ICPSR Bulletin, 2020 Special Edition - Prize Competition Winners

 
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Special Edition   |   Spring 2020   |   Vol. 40, No. 1

 

 

And the winners are ...

 

ICPSR Announces Winners of 2020 Research Paper Competitions!

ICPSR Director Margaret LevensteinICPSR is pleased to announce the First- and Second-Place winners of our 2020 Research Paper Competitions!

  • Jessica Cox, (Sociology/Anthropology) of Elizabethtown College, earned First Place in the Undergraduate Competition with a paper titled “A Force to Be Reckoned With: The Effects of Social Media Usage on the Views of Police.”
  • Rachel Bickelman, (Sociology/Anthropology and Psychology) of Elizabethtown College, earned Second Place in the Undergraduate Competition with a paper titled “Down and Working in the Dumps: The Effects of Job Satisfaction and Work Stress on Depression.”
  • Ruiqian Li, (Sociology of Religion) of Baylor University, earned First Place in the Master’s Competition with a paper titled “What Kind of Nationalist are You?: A Comprehensive Statistical Modeling for Understanding Public Opinion for Muslims among White Americans.”

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to everyone who submitted an entry or spread the word about the competitions.

Call for entries for 2021

We are also pleased to announce the 2021 ICPSR Research Paper Competitions for Undergraduates and Graduate Students. The awards are $1,000 for first place and $750 for second place in each category and publication on the ICPSR Research Paper Competition Winners website and in a special edition of the ICPSR Bulletin. See the competition website for more details. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2021.

About the ICPSR Paper Competitions

The ICPSR Research Paper Competition accepts entries of papers for analyses on any topic using data from ICPSR. The purpose of the competitions is to highlight exemplary research papers based on quantitative analysis that uses ICPSR data. We invite submissions from students and recent graduates at ICPSR member institutions. 

Sincerely,

Margaret C. Levenstein
Director, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

 

 
Undergraduate Competition Winners
 
Jessica Cox

 

Jessica Cox (Elizabethtown College)
Winning entry: A Force to Be Reckoned With: The Effects of Social Media Usage on the Views of Police Use of Force 

 

Abstract: Although there is no one agreed upon definition for police use of force, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) defines force as the amount of effort a police officer uses to make a citizen cooperate. Previous literature has suggested that police officers are trained to use force in situations that defend themselves or another citizen. This research examined the effects of social media usage on the views of police use of force. The data for this research were obtained from the 2016 wave of the General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. After deleting missing cases, the total sample size consisted of 1,102 individuals. The majority of respondents agreed that it was acceptable for a police officer to strike an adult male citizen in any situation.

 

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Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines depression as an individual who experiences sadness, irritability, feeling of emptiness, and loss of pleasure in life. Individuals with depression have cognitive, behavior, or neurovegetative symptoms which inhibit the ability to function. Previous literature suggests a relationship between one’s work life and the development and severity of depression. These studies, however, are outdated and have yielded mixed results. This research examines the effects of job satisfaction and work stress on depression to clarify the relationship. The data for this research were obtained from the 2016 wave of the General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. The sample size consisted of 468 respondents. The majority of respondents were not depressed and satisfied with their job. Weak, statistically significant bivariate correlations were found. This research updates the literature on the relationship between work life and depression. 

 

 
Master's Competition Winner
 
Ruiqian Li
 
 
Abstract: Intergroup opinion between white Americans and Muslims in the age of Trump are barely studied in social science. Using ANES 2016 and ANES 2018 pilot data, this thesis focuses on how two of the most salient ingroup identities among white Americans inform their outgroup attitudes for Muslims: racial identity and ethnocultural nationality. The statistic tool for empirical analysis is finite mixture model that combines latent class analysis and multilevel modeling, which allows me to make more accurate estimation for both intragroup and intergroup variations than conventional methodologies. For generic evaluation for Muslims, I find that race is more salient than nationality in predicting anti-Muslim prejudice while nationality is more contingent to favoritism to Muslims. About specific stereotypes, I find the opposite patterns. In addition, I find Republican identity and education are two robust indicators for identity grouping for both generic and specific outgroup attitudes for Muslims.
 
 
Call for entries for 2021

2021 flyer coming soon

 

The ICPSR Research Paper Competitions accept entries of papers for analyses on any topic using data from ICPSR. The purpose of the competitions is to highlight exemplary research papers based on quantitative analysis that uses ICPSR data. We invite submissions from students and recent graduates at ICPSR member institutions.