PADM 7060 Assignments

Assignments

Spring 2006

Course Purpose: This course is designed to help current or future public managers become "statistically literate" – that is, to understand what statistical measure might be appropriate for a given purpose, and, equally important, when a statistical measure has been used inappropriately. It is not designed to produce statisticians. Quantitative measurement plays a key role in public management. Arguments were made (in the early ‘90s) that the Valdosta Police Department discriminates against minorities in its promotion practices. Quantitative measures are key to supporting or refuting those arguments. Quantitative measures are used in determining the staffing levels of schools, prison systems, hospitals, and so forth. An effective public manager needs a working understanding of quantitative methods if he or she is to survive in today's management environment.

Students should not be intimidated by this course. Everyone is engaged in a process of measurement throughout her/his life. Some may think that chocolate ice cream is "much better" than vanilla (an ordinal measure), or one may think that Hahira is a nicer place to live than Atlanta . When asked why one prefers Hahira, responses might deal with variables such as "there is less crime," or "less pollution." Statistics concerning crime and pollution can be used to verify or reject such impressionistic data.

The primary text selected for this course (Meier, Brudney, & Bohte) is written for practicing managers. The authors of the text do not assume any quantitative background. They are aware than many of the students in the course may not have taken a math course since their undergraduate or even high school days – and that those days might be a while in the past. Their purpose is to help "managers become intelligent and critical consumers of quantitative information." Each student should read the preface to the text carefully, and take the authors' advice to heart. The secondary text, by LeRoy & Corbett, is more of a “research” text for any students contemplating continuing their studies. It provides additional information that supplements the Meier, Brudney, & Bohte text. It also provides each student with a “stand-alone” statistical package, which should benefit students throughout their course of study. The LeRoy & Corbett text is also required in the PADM 7090 course.

Homework: The homework is meant to help each student understand the concepts and learn the methods involved in statistics and research design. Hopefully this experience will help students feel more comfortable with the process of dealing with statistics and research design. Please approach the homework problems as a learning experience. Take on more problems than are required for submission. It will be to your advantage to work on the homework before class so that you are able to take part in the discussion of the problems.

Examinations: The course will involve both in-class examinations and take-home examinations. The take-home examinations will have some applied component, such as preparing a report or memo based upon quantitative data. The in-class examinations will be proctored and will consist of problems similar to the ones found in the text.

Project Submission: All project files and assignments will be submitted using your VSU E-Mail account or through WebCT. Send the files as attachments to E-mail and formatted as outlined below unless another format is negotiated with the instructor. These files will follow the formatting and file naming conventions listed and explained below:

	Text documents will be formatted as either Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat *(PDF) documents.
	Data files (if needed) will be Excel files (for spreadsheet data) or Access files (if a database is required).
	Presentations (if needed) will be PowerPoint files.
	Homework & Take-Home Test File Names: for the homework assignments, use "homeworkch1.doc" as the file name; for the take-home test, use "takehome1.doc" for the file name.
	Ownership of files: to indicate your ownership of submissions, use your first and last names with either a dot (.) or underscore (_) between the parts. For example: gerald_merwin_homeworkch1.doc and gerald_merwin_takehome1.doc
	Course Codes in Subject Line: If you use BlazeNet or email to submit projects and homework (rather than WebCT) to associate your submissions with our course and to aid in filtering of E-mail, use the PADM 7060 in the subject line of all messages sent to the instructor.
	Questions: Please ask questions if any part of this information is unclear.

Reference http://www.valdosta.edu/mpa/classes/padm7060/assignments.html

Updated 02/12/2006, contact Jerry Merwin