Have a super winter break everyone!

Hope all of you have a super winter break. This was an awesome class. I think we should keep the blog alive and post news/public opinion stuff we like. Yay, nay??

Mr. Burns gets the most write-in votes NYC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34278623/ns/local_news-new_york_ny?GT1=43001

A top story on the networks today...public writes-in Mr. Burns.

Guttman scale

A few class periods ago, someone asked about the difference between a Likert and a Guttman scale and I punted. Assuming you learned Likert scales in your research methods class, a Gutman scale is different because each higher answer assumes agreement with all the lower answers. In other words, the choices are not mutually exclusive- each higher answer includes ALL the lower answers as a subset. One example: How far did your math training go? A: algebra. B: Trigonometry. C: Calculus. D: Higher than Calculus. (We assume that if you answer C you also mean that you took algebra and trig.)
Or, asked of a four year old: Can you count up to the following number? A: 5. B: 20. C: 100. D: 1000. (We assume that a child who can count to 100 can also count to 20.)

Will Obama's War Become His Vietnam?

This article discusses presidential concerns about latent opinion on Afghanistan in comparison to what Johnson faced in Vietnam, as we discussed yesterday:

"Analysts say that Obama will be faced with a similar quandary to the one that Johnson faced if conditions don't improve in Afghanistan, and public opinion of the war could drop to the lows that forced Johnson not to seek a second term."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/01/afghanistan.vietnam/index.html