Michigan Law and Social Work Study, 2017

Fielded in the winter of 2017, the Michigan Law and Social Work Study (MLSWS) is a non-probability sample of 745 MSW and JD students at four universities in Michigan on their political behavior, including interest in running for office. The survey instrument includes an experiment that tests the relationship between how elected office is framed and respondents' interest in running. There is a control condition, an ambition condition, and a social good condition. Many items on the survey instrument were designed to distract respondents from the experiment. Additional items on the survey instrument include party ID, perceived barriers to running for office, as well as the effectiveness of elected office as a way of making a difference in the community against alternative ways of making a difference.