Dietram A. Scheufele
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
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Office: 309 Hiram Smith Hall |
Background | Teaching | Publications | Education
Teaching
Here at Wisconsin, I teach courses in Data Analysis and Research Methods, Research and Strategy, Public Opinion in the Life Sciences, Media and Politics, and Digital Democracy. I am currently offering:
J&MC 618: Media and Politics
(Spring ‘08)
This course examines the role of mass communication in political systems. Because of the broad nature of this topic, readings and class discussions will be interdisciplinary, drawing on theories and research in political science, sociology, social psychology, and communication science. Topics include: factors shaping societal discourse about politics (elite influences on public opinion, agenda building, etc), processes of political communication (mass media and elections, negativism in mass media, news frames, etc.), and effects of political communication (evaluations of political actors, political participation, etc.).
LSC 875: Data Analysis in Communication
(Fall ‘09)
This is an intermediate course in quantitative data analysis for communication-related topics. The major objectives are to (a) help students understand the prerequisites for collecting data that are suitable for subsequent analysis, and to (b) analyze existing data sets using the appropriate tools. The course is designed as a lab course. I will provide context and some lecture material, but the majority of course time will be spent analyzing data using various software packages, trying to make sense of output, and linking data to the research questions that they were supposed to test.
LSC 902: Public Opinion and the Life Sciences
(Spring ‘08)
This course provides an overview of the concept of “public opinion” and its relevance for science communication and science policy. We will examine the historical development of the concept of public opinion in fields like political science, social psychology, and communication science. We will then take a closer look at what we mean by “measuring” public opinion. Are we talking about merely summing across individual opinions, or are there macro-level dynamics of public opinion that go beyond what individuals in a society think? Based on this more theoretical work, we will focus on the importance of public opinion and public opinion perception for different aspects of life science communication, such as scientific literacy, scientific decision making, and support for policies related to scientific issues.
