Pyle, Kurt
Kurt Pyle's research and teaching interests focus on American politics and quantitative methods, particularly political behavior, elections, and political parties. His dissertation examines the origins, breadth, and impact of voter emotions in the context of U.S. presidential elections. He argues that contextual electoral factors such as candidate visibility and ideological differences along with perceptual factors such as retrospective economic evaluations and optimism or pessimism about the future are associated with the probability of experiencing anxiety when considering candidate in addition to traditional individual characteristics.
Kurt also currently has a manuscript currently under review about mass perceptions of candidate ideology during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. He has taught undergraduate courses on Public Opinion and Political Socialization, American Legislative Process, and a section of Introduction to Methods of Political Analysis in both online and in person formats. For the past three years, he has served as a teaching assistant in several courses within the University of Michigan's Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research. He has presented his research at the conferences of the American Political Science Association and the Midwest Political Science Association. Dissertation Committee: William G. Jacoby (Chair), Paul R. Abramson, Corwin D. Smidt, and Sandra Marquart-Pyatt (Sociology).
Publications
“Hierarchical Models.” 2011. With David Ciuk. In International Encyclopedia of Political Science, George Thomas Kurien, James E. Alt, Simone Chambers, Geoffrey Garrett, Margaret Levi, Paula D. McClain, eds. Washington DC: CQ Press.
“Resampling Methods.” 2011. With David Ciuk. In International Encyclopedia of Political Science, George Thomas Kurien, James E. Alt, Simone Chambers, Geoffrey Garrett, Margaret Levi, Paula D. McClain, eds. Washington DC: CQ Press.
“Social and Political Cognition.” 2011. With David Ciuk. In International Encyclopedia of Political Science, George Thomas Kurien, James E. Alt, Simone Chambers, Geoffrey Garrett, Margaret Levi, Paula D. McClain, eds. Washington DC: CQ Press.
“Measurement.” 2011. With William G. Jacoby and David Ciuk. In International Encyclopedia of Political Science, George Thomas Kurien, James E. Alt, Simone Chambers, Geoffrey Garrett, Margaret Levi, Paula D. McClain, eds. Washington DC: CQ Press.
Working Papers
“Citizen Perceptions of Candidate Ideology in the 2008 Election.” With William G. Jacoby and David Ciuk - Under review.
“Does Interest Group Support Make a Bill into a Law?” With Matt Grossmann - Under review.
Fellowships, grants, awards:
Dissertation Completion Fellowship: $6,000, September 2011
Travel Grant: $400 to attend MPSA Conference, April 2011
Travel Grant: $400 to attend APSA Conference, September 2010
Travel Grant: $450 to attend MPSA Conference, April 2010
Fellowship: $2,200 for Study at ICPSR, Summer 2007
Conference presentations and posters
“The Timing of Emotional Responses during Presidential Campaigns.” 2011. Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, March 31-April 3, 2011, Chicago, IL.
“Citizen Perceptions of Candidate Ideology in the 2008 Election.” 2010. With William G. Jacoby and David Ciuk. Presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association, September 2-5, 2010, Washington D.C. and at the Annual Meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 22-25, 2010, Chicago, IL.
“Does Interest Group Support Make a Bill into a Law?” 2009. With Matt Grossmann. Presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association, September 3-6, 2009, Toronto, Canada and at the Annual Meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 2-5, 2009, Chicago, IL.
“Doing More with Missing Data: Incorporating Systematic Missingness Into Survey Research.” 2009. With David Ciuk. Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 2-5, 2009, Chicago, IL.
“The War on Terror in the Context of U.S. Foreign Policy Moods and Interests.” 2006. With Jack E. Holmes. Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 20-23, 2006, Chicago, IL.
“Path to Preeminence: A Long Cycle Analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy, 1871-1918.” 2006. With Jack E. Holmes. Presented at the Annual Meetings of the International Studies Association, March 22-25, 2006, San Diego, CA.
“Techniques for Exploring Data Related to American Foreign Policy Mood, 1776-1976.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, March 5, 2006, Rochester, Mich.
“Analyzing American Foreign Policy, 1824-1870: Presidents as Products of Their Times.” 2004. With Jack E. Holmes and Matthew Schweiger. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 15-18, 2004, Chicago, IL.
“American Foreign Policy, 1776-1823: Lessons for New Countries from a Time of Hegemonic Struggle.” 2004. With Jack E. Holmes and Matthew Schweiger. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, March 17-20, 2004, Montreal, Canada.
