All Academic, Inc. Research Logo

Info/CitationFAQResearchAll Academic Inc.
Document

Race and Home Style: How the Composition of Congressional District Staff Affects Constituent Relations
Unformatted Document Text:  Offices as the unit of analysis allows the systematic comparison of constituencies to their representatives. Methods and Data This study will present empirical evidence toward answering if the racial characteristics of staffers influences the policy decisions of Members. The Congressional Management Foundation’s 2004 House Staff Employment Study provides the data used in this analysis (CMF 2004). The study culled a sample of 211 offices in the House of Representatives. The survey gathered data on several traits of Members’ personal staffs including basic demographic data. All full time and part time staff employees, both in DC and in the district, were included in the survey. Interns were not included. Data on the racial demographics of Congressional districts was pulled from Congressional Districts in the 2000s (CQ Press 2003) which used 2000 US Census data updated for the 2004 Congressional districts. 3 Data on the race of Members was gathered from LexisNexis Congressional. 4 Four different measures of roll call votes in Congress were used in this study; legislator scorecards produced by the Leadership Council on Civil Rights (LCCR), Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and DW-NOMINATE first dimension scores. 5 These measures are commonly used in studies on racial representation and roll call voting (see Grose 2005, Canon 1999, Whitby staff, and the Members themselves to conceptualize House offices. Committee staffs do not have a defined constituency making them inappropriate to demonstrate how electoral constraints and Member attention impact the diversity of staff. Swain (1995) and Canon (1999) explored black staff representation in DC offices. Grose, Mangum, and Martin (forthcoming 2007) explored black staff representation in district offices. No study has yet examined the whole office as I define it or explored staff racial representation beyond black representation. 3 The U.S. Census data for the 2004 Congressional districts, the 108 th Congress, can be found on the Census Bureau’s website: www.census.gov 4 2006. “Member Profile Reports”: Congressional Information Service, Inc. 5 DW-NOMINATE scores are a useful measure of the one-dimensional ideologies of Members, see Poole and Rosenthal (1997).

Authors: Ziniel, Curt.
first   previous   Page 5 of 13   next   last



background image
Offices as the unit of analysis allows the systematic comparison of constituencies to their
representatives.
Methods and Data
This study will present empirical evidence toward answering if the racial characteristics
of staffers influences the policy decisions of Members. The Congressional Management
Foundation’s 2004 House Staff Employment Study provides the data used in this analysis (CMF
2004). The study culled a sample of 211 offices in the House of Representatives. The survey
gathered data on several traits of Members’ personal staffs including basic demographic data.
All full time and part time staff employees, both in DC and in the district, were included in the
survey. Interns were not included. Data on the racial demographics of Congressional districts
was pulled from Congressional Districts in the 2000s (CQ Press 2003) which used 2000 US
Census data updated for the 2004 Congressional districts.
Data on the race of Members was
gathered from LexisNexis Congressional.
Four different measures of roll call votes in Congress were used in this study; legislator
scorecards produced by the Leadership Council on Civil Rights (LCCR), Americans for
Democratic Action (ADA) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), and DW-NOMINATE first dimension scores.
These measures are commonly used
in studies on racial representation and roll call voting (see Grose 2005, Canon 1999, Whitby
staff, and the Members themselves to conceptualize House offices. Committee staffs do not have a defined
constituency making them inappropriate to demonstrate how electoral constraints and Member attention impact the
diversity of staff. Swain (1995) and Canon (1999) explored black staff representation in DC offices. Grose,
Mangum, and Martin (forthcoming 2007) explored black staff representation in district offices. No study has yet
examined the whole office as I define it or explored staff racial representation beyond black representation.
3
The U.S. Census data for the 2004 Congressional districts, the 108
th
Congress, can be found on the Census
Bureau’s website: www.census.gov
4
2006. “Member Profile Reports”: Congressional Information Service, Inc.
5
DW-NOMINATE scores are a useful measure of the one-dimensional ideologies of Members, see Poole and
Rosenthal (1997).


Convention
All Academic Convention makes running your annual conference simple and cost effective. It is your online solution for abstract management, peer review, and scheduling for your annual meeting or convention.
Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf.
Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets!
Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more!
Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering.
Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more!
Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches!
Click here for more information.

first   previous   Page 5 of 13   next   last

©2008 All Academic, Inc.