
of interest is quite straightforward: better administration of
elections should produce more positive views of the elec-
toral process among mass publics. In order to test that
general argument, however, we need to substantiate both
that the US case is an appropriate case study and that
24. appropriate measures of election administration exist.
3. The advantage of the American case
As Norris notes (2014), there are a number of problems
with attempts at establishing causality when investigating
the relationships between electoral performance and
public attitudes about elections. For one, there are very few
cases where we have survey data measuring attitudes
about electoral performance collected before and after a
jurisdiction transitioned to democratic elections. Even in
established democracies, it is rare to find polls with suitable
items conducted over a time span that is adequate enough
to capture the potential effects on attitudes of problems
with electoral performance. As such, cross-national studies
of opinions taken as a snapshot in time have been our best
chance for teasing out the effects of electoral performance
on popular attitudes.
An additional research design problem is that of being
able to measure electoral performance objectively, across a
large number of jurisdictions (see Elklit and Reynolds,
2002). Up to this point, most studies have relied on sub-
jective measures of electoral performance (e.g. corruptions
3 Pew worked with Charles Stewart III (MIT), Steven
Ansolabehere
(Harvard), Barry Burden (Wisconsin), Heather Gerken (Yale
Law), Paul
Gronke (Reed), Christopher Mann (Miami), Nathan Persily
(Columbia
S. Bowler et al. / Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e9 3
perceptions indices, and/or experts' subjective perceptions
25. of electoral performance). It is quite possible that popular
perceptions of electoral performance are closely bound to
objective measures of performance. Scholars, however,
have not always been well-positioned to objectively mea-
sure election performance with a standard that can be
applied across a large number of jurisdictions. By exam-
ining the US case, we can model individual citizens' per-
ceptions as a function of an objective measure of electoral
performance that is applied across a large number of cases.
In sum, we can test if mass perceptions reflect the reality of
how elections are conducted.
As noted earlier, the United States has one of the world's
most decentralized systems of electoral administration.
The level of decentralization makes for a range of variation
in administration that, in turn, makes the US an especially
interesting case for examining variation in the impact of
administration. Non-US based scholars e and even many
US students e may be surprised by the variation within the
US: surely the Federal Election Commission plays a role in
standardizing elections? Given both that it may be sur-
prising to see how much variation exists and that the
variation in administration is a rationale for choosing the
US case it is worth spending a little time establishing just
how varied is US experience.
There is no formal US equivalent of The Australian
Election Commission, Elections Canada, or even the UK
Electoral Commission. Although there are some federal
statutes and Supreme Court rulings that create (weak)
national guidelines for the conduct of elections, the pri-
mary responsibility for administering elections remains in
the hands of 50 different state governments.2 As examples
of standardization we note that the Help America Vote Act
(2002) set minimum standards for the maintenance of
voter rolls, types of voting equipment used, and rules for
26. provisional ballots. The Voting Rights Act (1965, and
various amendments) regulates ballot information (non-
English language) that certain county governments must
use. The Federal Election Commission also helps to regulate
and publicize campaign spending in a standard manner (for
federal races) across the states.
Nevertheless, the individual states are left to fund and
conduct federal elections. States have substantial discretion
in how they may comply with national standards, and
states have autonomy in setting rules for such things as
voter registration processes and requirements, rules for
showing identification, types of voting equipment used,
rules for early voting, absentee voting, rules for recounts,
and myriad other factors. As a concrete example consider
voter registration. Although the Court has ruled that states
cannot require a pre-election registration deadline greater
than 30 days before an election there remains considerable
variation. In practice state registration deadlines range
from 0 (election day) to 30 days prior. States also have
substantial discretion in determining the level of resources
they invest in the conduct of federal elections, in managing
voter registration (there is no national roll), in designing
2 Election administration is further decentralized in the US,
with states
delegating the conduct of elections to thousands of county
governments.
ballots, setting rules for absentee voting and use of pro-
vincial ballots, determining how (and whether) recounts
and post-election audits are conducted, and in determining
the number of polling places, their locations, and their
hours of operation.
The result of this is that the elections are conducted in
one state at a very different level of quality than in another
state. Moreover, unlike cross-national analysis, in the US
27. case variation across jurisdictions in major cultural factors
is much more limited. Although we cannot definitively
establish that changes in electoral quality affected feelings
about the legitimacy of US elections, the states provide an
excellent opportunity for testing how variation in the
quality of the conduct of elections affects popular percep-
tions about whether or not elections were conducted fairly.
4. Measuring the performance of elections, and
election laws
Despite the decentralization of election administration
in the US, and the resulting variety in the conduct of elec-
tions across the states, there are also sufficient features in
common among the states such that election performance
can be measured in a standardized manner. For example,
federal elections are all conducted at the same time under
the same electoral system, and each state maintains similar
records about: 1) the number of absentee ballots unre-
turned, 2) absentee ballots rejected, 3) the number of
provisional ballots cast, 4) provisional ballots rejected, and
5) registrations rejected. Data are also available for each
state on 6) wait times for voting, 7) registration rates, 8)
registration problems, 9) whether or not the state allows
registrations on-line, 10) whether it requires post-election
audits, 11) the accuracy of voting technology (residual
votes), 12) completeness of data records, 13) voting infor-
mation lookup tools, 14) military and overseas ballots
rejected, 15) military and overseas ballots not returned, 16)
disability-related voting problems and 17) turnout.
Indeed, the Pew Center for the States has used these
seventeen qualities of election administration to create an
Elections Performance Index (EPI) that makes it possible to
compare the quality of election performance across the
states, circa 2012.3 Pew rates each state with an overall
average score that represents a summary measure of how it
28. performed on the seventeen items (with each item given
equal weight).4 In 2012 the top scoring states on Pew's
election performance index were North Dakota (86), Min-
nesota (80), Wisconsin (79), Colorado (79) and Nevada (77).
The lowest ranked were Mississippi (44), Oklahoma (54),
California (54), Alabama (56) and New York (58).
In addition to estimating how state-level election per-
formance may have affected attitudes about electoral
Law), Bob Stein (Rice), Daniel Tokaji (Ohio State Law), and a
group of state
and local election officials to create the index.
4 State-level measures of election performance are also
available for
2008 and 2010. Most states' performance scores were improving
from
2010 to 2012, and scores from those years are well correlated
(.82).
S. Bowler et al. / Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e94
integrity in the US, we also account for how a specific
election rule e photo identification e may have affected
how people viewed the electoral process. A major reason
for including this measure is that, as of 2012, the most
contentious election rule in the United States was likely
photo identification laws. In the mid 2000s a number of
states began adopting strict laws that required voters to
provide election officials a government issued photo
identification when voting at a polling place. Republican-
controlled state governments promoted the laws as a tool
for preventing voter fraud (voter impersonation), while
Democrats alleged incidences of voter impersonation were
rare and that the laws were designed to supress turnout
29. among potential Democratic voters (Bowler and Donovan,
2013; Bentele and O'Brien, 2013). It is a highly charged
political issue that has potentially large implications for
election results (Richman et al., 2014) and voter participa-
tion but, more to the point, it is one that is talked about by
both main political parties as a major issue in election
administration.
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
maintains a database that records which states had photo
identification laws in effect at the time of the 2012 US
presidential election, and the type of identification
requirement that the state had. The NCSL reports a five-
point scale, ranging from 1) strict rules where photo
identification is required, 2) strict identification rules that
allow the use of non-photo documentation, 3) rules that
allow photo identification to be requested (but a person can
still vote if she lacks identification), 4) rules that allow non-
photo identification to be requested, and 5) states with no
identification requirements. We code states on a five-point
scale according to these NCSL classifications, with a range
from one (if the state had no identification requirement) to
five (if the state had a strict photo requirement). At the
2012 election, 30 states had some form of identification
requirement, with strict photo requirements in Georgia,
Indiana, Kansas, and Tennessee.5
These two measures e the Pew EPI index and the NCSL
photo id categorization e provide us with measures of the
variation of state level election administration which we
can then use to explore citizen opinion towards elections.
5. Measuring perceptions of electoral integrity in the
US
Wave 6 of World Values Survey (2010e2014) included
several items designed to measure respondent's percep-
30. tions of electoral integrity, and some of these items were
included on the 2012 American National Election Study.
Respondents were prompted with, “in your view, how
often do the following things occur in this country's elec-
tions.” They were then asked (separately) if votes are
counted fairly, and if election officials are fair. These two
items reflect key principles of electoral integrity recognized
5 Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and
Wisconsin had
adopted strict photo id rules prior to the 2012 election, but these
laws
were not in effect at the time due to court or Department of
Justice
challenges.
by international institutions (Hall and Wang, 2008:43).
With each item, response categories ranged from “very
often”, “fairly often,” “not often,” to “not often at all.” The
distribution of responses to these questions from the US
and several other nations are reported in Figs. 1 and 2.
Wave 6 of the WVS was conducted in many nations with
limited experience with democratic elections. Data dis-
played in Figs 1 and 2 reflect attitudes about elections in the
four nations where the WVS reported data from estab-
lished, affluent democracies, with six additional cases
included for comparative perspective.
Overall, Americans appeared to have been moderately
confident in the integrity of their elections in 2012 e more
so than respondents from Columbia and Mexico, but,
depending on the item, less confident than respondents
from Australia, the Netherlands, and Germany. Over sev-
enty per cent of US respondents stated, respectively, that
election officials were fair and votes were counted fairly at
least “fairly often.” By this measure, Americans' perceptions
of elected officials appear similar to those of Uruguayans
and Poles. But there is substantial variation in Americans'
31. attitudes about elected officials, and evidence of pessi-
mism. Barely one-fifth of US respondents were confident
that election officials were fair “very often.” Less than one-
third of Americans believed that votes were counted fairly
“very often.” Americans, then, were far more sceptical
about the integrity of vote counting than respondents from
Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands. Our task in the
analysis that follows is to understand how state-level
electoral performance (as measured by the Pew EPI) and
a key state election rule (identification laws) explains
variation in Americans' attitudes about elections that are
illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.
6. Hypotheses and models
As noted above we expect that partisanship will struc-
ture attitudes about the integrity of elections in substantial
ways, particularly in terms of fairness of process. Sup-
porters of the party in power (or depending on the timing
of a survey, the winning party) are likely to be satisfied with
the result and that satisfaction with may project on to their
views on the legitimacy of the process. The opposite applies
for electoral losers. In the US in 2012, Democrats were the
incumbent party in the White House, they controlled a
Fig. 1. Perceptions of electoral integrity: Per cent of
respondents saying
election officials are fair “very often” and “fairly often.”
Fig. 2. Perceptions of electoral integrity: Per cent of
respondents saying
votes are counted fairly “very often” and “fairly often.”
Sources: American National Election Study, 2012. World
Values Survey 6:
Australia 2012, Estonia 2011, Germany 2013, Netherlands 2012,
Chile 2011,
32. Columbia 2012, Uruguay 2011, Mexico 2012.
6 Response options included all (4%), most (25.6%), about half
(31.4%), a
few (36.4%), and none (1%). The variable is recoded such that 1
¼ none,
through 5 ¼ all.
7 Models are estimated with Stata xtmixed. When the models
were
also estimated with ologit, results are similar to what we report
(in terms
of which effects were significant).
8 Median state household income 2012, and EPI for 2012 were
corre-
lated at just .03. State income is represented in units such that
41.1 ¼ $41,100).
S. Bowler et al. / Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e9 5
majority in one chamber of Congress (the Senate), and won
additional House and Senate seats when President Obama
was re-elected in November. Given this and given the
elections questions were asked after results of the election
were known, we expect people who identified as Democrat
to be more optimistic about electoral practices when asked
in 2012, and we expect people who identified as Republican
to be less so. Our models of perceptions of electoral integ-
rity thus include respective dichotomous markers for
Democrats and Republicans.
In addition, dichotomous measures identify white, Af-
rican American, and Latino respondents (0/1), respectively.
Given the historic institutionalization of African American
and Latino voter suppression in the US (Kousser, 1999;
Keyssar, 2000; Davidson and Fraga, 1988) we expect that
33. members of these minority groups may be more likely to
view the conduct of elections as unfair. There may also be
effects here associated with the lack of descriptive repre-
sentation. Members of groups who are historically under
represented in elected offices (relative to their share of the
population) may be more likely to view elections as unfair.
Although African Americans have achieved levels of
descriptive representation at some levels commensurate to
their share of the population, this has been relatively
recent. Latinos, in contrast, are represented at levels far
below their share of the population. We control for gender
as well. Although women are not a demographic minority,
they do constitute a minority in terms of their descriptive
representation. The enduring underrepresentation of
women in American politics may cause women to view
elections as unfair on multiple dimensions.
Furthermore, since higher levels of education are
known to be associated with greater efficacy and trust
(Niemi and Jennings, 1991; Craig et al., 1990), we expect
respondents' with higher levels of education to be more
likely to think that elections have a meaningful role, and, by
extension to perceive that electoral processes are fair. Ed-
ucation is measured here in five categories, ranging from
less than high school (1) to graduate degree (5). Our models
also include terms for age, media consumption (frequency
of TV news viewing per week), and a measure of political
trust. It is important that we control for age, given that
younger cohorts may experience socialization processes
that leave them to be less deferential to elections and
democratic institutions (Denemark et al., 2012). Media
viewing is included to account for the possibility that
people who frequently view TV news are more likely to be
exposed to stories that feature suspicion about electoral
malpractice and about political scandals, which may cause
them to view elections as unfair.
34. Perceptions of the conduct of elections and of the people
who conduct them could be part of an overarching set of
attitudes about government and the integrity of public of-
ficials in general. Those less trusting of government have
been shown to be more likely to worry about problems
with election procedures (Nunnally, 2011). The pre-election
wave of the 2012 ANES included a standard battery of trust
in government questions as well as an item asking “how
many of the people running the government are corrupt?”
Most Americans indicated they believed that “about half”
or more of “people running the government” were corrupt
in 2012.6 If we consider standard definitions of public
corruption this ANES item demonstrates that public per-
ceptions about the extent of corruption in America are
grossly inaccurate. However, the item may capture pre-
election cynicism about public officials that coloured how
people responded to post-election questions about election
officials. Given this item is similar to the post-election
question about election officials, we report models that
include and omit it. Including the item as a control provides
a very conservative test for the effects of state-level per-
formance on attitudes about elections.
Our state level elections variables include the NCSL
measure of photo identification laws and the Pew EPI
scores described above. Since we assume that attitudes
about electoral practices are structured not only by parti-
sanship, but also in response to how people experience the
quality of elections, we expect that higher EPI scores will be
correlated with more optimistic perceptions of the fairness
of elections. Our expectations about photo identification
laws are more conditional. Given the charged partisan
context of these laws, we expect Republicans and Demo-
crats viewed them differently, and thus viewed their po-
tential effects differently. To test this, we estimate our
35. models with interaction terms that test if Republicans were
more confident in elections in states where stricter iden-
tification rules were in place.
Given the nature of our data, we estimate hierarchical
linear models with random intercepts and five level-2
covariates: state EPI, state photo id laws, and controls for
state median income, 2012 presidential vote margin in the
state, and 2012 turnout.7 Income is included since state
wealth may affect how much a state spends on the
administration of elections,8 while margin accounts for
Table 1
Public attitudes about electoral integrity, United States.
Officials fair Vote count fair
I II III IV V VI
Level 1
TV news viewing .006 (.004) .002 (.004) .002 (.004) .001 (.004)
�.001 (.004) �.001 (.004)
Democrat .100** (.025) .037 (.025) .037 (.025) .133** (.026)
.082** (.025) .083** (.026)
Republican �.108** (.047) �.126** (.046) �.125** (.046)
�.149** (.049) �.160** (.047) �.159** (.047)
Black �.036 (.046) �.074 (.045) �.076 (.045) �.039 (.029)
�.097* (.047) �.074 (.043)
Latino �.058 (.032) �.086** (.032) �.082** (.032) �.070*
(.033) �.092** (.032) �.091** (.032)
Female �.125** (.023) �.115** (.021) �.114** (.021) �.118**
(.022) �.108** (.021) �.108** (.021)
Education .111** (.009) .085** (.009) .085** (.009) .111**
(.009) .090** (.009) .090** (.009)
36. Age (groups) .020** (.003) .014** (.003) .014** (.003) .016**
(.004) .011** (.003) .011** (.003)
Sample �.113** (.023) �.088** (.023) �.090** (.023) �.123**
(.023) �.101** (.023) �.102** (.004)
Officials corrupt? e �.243** (.011) �.242** (.012) e �.212**
(.012) �.211** (.012)
Level 2
State income .005** (.002) .003 (.002) .002 (.002) .004**
(.002) .003 (.002) .002 (.002)
Margin .002 (.002) .001 (.002) .002 (.002) .003 (.002) .002
(.002) .002 (.002)
Turnout e e .0086** (.0032) e e .0049 (.0027)
Election performance .0059** (.0023) .0056** (.0022) e .0039*
(.0019) .0033 (.0019) e
Photo ID law �.002 (.010) �.001 (.010) .006 (.011) �.002
(.002) �.010 (.009) �.005 (.009)
Republican* ID law .026 (.015) .024 (.015) .024 (.015) .026
(.015) .023 (.015) .024 (.016)
Constant 1.79** (.188) 2.79** (.189) 2.68** (.208) 2.21**
(.170) 3.08** (.170) 3.03** (.185)
Wald chi2 293.1** 745.0** 745.6** 300.0** 630.7** 630.9**
Level 1 n 5307 5236 5236 5343 5261 5261
Level 2 n 50 50 50 50 50 50
Level 1 R2 .05 .12 .12 .05 .12 .12
Level 2 R2 .01 .01 .01 .01 .01 .01
Note: HLM with random intercept and level 2 covariates,
estimated with Stata xtmixed; **p. < .01, *p. < .05 (two-tail).
Source: 2012 ANES
S. Bowler et al. / Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e96
variation in electoral context. Turnout is included in some
models as a separate measure of electoral quality e it is one
of the 17 items in the EPI, and other items in the index
(registration rates, registration problems, on-line registra-
tion, etc.) and may reflect a better quality of election
37. administration that is expressed in higher turnout. We
estimate three models of both dependent variables; one
model without the control that accounts for general atti-
tudes about official corruption, one with that control, and
one that includes turnout.
7. Results
Table 1 reports results of the models estimating Amer-
icans' responses to these WVS/ANES questions about elec-
toral integrity. The estimates of individual level factors are
largely consistent with our expectations. Other things
equal, partisans differed in how they viewed election offi-
cials and vote counting after the 2012 contests. Republicans
were consistently less confident that election officials and
vote counts were fair, while Democrats were more confi-
dent. The effect of Democratic partisanship on perceptions
of election officials is muted when the control for attitudes
about government officials is included. However, Demo-
crats are consistently associated with greater confidence in
vote counting. Women, Latino/as, African Americans,9
younger people, and the less educated, respectively, were
less likely to respond that election officials were usually fair
9 The coefficients for African Americans in Model II, III and
VI are sig-
nificant at p. < .10 two-tail, or p. ¼ .05 one-tail; the coefficient
for Latinos
in Model I is significant at p ¼ .08 (two-tail).
and less likely to say that votes were usually counted fairly.
That is, independent of partisanship, and independent of
how well elections were conducted, women and minorities
were less likely to think that US elections were fair.10 Table
2 (below) illustrates the substantive magnitude of these
effects. Compared to a baseline respondent (a white male in
a state with average EPI), women of colour were much less
38. likely than others to see officials and vote counts as fair.
But what of state-level factors? We find that a state's
2012 Election Performance Index score was associated with
how individuals responded to the question about the fair-
ness of election officials and vote counts. Regardless of
whether or not the models include controls for general
cynicism about government officials, the coefficients for EPI
are positive and statistically significant in estimates of
perceptions that officials were fair and in estimates that
vote counts were fair.11 In states where this objective
measure indicates the conduct of elections to be of higher
quality, respondents were significantly more likely to say
elections were fair. As shown in Table 2, the substantive
magnitude of this relationship is modest e at least when
compared to the individual-level effect of partisanship and
gender.
Models III and VI replace the EPI measure of election
administration with a measure of state-level turnout.
Turnout also has a significant, positive association with
10 Contrary to our expectation, we find no relationship between
TV
news consumption and attitudes about election officials and
vote counts.
11 When the control for attitudes about corruption is included
in Model
V the estimated coefficient for EPI on perceptions of fair vote
counting is
slightly smaller, and significant at just p ¼ .09 (two-tail).
Table 2
Predicted probability of responding that election officials were
fair and
39. vote count was fair “very often.”
Officials fair Count fair
Baselinea .204 (.009) .333 (.013)
Female .154 (.008) .267 (.012)
Latino .161 (.016) .258 (.021)
Latina .121 (.012) .203 (.019)
Black, male .175 (.013) .279 (.017)
Black, female .148 (.016) .215 (.015)
Republican .182 (.009) .286 (.013)
Democrat .244 (.012) .407 (.015)
Lowest EPI state .154 (.020) .284 (.024)
Highest EPI state .256 (.020) .378 (.022)
Note: Predicted probabilities generated from post-estimation
Clarify
simulations of ordered logit models (standard errors clustered
by state).
a Baseline respondent is an independent, white male, with mean
values
on other variables (age, education, media viewing, perceptions
of officials
corrupt, state EPI, and state id rules).
Source: ologit models replicating models I in Table 1, available
from au-
thors. Dependent variables range from 0 (“not at all often”) to 4
(“very
often”).
S. Bowler et al. / Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e9 7
perceptions that election officials are fair (p. < .01, two-tail)
and that votes were counted fairly (albeit at p. < .07, two-
tail). It is possible that this reflects people who are more
confident about the administration of elections being more
40. likely to vote. However, that causal logic is not consistent
with the fact that EPI, and components of EPI that remove
turnout (see robustness tests below) predict greater con-
fidence in elections. Turnout and EPI are highly corre-
lated,12 and we expect this reflects a close relationship
between the quality of election administration and turnout.
This suggests the potential of a causal process where, over
time, improvements in the quality of electoral adminis-
tration may increase voter access and turnout while also
improving voter confidence in elections.13
The potential effects of voter identification laws on
perceptions of electoral legitimacy appear limited. None of
our models yield any significant, direct relationship be-
tween the strictness of a state's voter identification laws,
and perceptions about the conduct of elections. We did
anticipate that Republicans, as supporters of photo ID laws,
might view the conduct of elections more positively where
strict identification laws were in effect. There might be
something to this, but the relationships, if any, are weak.
The estimates show that although Republicans generally
were less likely to view elections as fair, Republicans in
states with strict identification rules were more likely to
see elections as fair e but in each case the statistical sig-
nificance (p ¼ . 09 two-tail) does not reach conventional
levels.
Our mixed level models allow us an additional tool to
assess the substantive magnitude of state-level versus
individual-level factors. LR tests comparing the fit of
mixed-level random effects ANOVA models to individual-
12 Being correlated at .73, both items cannot be included in the
same
model. When they are, neither term is significant.
13 Put differently, we have sound reason to expect that the
quality of
41. election administration, as measured by Pew, affects
perceptions of
electoral integrity. We have less reason to expect the opposite.
level OLS models reject the hypothesis that there is no
cross-state variation in perceptions of officials being fair
(p. < .0000) and in perceptions that vote counts were fair
(p. < .000). However, we find that most (nearly all) of the
variation in these attitudes is due to individual-level
factors.14
Table 2 displays the substantive magnitude of the esti-
mated relationships between key independent variables
(state level EPI and individual-level demographic traits and
perceptions of fair elections. For the sake of illustration, and
given that individual-level factors are the major influence
on these attitudes, the predicted probability of a respon-
dent saying officials and vote counts were “very often” fair
were estimated from ordered logit models (available from
the authors).15 A respondent in a median EPI state had an
estimated .204 probability of saying election officials were
fair “very often,” and a .333 probability of saying vote
counts were fair very often. The probability of respondent
saying this in the state with the highest EPI was predicted
to be about .05 higher for each item. In contrast, partisan-
ship had a much larger estimated effect on perceptions of
fair vote counts e with Democrats predicted to have a .12
greater probability than Republicans of saying counts were
fair. Table 2 also illustrates the extent to which women of
colour were less likely to view officials and vote counts as
fair. Compared to other respondents in a median EPI state, a
Latina had a .12 lower probability of saying counts were fair
very often, and a .08 lower probability of saying officials
were. These effects of party, race, ethnicity and gender on
perceptions of fair elections thus rival or exceed the
measured effects of electoral performance.
8. Robustness tests
42. We conducted additional analysis to assess the veracity
of these results. First, we examined if the relationships we
detected between EPI and attitudes were a quirk of the
2012 ANES, or if models estimated on a different survey
platform produced similar relationships. Second, we
decomposed the EPI measure to assess if there were di-
mensions of the index that were associated with particular
attitudes about elections. As for the first matter, the 2012
Cooperative Comparative Election Study (CCES) also
included an item that asked respondents, “are election of-
ficials fair?” As with results reported here in Table 1, esti-
mates using CCES data yielded a significant positive
relationship between EPI and perceptions that officials
were fair; with the estimated size of the coefficients of EPI
similar regardless of whether CCES or ANES data were used
(CCES estimates available from the authors).
We conducted a factor analysis to assess which di-
mensions of the EPI were related to perceptions of elec-
tions. This produced five unique dimensions of electoral
performance, allowing us to replicate the ANES models in
14 The inter-class correlation (ICC) for the percent variance
explained by
level-2 factors is .013 (1.3%) for attitudes about officials being
fair, and
.008 for attitudes about fair vote counts.
15 The relationships between EPI and both questions about
elections are
significant (p < .01) when estimated with ologit.
S. Bowler et al. / Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e98
Table 1 using the five factor (z) scores (rather than EPI) to
estimate perceptions of elections. Four of the factors were
43. associated with attitudes about fair elections, and one was
not.16 One dimension of state-level performance charac-
terized by higher registration rates, high turnout, and low
rates of disability related voting problems was significantly
and positively associated with perceptions that officials
were fair, and that votes were counted fairly. A second
dimension of administration characterised high rates of
data completeness, and low rates of military ballots being
rejected also had a significant, positive association with
perceptions that officials were fair and votes were fairly
counted. Two other factors were associated with specific
attitudes: People in states with higher scores on a dimen-
sion representing the presence of tools for looking up
voting information were significantly more likely to say
votes were counted fairly, while those in states scoring
higher on a dimension that reflected online registration
were significantly more likely to say officials were fair. This
analysis suggest that rather than there being a single item
in the EPI driving our results, there are multiple aspects of
election administration captured by the EPI that are related
to perceptions of elections.
9. Discussion
Even with some very conservative tests, we find that an
objective measure of the quality of election administration
explains some variation in perceptions of fair elections. In
states that scored higher on a measure of administrative
quality, people were more confident that election officials
were fair, and that votes were counted fairly. Champions of
reforms designed to improve the administration of elec-
tions should find solace in these results. Our analysis
demonstrates that people viewed elections as fairer where
elections were conducted better. By extension, this implies
that improvements in the governance of elections could
also promote democratic legitimacy, as fair elections are a
key feature of democratic processes.
44. We suggest it is one thing to find greater confidence
where elections are ran reasonably well than where they
are notoriously bad, but another thing to find greater
confidence across places where, by international standards,
all elections are conducted reasonably well. A sensible
intuition might have us expect that elections in Robert
Mugabe's Zimbabwe do much less in establishing legiti-
mate authority there, than compared to well-administered
elections in established democracies. Similarly, many might
expect variation in election quality to shape perceptions of
legitimacy across emerging democracies, where ‘quality’
ranges from elections with wide-spread fraud and intimi-
dation to elections that are relatively free and fair. But our
study demonstrates that even within an established de-
mocracy, where systematic fraud is rare and where in-
stitutions and socialization forces produce expectations
16 The first factor represents states that had higher rates of
provisional
ballots cast, provisional ballots rejected, and higher rates of
absentee
ballots rejected and unreturned. This dimension of electoral
performance
was not associated with attitudes about elections.
that elections will be reasonably fair, people do appear to
notice when things are running very well and when they
are running less well.
This said, there are several points of caution. Patterns of
what, for a want of a better term, we might call a ‘demo-
cratic divide’ in the US structured on demographic lines
(race, gender) are both robust and worrying. One of the
implications of these results is that large numbers of
Americans remain sceptical of a key feature of their dem-
ocratic process. It is unclear whether the kinds of factors
identified in the Pew election performance index can be
45. relied on to, eventually, bring all voters round to the idea
that elections are conducted fairly. State election adminis-
trators and reforms alike may therefore also find cause for
concern e and rationale for more targeted action e in the
opinions tied to demographic patterns. It may be that no
matter how well things are administered, there are many
people e particularly those from groups who are under
represented -who might still see the electoral process as
flawed, and unfair.
A second note of caution is that it is difficult to evaluate
the substantive magnitude of the relationships we observe
between election performance, and attitudes about fair
elections. The relationships between the Pew measure of
state-level election performance and attitudes are signifi-
cant and robust across many alternative model specifica-
tions, but little of the cross-state variation in these attitudes
are explained by this measure of election performance. It
seems unreasonable to expect large substantive effects
from these features on attitudes about democratic pro-
cesses; that is, we might not expect technical, administra-
tive improvements by election officials to swamp the
effects of individual partisanship, minority status, or the
episodic effects of controversies such as bitterly contested
recounts. It is nevertheless impressive that we find people
to be modestly responsive to these rather routine features
of elections.
Finally, it is worth underscoring some other limits of the
results. It is notable, for example, that for all the sound and
fury about voter photo ID there is very little evidence here
or in additional results not-reported that photo ID had
much effect on making people see the conduct of elections
in a more positive light. It is also the case that the EPI
measure had only a very modest effect on whether people
thought votes were counted fairly, despite the large N of the
46. sample. These points, in turn, raise a broader and possibly
quite troubling question namely: in democracies where
basic electoral practices are fairly well established, do
marginal improvement in the quality of administration of
elections 'matter' with respect to attitudes about de-
mocracy that are most important? Our results suggest that
e in broad terms e technical improvements to electoral
administration can improve voter perceptions of elections
being fair. These are worthy accomplishments. But another
implication of these findings is that substantial numbers of
people remain unpersuaded that American elections are
fair. We return, then, to an earlier theme. There are limits to
what we can expect electoral reform to accomplish, and
that applies to reforming election administration as well.
None of that should be taken as an argument against
improving electoral processes, but, rather, as a suggestion
S. Bowler et al. / Electoral Studies 38 (2015) 1e9 9
to have modest expectations about what such reforms may
accomplish.
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55. Acceptable Methods in Action
Research
Schools of Public Service Leadership and Nursing and Health
Sciences
Version 1.1 Effective January 2015
Capella University
225 South Sixth Street, Ninth Floor
Minneapolis, MN 55402
PSL/NHS ACCEPTABLE METHODS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
56. Table of Contents
...............................................................................................
..... 3
Action Research Acceptable Methods and Research Designs
................................... 4
Action Research is an Approach
................................................................................... 5
Qualitative Methods
...............................................................................................
..... 5
Quantitative Methods
...............................................................................................
... 7
Mixed Methods
...............................................................................................
............ 8
References
...............................................................................................
................. 9
3
PSL/NHS ACCEPTABLE METHODS
ACTION RESEARCH ACCEPTABLE METHODS AND
RESEARCH
DESIGNS
The overarching goal of Action Research (AR) is to collaborate
with stakeholders and
participants in an effort to empower and effect social change.
57. AR can be considered a
continuum ranging from appreciative inquiry to pure
participatory research: appreciative
and cooperative inquiry (Heron, 1996; Reason & Rowan, 1981,
Stowell & West, 1991,
Torbert, 1976, 2004), action research or action science (Argyris,
1970, 1980, 1994; Argyris,
Putnam, & Smith, 1985), participatory action research (Freire,
1970), and participatory
research (Lewin,1958). The common factor is that the
participants or subjects are directly
involved in the research activities and the project solves a
practice or problem that impacts
the participants (Springer, 2007).
Appreciative Action Participatory Participatory
Inquiry Research Action Research Research
Research Mutually Question Question generated Community
generates and
Process generated
generated by the by the community. is in control of the process
question organization. Research process
Research controlled by
controlled and researcher
conducted by
researcher
Degree of Group Researcher asks High High
Participation process. for participation
Authentic
58. as needed
dialogue
Knowledge For practice Problem-solving Transform and
Transformational
Generation improvement advance scientific
knowledge
Knowledge Advance Improve system. Community action.
Social action.
Utilization practice. Self-
Advance
determination knowledge
Advance Development of critical
knowledge. consciousness.
Power Shared Held by Shared
Egalitarian
researcher
Outcomes Improvement
Solution
to Empowerment. Empowerment
of shared organizational Generation of community
60. Action Research is an Approach
Action Research is an approach or form of research as opposed
to a method. There are
different approaches or models of action research depending on
the action research
approach in the continuum, for example Lewin’s (1958) input,
transformation, output,
systems model of action research process; and Kemmis and
McTaggart’s (1999) plan, act,
observe, reflect action research interacting Spiral.
This document will review research methods and designs that
are acceptable for
dissertations using action research in the School of Public
Service Leadership(PSL) and the
School of Nursing and Health Sciences(NHS). The scholar-
practitioner model must guide all
decisions regarding what is and what is not an acceptable
research methodology. The
research methodologies and designs presented here offer a more
general rather than
specific discussion of those applicable approaches to
dissertation research.
In action research, the doctorate learner is considered a
61. principal investigator. The role of
the principle investigator is to facilitate or guide the study in
collaboration with an interested
organization or community. The term research methods is
identified in this document as the
broadest way in which the methodological concepts can be
categorized. The term research
design is identified as those overarching methodological
approaches that are most
commonly referred to as belonging to an umbrella of commonly
accepted quantitative,
qualitative, or mixed methodologies. As such, research designs
are more precise than
research methods, but still somewhat vague in the precise
manner in which data are
measured, collected, and analyzed.
Research questions should emerge from the identified research
problem or topic in a logical
way. Only after learners have clarified their research questions
do they begin to think about
methods, particularly data collection tools or instruments.
Research designs then evolve
from the research questions. In other words, there needs to be
clear alignment between the
62. research question and the means of gathering data and the data
has to answer the research
question.
Qualitative Methods
Qualitative research designs involve the principal investigator
in exploratory studies that
attempt to explain, define, or better understand phenomena. The
principal investigator
seeks to establish the meaning of phenomena from the
viewpoint of participants (Creswell,
2009, p. 16). These are the major categories:
• Case study – The researcher explores in-depth a program (such
as a program
evaluation), event, activity, or process of one or more
individuals (Creswell, 2009, p.
13). This is one of the most flexible designs to use with Action
Research.
• Phenomenological – The researcher identifies lived
experiences associated with the
phenomena (requires a strong background in psychology).
63. • Generic Qualitative Inquiry – The researcher is interested in a
thematic analysis of a
particular topic from the perspective of many participants.
• Grounded Theory – The researcher derives a general abstract
theory grounded in the
views of participants.
• Ethnographic – The researcher studies an intact cultural group
over a prolonged
period of time.
5
PSL/NHS ACCEPTABLE METHODS
• Heuristics – The researcher and participants include their own
personal insights and
experiences during the research process.
64. No single research design dominates; however, the case study is
one of the most flexible
designs to use with action research (Stringer, 2007). Key to
providing a sound rationale and
justification for the chosen qualitative research design is to
clearly and explicitly connect
with authoritative sources on this design, by citing, discussing,
and referencing these
sources (e.g., Phenomenology - Moustakas; Grounded Theory –
Glaser and Strauss, Strauss
and Corbin; Case study - Yin, Stake). If the principal
investigator can demonstrate or justify
through scholarly support that their design meets the qualitative
criteria and that they are
sufficiently qualified to conduct the research, then the research
design will be accepted. In
action research these additional designs may include Delphi
method, trend analysis, force
field analysis, SWOT analysis, program evaluation, etc.
The criteria for acceptable PSL/NHS qualitative action research
designs are as follows:
• Creates an agenda for social change or reform.
• Empowers or collaborates with the participants or
65. stakeholders.
• Contributes in some way to the specialization’s existing body
of knowledge.
Qualitative research methods provide a wealth of information
concerning an observed
phenomenon. It is intended to better understand, explain, or
define aspects of the research
problem of interest. Each type of qualitative research design has
a unique and defined
process for collecting data based on that design’s accepted
methods and procedures.
• Gathering this type of data requires planning, researcher
experience, and a defined
strategy.
• The researcher must be aware of participant feelings,
emotions, knowledge,
experiences, and culture. In addition, many of these techniques
require that data be
obtained on facial expressions, intonation and overall
participant temperament.