The Office of Undergraduate Research and The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research are pleased to announce the winners of the 2014 Roper Award for Research Experience (RARE). The RARE award is a special subset of the SHARE (Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Research Experience) Award. Both SHARE and RARE are designed especially for students in the early stages of their college careers, to introduce them to research in their chosen field and give them the skills they will need for further research projects. RARE teams consist of a faculty mentor and a student apprentice who apply jointly for the program. Learn more about SHARE & RARE awards.
L-R: Paul Herrnson, Brian Tiedt, Molly Rocket, Professor Virginia Hettinger The following students were selected for their outstanding proposals:
| Student: | Molly Rockett, Political Science |
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| Faculty Mentor: | Professor Virginia Hettinger, Political Science |
| Proposed Research: | "Public Perception and Judicial Legitimacy." |
| Summary Description: | Ms. Rockett and Professor Hettinger will be using the DRI National Poll on the Civil Justice System to explore public perceptions of the judicial decision-making process and poll respondents' assessments of firsthand experiences (as litigants, jurors, or witnesses) with the legal system. |
| Student: | Brian Tiedt, Political Science & Economics |
|---|---|
| Faculty Mentor: | Professor Paul Herrnson, Political Science |
| Proposed Research: | "The Right to Bear Arms: The Role of Federalism in Gun Control Policy." |
| Summary Description: | Mr. Tiedt and Professor Herrnson will use the metadata available on iPOLL and a variety of data sets to consider the evolution of public opinion on gun control, subgroup variation in opinion, and public perceptions of the role of the federal government in regulating firearms. |