No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Microcomputers in in “Measurement and Methodology”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 May 2020
Extract
The microcomputer is properly assuming a larger role in the academic setting just as it is in the other professions and in the world of business. Its lower cost and its convenience make it a serious competitor of the mainframe computer which we previously were dependent on for research and instructional support. Graduate and research faculties saw the need for instruction in statistical packages to process their data sets and at Oakland we believed that familiarity with computer techniques would have to begin at the undergraduate level as well. The basic methods course, required of all majors, was the logical place to try out computer techniques. In 1972 our first mainframe computer — a Burroughs 5500 — became available for academic use.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1983
References
Notes
1 Hoo-min D. Toong and Amar Gupta, “Personal Computers,” Scientific American, December 1982, pp. 87-107. The article is an excellent summary of the hardware, software, and applications of the personal computer. It documents the phenomenal growth in the sales of the personal computer — 100-fold in the last six years,
Academic uses of the microcomputer now go well beyond the scientific and engineering domains. The July 1982 issue Byte: The Small Systems Journal contains eight essays on applications in the social sciences and the humanities. One of these “Microcomputers in the Study of Politics: Predicting Wars with the Richardson Arms-Race Model,” is by Philip A. Schrodt, a political scientist. (Other contributions to this issue of Byte that may be of interest to political science faculty include: Dethlefsen and Moody, “Simulating Neighborhood Segregation,” pp. 178-206; Heise, “Measuring Attitudes with a Pet: A Basic Program that Finds Out How People Feel,“ pp.208-246; other essays are written by a cultural anthropologist, historian, poet, and two archaeologists.)
Other journals that focus on educational software are beginning to publish applications that will be of interest to political scientists. A program that tallies the single transferrable vote, “Making Every Vote Count,” by Jim Parr was published in Creative Computing, November 1982, pp. 218-232. That same journal also published an evaluation of Micro-Dynamo, a model building language used for testing the limits of world population growth and the resources needed to support it. Christopher Light, “Micro-Dynamo: A Language for Simulating the World,” pp. 93-101. However, in spite of these recent example, there are few fully tested political science packages for the microcomputer. CONDUIT, a nonprofit center at the University of Iowa for the development and distribution of computer based learning materials, listed only one microcomputerbased package in Pipeline Spring 1982. This was Barry Hughes, United States Energy, Environment And Economic Problems, Washington, D.C. (APSA) 1975. (In that same catalog, CONDUIT lists seven BASIC or FORTRAN packages for the mainframe computer — most of them from the SETUPS project.)
2 In addition to the SETUPS exercise on representation, one of our instructors has made use of the unit Voting Behavior: The 1976 Election
3 This judgement is supported by alumni opinion. A recent survey of our graduates shows overwhelming support for an increase in computer-related and other quantitative courses in our curriculum. C.F. E.J. Heubel,: Profile of Political Science Alumni, (Paper presented at the Michigan Conference of Political Scientists, October 21, 1982.) (Survey results available on request.)
4 We could also refer to this type of computer as a personal computer. Toong and Gupta describe it as follows: “Not all microcomputers… are personal computers… A personal computer is… a stand-alone computer that puts a wide array of capabilities at the dispo- sal of an individual.” They list the following characteristics: 1) costs less than $5,000; 2) can be linked to additional memory through tapes or disks; 3) can support a primary memory of 64 kilobytes or more; 4) can handle at least one high level language, such as BASIC; 5) facilitates interactive dialogue; 6) is designed primarily for people who have not worked with computers before, (p.88) In this essay, we will use the terms “personal computer“ and “microcomputer” interchangeably.
5 “Much of Apple's success is attributed to the company's policy of encouraging venders [sic] of software and peripheral equipment to develop and sell products that are compatible with Apple computers. For example, more than 11,000 application programs are available for Apple computers, 95% of them developed by independent venders [sic].” Toong and Gupta, p. 102.
6 Professors Ron Mourant and Tom Windeknecht of Oakland University's Computer Science program were most helpful in giving us advice in our decisions about hardware acquisition and program development.
7 At Oakland, we are now requiring that our undergraduate public administration majors take a course in BASIC. Clearly is it desirable for the educated person to know a computer language. What is not clear is what language should be learned and where and when this should occur. Seymour Pappert makes the case against BASIC and for LOGO in his book Mindstorms: Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas, (Basic Books, 1980). Putting aside the argument over the appropriate language, the Pappert book is an exciting excursion into the pedagogical implications of the computer and is a needed warning against the narrow and restrictive use of the computer.
8 This is the approach taken by Haskell, Richard in his excellent text, Apple Basic, (Prentice-Hall, 1982)Google Scholar. Haskell (also of Oakland's Computer Science faculty) puts a heavy emphasis on graphics, and uses the strategy of starting with the print commands. (For those who have other microcomputer systems, we note that he has also authored: PET/CBM BASIC and TRS-80 Extended Color BASIC.) The approach has the virtue of appealing to those non-engineering majors whose interest in programming might by killed by an over-use of engineering and mathematical exercises.
9 Copies of the diskettes containing the statistical and other programs used during the exercises are available for $8.00 by writing to the authors c/o Department of Political Science, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, 48063.
10 Problems on descriptive statistics are drawn, in part, from Elifson, Runyon, and Haber, Fundamentals Of Social Statistics — one of the two texts used in our methods course this year.