Here is a set of 111 questions pertaining to The Challenge of Democracy created by 200 Northwestern University students the last time that Kenneth Janda taught the American Government course. He invited his lecture course to submit multiple-choice items for their final examination, promising to include some items among the 60 on the final. (It was multiple choice because course grades were due only three days afterward. The midterm was essay format, and there was a term paper.) The students' questions were posted on the course web site with this comment: Not all of these questions deserve Pulitzer Prizes, in fact some are not very good and a few seem to lack a good correct answer. Nonetheless, they all should help you study for the examination. I warn you that I may change the position of the alternatives and perhaps improve the questions or answer categories before using them on the final exam. You might find it helpful to try answering these questions, even if your instructor does not use a multiple choice exam.
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Week 1: The Purposes of Government (Chapter 1)--12 questions
- a. People who rely on television for their news score lower on tests of knowledge of public affairs than those who read the news.
- b. Television viewers learn to identify candidates for public office visually rather than by their positions on the issues.
- c. People with lower cognitive skills learn more from television than from print media.
- d. Studies have shown that print media is more effective than television in relating popular issues to the public.