[EL] APSA Short Course on Money in Politics

[Rick Hasen]

*The Campaign Finance Research Group is sponsoring an APSA short course 
on FollowTheMoney's newly re-engineered and freely downloadable state 
and federal campaign finance data (described below) for teaching and 
research.  In addition to the usual lecture/demo format, attendees are 
encouraged to bring their own research ideas for consultations. *
*

SC 16   New Research and Teaching Opportunities: Comparative Electoral 
and Legislative Studies Using FollowTheMoney.org's Newly Re-Engineered 
State and Federal Data on Money in Politics*


*** REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO
PARTICIPATE IN SHORT COURSES. **
*

*See www.apsanet.org/shortcourses for details 
<http://www.apsanet.org/shortcourses>. *


Date: 	Wednesday, Aug 27, 2014, 1:30 PM-5:30 PM 	
Location: 	*Room assignments are pending. Check back soon for room 
assignments.* Only those registered for the meeting can view room 
assignments. *Subject to change.* Check the /Final Program/ at the 
conference.

	Cosponsored by the Campaign Finance Research Group

This past year, the National Institute on Money in State Politics 
(NIMSP; FollowTheMoney.org) launched a thoroughly reengineered and 
expanded version of its widely used database on money and politics in 
the fifty states. Among other things, the new design has let NIMSP 
assign unique identifiers to all donors, recipients and other entities 
in its database, allowing users to trace persons and organizations 
across jurisdictions (including state and federal elections) and across 
time (from 2000 onward).

The database can be merged readily with others, including ones on state 
and federal elections, candidates, legislative committees, geo-coded 
data sets (including the census), as well as with databases already used 
by other scholars for previous campaign finance research.

The freely downloadable datasets open exciting new opportunities for 
researchers, while the new website interface can be used easily by 
students for classroom projects.

Because of the new database's size, however, most users will be aware of 
only a fraction of its capabilities. This short course is designed to 
help potential users get the most out of this resource.

Edwin Bender and Ken Feaster will begin with an introduction to the 
comprehensive campaign-finance and lobbyist data available and the new 
ways that data can be accessed (XML, JSON, APIs). -They also will 
discuss plans for future datasets -- lobbyist expenditures, candidate 
and PAC expenditures and more -- and how those data sets can be combined 
with outside data for deep analyses.

Michael Malbin and Keith Hamm will then address a variety of research 
issues, problems and potentials that arise from working with such data. 
Participants who have attended a previous workshop will be invited to 
share how they have incorporated the new structure into their own work, 
as well as any problems they may have encountered.

Jaclyn Kettler will lead a discussion on integrating the NISMP data in 
the classroom, with examples of previous courses that have used NIMSP 
resources and demonstrating features of the website helpful for lectures 
and undergraduate research. Finally, she will offer suggestions on how 
to use the website to teach the research process in undergraduate classes.

The last segment will consist of direct consultation, with the 
instructors available to work with participants on their own research or 
teaching projects. Participants are invited to bring laptops equipped 
with data sets. .

Internet access will not be available during the short course. . 
Instead, session organizers will offer early access to 
FollowTheMoney.org's new website, and an introductory webinar prior to 
the Short Course.

When registering, participants are invited to provide a description of 
their current research projects that they might like to use or discuss 
in the workshop setting. Suggestions of items participants would like to 
see addressed are also welcome.

Organizer(s): 	Michael J. Malbin
SUNY, University at Albany

-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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