Courses - Scheufele

		courses taught @ uw (Click here for the Registrar’s listing of my courses for the upcoming semester.)

UW-Madison J&MC 449		Research & Strategy Semester: Spring

		This course provides an overview of pre-campaign planning, with a particular emphasis on market and advertising research. J&MC 449 therefore provides you with the skills necessary to identify markets, segment audiences, measure attitudes, and evaluate campaign strategies and messages. You will learn to use quantitative data and research to develop strategic briefs that allow your clients to develop or adjust their overall campaign strategy. In times of decreasing profit margins and shorter product cycles, these skills are increasingly important for cost-efficient marketing communications and for identifying competitive advantages for your client. All the issues that are covered in this course are therefore directly relevant to careers in advertising, PR, market research and consulting.

UW-Madison J&MC 618		Mass Communication & Political Behavior Semester: Spring

		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. There are two primary goals for this course. One goal is to acquaint advanced undergraduate and graduate students with the wide-ranging literature on political communication. Topics covered will include factors influencing the communication of political messages (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.). The second goal is to stimulate ideas for original research in the field of political communication -- potentially using the 2004 or 2006 elections as a framework. Toward this end, each student will be expected to be sufficiently familiar with the field, in general, and an area of the literature, in particular, to propose an original study of their own choosing at the end of the semester.

UW-Madison J&MC 658		Communication Research Methods Semester: Fall

		This is a course in basic research methods for those with little or no previous experience or course work in research methodology. The goal of the course is to provide you with a critical framework for evaluating communication research and first-hand experience in market and communication research. Specifically, we will examine how research questions (originating from client-specific or from more academic interests) are translated into a research project. You will learn how to select an appropriate research technique, develop measures, draw a sample, conduct and supervise research, clean and analyze data, interpret results, and write research reports for clients and lay audiences. The course is open to all graduate and undergraduate students. There are no assumptions about students’ previous work in statistics or research methods. Fear of mathematics will not be a barrier to success in the course.

UW-Madison LSC 700		LSC Graduate Colloquium Semester: Spring

		The LSC Colloquium Series is open to all interested faculty and students. It also serves as a one-credit graduate course in Life Sciences Communication and related fields. We will hear from experts in science communication, mass communication, political communication, new information technologies, and other areas. There are no graded assignments in this course. However, attendance is mandatory for enrolled students; only one unexcused absence per semester is acceptable for a “Satisfactory” grade.

UW-Madison LSC 875		Data Analysis in Communication Semester: Fall

		This is an introductory course in quantitative data analysis for communication-related topics. The major objectives are to (a) help you understand the prerequisites for collecting data that are suitable for subsequent analysis, and to (b) analyze existing data sets using the appropriate tools. Some familiarity with key methods of data gathering (survey, content analysis, experiment, etc.) and introductory statics (univariate and multivariate) is expected. We will talk about many of the methods and statistical tools you will encounter, but not at an in-depth level. Thus, some previous undergraduate or graduate coursework in statistics and research methods is strongly advised. 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 (with an emphasis on SPSS), trying to make sense of output, and linking data to the research questions that they were supposed to test.

UW-Madison J&MC 880		Internet and Civic Life Semester: Fall

		This course examines the connections between the Internet, traditional media environments, and civic life. There are two primary goals for this course. One goal is to acquaint graduate students with the wide-ranging literature on democratic citizenship. We will examine the historical development of the concept in fields like political science, social psychology, and communication science, and take a closer look at what we mean by "measuring" political participation social capital, and related concepts. Based on this conceptual framework, the second goal is to examine the impact of the Internet on various dimensions of democratic citizenship. How does the interplay between new and traditional media influence the health of communities? What are the effects of an increasingly rich online information environment on knowledge levels among the public? And how do different types of Internet use affect people's willingness and ability to meaningfully participate in democratic processes?

UW-Madison LSC 902		Public Opinion and Science Semester: Spring

		This course provides an overview of the concept of "public opinion" and its relevance for science-with a particular emphasis on the intersection of science and society. 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.