Political Science Research Methods

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The principal goal of this textbook is to provide clear and elementary descriptions of the major statistical techniques used in political and social science research. The book is built on two basic assumptions. First, that it is possible to explain social science statistics in a simple and straightforward manner so that students with a minimal background in math can understand even fairly advanced techniques, such as multiple and logistic regression. Second, that undergraduate and even graduate students have less trouble in understanding specific techniques than in interpreting what statistical results mean substantively. Consequently, the book stresses the interpretation of research findings.br/br/In essence, the book argues that political science research is like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together. Pieces of information — statistical and non-statistical — must be assembled and interpreted both logically and creatively.br/br/The text is organized in a unique manner, using the various techniques being discussed to analyze the current state of the United States as it seemingly stands at a crossroads in both its political orientations and socioeconomic nature. To make the statistical interpretation more meaningful and easier to understand, the results throughout the book are integrated by their focus upon two central questions related to the theme of America at a Crossroads: Are Americans conservative or liberal in their political beliefs? How do economic and social outcomes in America compare to those in other developed democracies?boldContents:/boldbulletlistbulletlistbulletResearch as Puzzle Solving/bulletbulletIntroducing Our Data/bullet/bulletlist/bulletbulletboldDesigning Research Projects:/boldbulletlistbulletThe Logic of Inquiry and Research Design/bulletbulletApproaches to the Study of Politics/bulletbulletThe Relationship of Qualitative Approaches to Quantitative Analysis/bullet/bulletlist/bulletbulletboldThe Foundations for Statistical Analysis:/boldbulletlistbulletSome More Complex Issues in Interpreting Data/bulletbulletSummary Statistics for an Entire Distribution: Moving Beyond Data Arrays and Graphs/bulletbulletAn Introduction to Inferential Statistics/bullet/bulletlist/bulletbulletboldDiscovering Relationships for Nominal and Ordinal Data:/boldbulletlistbulletCrosstabulation: Why Do Americans Vote Democratic or Republican?/bulletbulletMultivariate Tables: More Nuanced Explanations for Conservative Attitudes and Behavior/bullet/bulletlist/bulletbulletboldDiscovering Relationships for Interval Data:/boldbulletlistbulletRegression Analysis: International Patterns and Benchmarks for American Performance/bulletbulletMultiple Regression and Path Analysis: More Complex Models of the Policy Process/bulletbulletLogistic Regression: Developing More Complete Models of Partisanship/bullet/bulletlist/bulletbulletboldConclusion:/boldbulletlistbulletThe Joy and Challenge of the Jigsaw Puzzles in Political Research/bullet/bulletlist/bullet/bulletlistbr/boldReadership:/bold Undergraduates or graduate-level students of political science and/or social sciences interested in its statistical research methods.br/

Bol Partner

Teaches students to effectively evaluate the research of others and learn how to conduct their ownWhen exposing students to political science's most important research methods, comprehensive coverage as well as clear and straightforward language are paramount. In the trusted tradition of previous editions, this new fifth edition covers all of the major research methods of the discipline and leads students step by step through the logic of research design. The new edition now gives even greater attention to promising new research tools such as online search engines, formal modelling, and logistic regression. New and updated examples from contemporary research problems make the text especially relevant and engaging. Guaranteed to please instructors looking for useful reinforcement and practice, a new companion student workbook meaningfully ties exercises and assignments to learning objectives covered in each chapter. New To This Edition* More effective, streamlined organization and presentation better reflects the actual process of developing research problems and implementing research designs;* Expanded discussion of hypothesis formation and the logic of making causal inferences;* Greater attention to creating operational definitions of theoretical concepts and how these definitions affect research design and results;* More extensive coverage of the use of path diagrams to help students clarify their ideas about hypothesized relationships between concepts;* New and updated examples throughout to give students real world problems to work through, such as stronger illustrations of how to extract hypotheses from written material such as magazine and newspaper articles;* Improved guidance on the proper use of aggregate data. A student workbook is also in production:Working with Political Science Research Methods: Problems and ExercisesJanet Buttolph Johnson H. T. ReynoldsISBN: 1-56802-928-4 or as a package: 1-56802-929-2C100 pages 190 X 140mm Publication: October 2004 The student workbook will contain additional exercises from text chapters and a CD with data sets in SPSS format as well as a simple, convertible text format.