Mike Stern, Ph.D., (Washington State University), Assistant Professor of Sociology

Contact: 88 Wentworth, Rm. 104 (office), 953-6742 (phone)
Teaching: Social Statistics, Research Methods, Urban Sociology, Contemporary Social Issues
Research: Communities, Technology and Society, and Social Networks

e-mail: SternM@cofc.edu

Biography

I earned my Ph.D. from Washington State University is 2006 and cut my teeth at Oklahoma State University (2006-2009) before joining the faculty at CofC.  I have taught courses in Sociology of the Family, Global Social Problems, Urban, Rural, & Community Sociology, Social Statistics (Graduate and Undergraduate), Research Methods, Contemporary Social Issues, and Introduction to Sociology. My primary research explores the extent to which people use new media to maintain their social networks and to become civically engaged in the urban, rural, and global contexts.  In addition, I examine how a lack of technological proficiency in some segments of the population has created a new form of inequality. Lastly, I experimentally explore how manipulations in the visual layout of web and mail survey items affect the answering process.   

 On a personal note, I spend my free time with my wife and young daughter, racing bicycles, running, writing, reading and watching sports. 

Publications

Journal Symposia Edited

Stern, Michael J. (ed.) (2010) “Inequality in the Internet Age:  A Twenty-First Century Dilemma.” Sociological Inquiry forthcoming.

Stern, Michael J., Barry Wellman, and Jessica Collins (eds.) (2010) “The Internet in Rural North American Life.” American Behavioral Scientist forthcoming.

In Refereed Journal Articles (student coauthors underlined)

Stern, Michael J. (2010) “Rural and Urban Differences in the Internet Society: Real and Relatively Important.” American Behavioral Scientist forthcoming.

Fullerton, Andrew and Michael J. Stern. (2010) “The Disappearing Gender Gap in Voter Registration and Turnout in the American South, 1952-1980.” Social Science History forthcoming.

Stern, Michael J. and Alison Adams. (2010) “Do Rural Residents Really Use the Internet to Build Social Capital? An Empirical Investigation.” American Behavioral Scientist forthcoming.

Stern, Michael J. and Chris Messer. (2009) “How Family Members Stay In Touch: A Quantitative Investigation of Core Family Networks.”  Marriage and Family Review. forthcoming.

Stern, Michael J. and Andrew S.  Fullerton (2009) “The Network Structure of Local and Extra Local Voluntary Participation: The Role of Core Social Networks.”  Social Science Quarterly..

Stern, Michael J., Alison Adams, and Shaun Elsasser. (2009) “How Levels of Internet Proficiency affect Usefulness of Access across Rural, Suburban, and Urban Communities.” Sociological Inquiry. forthcoming.

Stern, Michael J. (2008) “The Use of Client Side Paradata in Analyzing the Effects of Visual Layout on Changing Responses in Web Surveys.” Field Methods. 20 (4): 377-398.

Stern, Michael J. (2008) How Locality, Frequency of Communication, and Internet Usage Affect Modes of Communication Within Core Social Networks.” Information, Communication, and Society. 11 (5): 591-616. 

Stern, Michael J., Don A. Dillman, and Jolene D. Smyth. (2007) “Visual Design, Order Effects and Respondent Characteristics in a Self-Administered Survey.” Survey Research Methods. 1 (3): 121-138.

Johnson, Monica Kirkpatrick, Jelyan T. Mortimer, Jennifer C. Lee, and Michael J. Stern. (2007) “Dimensions of Work Values Revisited.” Work and Occupations. 34 (3): 290-317.

Stern, Michael J. and Don A. Dillman.  (2006) “Community Participation, Social Ties, and Use of the Internet.”  City and Community 5(4):409-24.

Smyth, Jolene D., Don A. Dillman, Leah Melani Christian, and Michael J. Stern. (2006) “Comparing Check-All and Forced-Choice Question Formats in Web Surveys.”  Public Opinion Quarterly. 70(1):66-77.

Smyth, Jolene D., Don A. Dillman, Leah Melani Christian, and Michael J. Stern.  (2006) “Effects of Using Visual Design Principles to Group Response Options in Web Surveys.” International Journal of Internet Science.  1(1):6-16.

Johnson, Monica Kirkpatrick, Glen Elder Jr., and Michael J. Stern.  (2004) “Attachment to Family and Community and the Young Adult Transition to Adulthood.” Journal of Research on Adolescence. 15 (1), 99-125.

Refereed Proceedings, Book Chapters, & Technical Reports

Fullerton, Andrew S., Michael Wallace, and Michael J. Stern. (2009) “Multilevel Models in the Study of Politics: Concepts, Methods, and Applications.” In Handbook of Politics: State and Civil Society in Global Perspective, edited by Kevin Leicht and J. Craig Jenkins. New York, NY: Springer.

Stern, Michael J., Alison Adams, and Jeffery Boase. (2009) “The Role of the Internet in Rural Community Participation: Examples from Recent Survey Data.” In Proceedings of the Workshop on Broadband in the Rural Economy, edited by Peter Stenberg. Economic Research Service, USDA.

Stern, Michael J. and Don A. Dillman. (2005) “Does the Internet Strengthen or Weaken Community Ties?”  Proceedings of the 68^th Rural Sociological Society Meetings.

Smyth, Jolene, Don A. Dillman, Leah Melani, and Michael J. Stern. (2004)  “How Visual Grouping Influences Answers to Internet Surveys.”   Technical Report #04-023. Social & Economic Sciences Research Center, Washington State University.

Stern, Michael J., Don A. Dillman, Jolene Smyth and Leah Melani Christian. (2004) “The Use of Paradata for Evaluating Alternate Versions of Web Survey Questions.” Proceedings of the 57^th Annual Meeting of the World Association of Public Opinion Research.

Dillman, Don A., Jolene D. Smyth, Leah M. Christian, and Michael J. Stern. “Multiple-Answer Questions in Self-Administered Surveys: The Use of Check-All-That-Apply and Forced-Choice Question Formats.” (2003) Proceedings of the American Statistical Association.