To give undergraduates students taking POLS 100: Power and Politics in America direct experience with research, we place them into the Political Science Experimental Participant Pool (PSEPP).
Over 25 projects using the PSEPP have been implemented since the fall of 2008.
The PSEPP is the kind of resource found in elite Big Ten programs like Minnesota, Ohio State, Indiana, and Northwestern - all of these schools have similar participant pools in their political science departments.
Do students like it?
Students generally enjoy having a chance to see how some political science research is conducted (commenting on the research credits in my POLS 100 class).
Nearly 100% of students say that their participation in the PSEPP taught them something beyond what they learned in the book or through lectures about how political scientists confront issues of hypothesis testing, measurement, and important theoretical questions related to the study of political science.
At least four national grant proposals have been submitted using PSEPP data and there are several papers published, under review or in preparation that use the data.
How to earn PSEPP credits:
- read scholarship published by faculty in our department and write a two-page response memo about the research (in POLS 100), or
- participate in experimental and survey research conducted by our faculty, graduate students, and advanced undergraduate students
Contact
Website: http://unl-polisci.sona-systems.com
Email: psepp (at) unl.edu
Faculty Coordinator: Dr. Ingrid Haas
Research Coordinator: Sami Lauf