News
UCSC2024
Feb 21
A student has noticed that SPSS is about to expire in the Soc Sci I Computer Lab. My tech contact advises the following:
Feb 13
In our homework we have discussed two related but distinct measures of attitudes toward immigration in Texas (ImmImc and ImmExcl). They measure respectively inclusionary vs exclusionary attitudes toward immigration. A recent article that makes a nice point about a different set of related but distinct measures.
Nate Silver (2024) “What a Split in Consumer Confidence Means for Biden”, NYT 12 Feb 2024 distinguishes two measures of consumer confidence.
- The “Index of Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan which focusses on pocketbook issues like whether it is a good time to buy major household goods. This measure is sensitive to the effects of inflation.
- The “Consumer Confidence Survey which asks about the employment and business outlook. It doesn’t respond much to inflation.
Between 1978 and 2021 they were closely related. However since the summer of 2021 they have diverged.
Dark line = Consumer Confidence Survey
Light line = Index of Consumer Sentiment
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F02%2F12%2Fopinion%2Fbiden-trump-consumer-confidence-economy.html&data=05%7C02%7C%7C21b0570e161f4511873008dc2c05e66a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638433651059103459%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=I0hfO0p9fK8mnbHyTBDnpEX%2FlB7UgJtH489VeIPuUqw%3D&reserved=0
Jan 11
The following graphic provides simple definition of Social Research:
Jan 9
Welcome to Poli 101
Classes during Winter Quarter 2024 are held in Social Sciences 2 room 179 from 11:40am to 1:15pm each Tuesday and Thursday of the 2024 Winter quarter.
As a student in POLI 101 for the upcoming Winter 2024 quarter:
- You will need to have SPSS installed on a laptop computer;
- You will have access to optional online help sessions scheduled each Friday 10:40am-11:45am and 2:40-3:45pm. These sessions are primarily devoted to questions about homework. Please carefully consider the advantages of attending these sessions in planning your schedule. Other issues can be addressed online before class on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10:30 and 11:10am.
Here’s some further information each of these points.
SPSS is a statistical analysis program that will be used extensively both in class and assignments. It is essential that you have SPSS available in completing your assignments. It is also recommended that you bring to class a laptop computer with SPSS installed. Fortunately, UCSC makes SPSS available to its students free of charge. Your can obtain it through:
http://its.ucsc.edu/software/spss-students.html
SPSS is also available on the computers in all UCSC Mac labs including those, at Social Sciences 1, Rm 135, Crown 201, Porter Arts D-240, or Rachel Carson 101.
A UCSC Learning Technologies representative has informed me that SPSS can be accessed in UCSC labs as follows: