TEACHING COMPANION / NO ACCOUNT NEEDED
Everyone Says Democracy
Everyone says “democracy.” What are they agreeing to?
Democratic support, concepts & measurement · Self-paced inquiry · timing not yet measured
Learning goals
- Separate support for a word from support for particular democratic practices.
- Evaluate the relationship between a concept and its indicators.
- Revise an explanation when new comparisons challenge it.
Before the activity
Self-contained introduction. Original research is available for extension.
Syllabus description
Read the same survey answer through very different political lives. Decide what counts as democratic support, design a better measure and see which claims your evidence can carry. Students produce research brief, measurement choices and revisions.
Discussion prompts
- What would the same survey response fail to distinguish?
- Which observation would make you revise your interpretation?
What to assess
Reward a clearly defined concept, justified indicators and attention to alternative interpretations.
Limitations
Simulation cases and controlled comparisons support reasoning practice. They are not representative estimates of public opinion.
Credit & permissions
Created by Yoav Duman. Free educational use, sharing and hosted embedding; software rights reserved. Software, artwork, branding and third-party materials are separate; see the full reuse information.
Suggested citation: Yoav Duman, “Everyone Says Democracy: Teaching companion,” Possible States, https://possiblestates.com/teaching/everyone-says-democracy. Include your access date.
ASSESSMENT & SUBMISSION
Grade the explanation.
The interface has no opinion.
Set an endpoint, ask for the activity’s readable report, and use your existing LMS. Students can use Print / Save as PDF where a separate download is not offered. A progress backup is for restoring work, not grading it.
A suggested 10-point rubric
For each criterion: 0 = absent, 1 = partial, 2 = clear and supported. Adapt the weighting to your course; this is guidance, not automatic scoring.
- Concepts / 2
- Use the relevant political concept accurately.
- Evidence / 2
- Support a claim with a specific record or comparison.
- Mechanism / 2
- Explain how the rule or arrangement produces a consequence.
- Revision / 2
- Address a rival account or explain a change of mind.
- Limits / 2
- State what the model or evidence cannot establish.
Say this before they begin.
- Choose For class and follow the instructor’s endpoint.
- Save a progress backup before moving devices or changing website address.
- Open the readable report and check the required responses.
- Upload it to the course assignment. Check the LMS submission confirmation.
Switching from exploration keeps the current work, but skipped class responses may still need completing. A local report cannot establish authorship or make an activity tamper-proof.
Make it an assignment.
Edit this text, then copy it into your LMS. These edits stay in this tab.
Syllabus description & discussion prompts
Syllabus description
Read the same survey answer through very different political lives. Decide what counts as democratic support, design a better measure and see which claims your evidence can carry. Students produce research brief, measurement choices and revisions.
Questions for a discussion board or class debrief
- What would the same survey response fail to distinguish?
- Which observation would make you revise your interpretation?