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This chapter highlights the diversity of career options open to Political Science PhDs, in particular those outside of tenure track jobs at major research universities and small liberal arts colleges. The chapter describes the advantages, disadvantages, and how to prepare for teaching opportunities at the U.S. military service academies and professional military education institutions; pre-collegiate education positions; policy-focused jobs at think tanks, nonprofits, and in government; and private sector jobs. NOTE: This manuscript is part of Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond, a forthcoming volume for those interested in pursuing graduate education in political science (Fall 2022 publication).

Background: Cycling has gained more attention as an important lifelong physical activity. Learning to cycle independently without assistance is a milestone for most children that requires time and ...

There is a positive relationship between children’s movement competence and physical activity, with a further relationship established between physical activity and childhood obesity. The Movement Oriented Games Based Assessment (MOGBA) is a delivery and assessment intervention designed to improve children’s complex movement skills, based on principles of motor development and assessment theories. MOGBA aims to improve children’s movement competence, physical fitness and self-perceptions (physical and game) and increase children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). MOGBA is to be used in the ‘Made to Play’ initiative, involving 105 sports and activity programs across 21 countries, involving over 25 million children. A multi-site cluster randomized controlled trial will take place across three global sites (UK, Ireland and Australia). Each site will recruit eight primary schools (four experiment, four control) with each school providing two separate classes of children from age ranges 8–12 years (Site n = ~300, total n = 904). After baseline assessments, schools will be randomly allocated to an experimental or wait-list control group. Following two half-day workshops, trained facilitators will deliver the MOGBA intervention for 9 weeks. The main intervention components include delivery of 14 games-based activities with associated assessments of children’s movement and differentiation to meet children’s needs by manipulating space, effort and relationships. The primary outcome of the trial is to improve children’s’ movement competence (The Dragon Challenge), with secondary outcomes of improving children’s’ in-activity and leisure-time MVPA (5-day accelerometer), physical fitness (standing long jump and push ups) and self-perceptions (physical and game). Data will be analysed using multilevel modelling approaches. The MOGBA intervention has been designed to improve children’s movement competence and scalable interventions based on MOGBA could be applied across programs within the Made to Play initiative, globally. The trial is registered at the Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12619001320145p, 27 Sep 2019).

In early childhood, factors that contribute to motor-skill engagement (MSE) are unknown. Our aim was to explore the relationships between actual and perceived motor competence and their influences on MSE on a balance bike (bike with no pedals). A secondary aim was to investigate whether MSE had an effect on ability on a balance bike. This study comprised of 45 children (29% female) aged 4.5 ± 0.5 years. MSE was assessed using distance travelled on a balance bike over an 8-week period. Actual motor competence was assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, second edition. Perceived motor competence was assessed using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence. Ability on a balance bike was measured using timed trials on a specifically designed track. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to assess relationships between actual and perceived motor competence and ability on a balance bike. Linear regressions were used to examine whether actual or perceived motor competence or ability on a balance bike predicted MSE. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine whether there was a difference in ability on a balance bike between three MSE groups over 8 weeks. No relationships were found, and none of the variables predicted MSE. There was a significant difference between the MSE groups on ability on a balance bike over time (P = 0.019). Investigating the contributors to MSE on a novel cycling task during early childhood provides knowledge to ensure children are given the best opportunities for practice and acquisition of skills.

Several voting and registration options are available to states to ensure the safety of elections despite the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This report outlines these options, considering the factors that officials will have to examine in determining how to conduct the election safely; the advantages and challenges of each approach; and the levels of risk regarding safety, integrity, access, and logistics.

This appendix provides additional methodological and research material for two reports that summarize results of an August 2020 survey of Americans' attitudes about voting in November 2020. The August survey, a follow-up to one conducted in May with identical questions, focused on intention to vote, intended voting method, physical safety, and election integrity and indicated small changes in responses.

An August 2020 survey of Americans' attitudes about voting in November 2020 revealed small changes in responses compared with May 2020 responses to an identical survey that focused on physical safety, and election integrity. Changes were modest but notable, including an increase in uncertainty about election integrity.

An August 2020 survey of Americans' attitudes about voting in November 2020 revealed small changes in responses compared with May 2020 responses to an identical survey that focused on intention to vote and intended voting method. Changes were modest but notable, including some decline in intention to vote among those who were uncertain in May, and a shift from in-person to mail-in voting.

Trust in government and media has declined in the past two decades. Assessing individual characteristics and institutional attributes associated with trust offers insight into this decline and is a first step toward rebuilding institutional trust. Researchers developed a new method to assess these concepts, using a survey of 1,008 respondents and a response scale that distinguishes among trust, lack of trust or distrust, and active distrust.

State election laws on voter registration, remote voting, and early voting could have implications for the execution of an election under conditions brought on by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This tool supplements a companion report and provides state-by-state granular details, including references to relevant state laws, about each of these aspects of voting.

RAND authors analyzed responses from 2,389 survey respondents about public safety, election integrity, and preparedness of local officials to manage the November 2020 election in the pandemic context. Responses indicate that although most voters say they believe that voting will be safe and that their vote will be counted despite the pandemic, those who question election safety and some who question election integrity appear less likely to vote.

Addressing adaptation by intelligent adversaries and its implications for risk modeling and security planning requires understanding the ways attackers can respond to new defensive measures. Adversaries can make various types of tactical or target substitutions, seek to hide from defenses, avoid them without changing targets or locations, attack them directly, simply absorb and tolerate their effects, or make other organizational changes to compensate for them. Each of these options has distinct risk effects created directly or due to opportunity costs. Operationalizing this type of analysis requires linking the theoretical options adversaries have to what is known about their behavior. We illustrate that process by using a set of data sources to demonstrate how attacker preferences can be assessed. We use open-source historical data on past responses by al-Qa’ida and associated groups as a way to characterize the groups’ “expressed adaptation preferences.” As a prospective data set, we use a convenience sample of material from jihadist internet posting boards and a small selection of publicly released seized documents using quantitative coding for attacker preferences or decision drivers. The results of both sets of analyses demonstrate complementary ways for exploring preferences that have advantages for taking adversary adaptation into account in risk analysis and security planning.

While women have been present on battlefields through history, their roles have expanded considerably in recent decades. The lifting of remaining restrictions fits into the pattern of expansion ove...

A RAND Corporation study undertook a literature review and analysis of several case studies to examine factors that could increase the likelihood of success in integrating active and reserve component military staff organizations. The resulting best practices can serve as a framework for undertaking and assessing these integrations.

Using an original data set of 145 ground, air, and naval interventions from 1898 through 2016, this report identifies those factors that have made U.S. military interventions more or less successful at achieving their political objectives. The factors that influence success vary depending on the type of objective being pursued, highlighting the need for careful analysis and resourcing decisions before policymakers initiate military interventions.

The tools in this database were created by nonprofits and civil society organizations to help information consumers, researchers, and journalists navigate today's challenging information environment. Researchers identified and characterized each tool on a number of dimensions, including the type of tool, the underlying technology, and the delivery format.

This brief describes results of a study focused on changes in news presentation over time and across platforms, finding a general shift from objective event-based reporting to reporting that relies more heavily on argumentation and advocacy.

Truth Decay — the diminishing role that facts, data, and analysis play in political and civil discourse — appears to result, in part, from an increasingly complex information ecosystem. This report's authors explore the ways in which media literacy education may be used to counter Truth Decay by changing how participants consume, create, and share information.

In October 2018, RAND hosted a forum on national security that honors the legacy of Roberta Wohlstetter, a military analyst who worked at RAND from its creation in 1948 until 1965. Panelists discussed the events, capabilities, technologies, and methodologies that demand new concepts for national security and defense.

Objectives The addition of cycling to the fundamental movement phase of the motor development model has been proposed. Lifelong physical activity behaviours, like cycling, are established during childhood and it is vital that research focuses on these skills. In order to determine the position of cycling within this newly proposed model, the learning process of this skill must be examined. The current paper will quantify the skill of cycling as a learning process and investigate cycling’s place as a Foundational Movement Skill. Investigation into whether a composite score could be derived from combining fundamental movement skills proficiency scores and ability on a balance bike (as a measure of the learning process of cycling) will also be conducted. Design and Methods Ninety-seven preschool children were assessed on ability on a balance bike (bike with no pedals) using two separate timed tracks (straight and curved) and fundamental movement skill proficiency. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlations and principal axis factoring. Results Statistically significant correlations were found between ability on a balance bike and all three subcomponents of fundamental movement skills (locomotor, object-control & stability). Principal axis factoring revealed the presence of one component that all four variables could explain. Conclusion Ability on a balance bike is a standalone Foundational Movement Skill and is not a representation of locomotor, object-control or stability. Furthermore, ability on a balance bike can be combined with locomotor, object-control and stability to produce an overall composite score for Foundational Movement Skills.

RAND has begun to investigate the causes and consequences of the phenomenon it calls Truth Decay — the diminishing role of facts and data in American public life — and invites others to join in continued research to help counteract it.

This report — part of a series examining critical security challenges in 2040 — uses survey data from a nationally representative sample of adults to examine perceptions of economic and national security and compare attitudes and opinions of millennials with those of previous generations. It concludes by making inferences about potential millennial concerns about security in the year 2040.

Integrity in the management and administration of the electoral process is key to the maintenance of public confidence in democracy. In Ireland, the integrity of the electoral process is set out in general terms in the Constitution and expanded upon in legislation. This article assesses the theory and practice that shapes both the structures and processes of electoral integrity in Ireland from a legal standpoint. There are three elements to the analysis: the principle of electoral integrity as encapsulated in its many forms, the incorporation of this principle into Irish regulatory procedure and legislation, and the precedents that have developed from judicial interpretation of this legislation. The article concludes with an overall assessment of how the legal framework for the administration of Irish elections compares to international best practice norms.

This report assesses trends in armed conflict and their implications for defense planning. The incidence of such conflict has declined in recent decades and only sharply different alternative future scenarios are likely to change such trends. Several key political, economic, and strategic factors, including the deterrent effect of the U.S. military, appear to have contributed to this decline and are likely to continue to do so in the future.

While the incidence of wars between states has declined significantly over the past several decades, intrastate violence appears to have stabilized following a decline in the aftermath of the Cold War. This report explores, through an extensive literature review, whether the current conflict patterns represent a permanent shift or a temporary aberration.

This report uses an original data set of U.S. ground interventions to identify factors that determine where and when the United States is most likely to intervene militarily. The report focuses on interventions into armed conflicts, stability operations, and deterrence missions. It identifies signposts of future interventions that can be used by Army planners and also explores intervention lead time, duration, and resource constraints.