Students taking part in Professor Jenna Wechsler’s Intro to Political Research Methods class this semester are required to write a research paper as their final assignment. They have the option between conducting surveys of their own design and comparing research already conducted in the realm of political science.
According to class member Tre Ayer ’20, “About a third of [the] students are conducting surveys.”
The topics that students have chosen are up to their discretion, as is the means of their research.
Among the topics being surveyed are “gerrymandering and the factors that contribute to lack of reelection of some candidates,” Ayer said.
Ayer added, “My project surveys the Wheaton community and its political partisan identity. I am researching the potential for difference between individuals’ perceived ideology and their actual ideology.”
The results of student surveys have not yet been finalized and released, but students look forward to sharing their findings with the Wheaton community.