The Essentials of Political Analysis - Softcover

Pollock, Philip H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1506305830 ISBN 13: 9781506305837

Publisher: CQ Press, 2015

Synopsis

“Overall, this is the best political science research methods book I’ve seen.”

-William Field, Rutgers University

Building students’ analytic abilities and developing their statistical reasoning with new data, fresh exercises, and engaging examples, this accessible introduction to the essential elements of political analysis walks students through the basics—measuring concepts, describing variables, formulating and testing hypotheses, controlling for alternative explanations, and interpreting graphic displays, and nearly 50 practical exercises motivate them to use their new skills with confidence.

New to this edition:

• All examples updated with current data sources
• Treatment of visual depictions of variables and relationships and enhanced coverage of logistic regression
• A total of 48 end-of-chapter exercises, many new or completely revised
• More accessible discussion of spurious, additive, and interaction relationships
• Coverage of box plots and error bar charts
• New discussion of ways to represent probabilities in logistic regression

About this title

Review:

“With its carefully organized material, hands-on running examples, and accessible writing style, The Essentials of Political Analysis introduces readers to the foundational principles of research in Political Science in a natural and fluid fashion.  It effectively conveys to students the idea that the methods we use in Political Science research are crucial in providing answers to real world political and social questions.  The chapters on inference in particular are extremely well executed.”

(Renato Corbetta)

“Overall, this is the best political science research methods book I’ve seen. It is brief yet covers the methodological basics of quantitative research design from concept development to difference of means, chi-square, and linear regression.  It is detailed, yet comprehensible.  Best of all, the companion text offers quality datasets and walk-throughs of SPSS that bring every concept here to life.  Combined, The Essentials of Political Analysis and An SPSS Companion to Political Analysis form the backbone of our undergraduate research methods teaching.”  

(William Field)

About the Author:

Philip H. Pollock III is professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. He has taught courses in research methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels for nearly 40 years. His main research interests are American public opinion, voting behavior, techniques of quantitative analysis, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. His recent research has been on the effectiveness of Internet-based instruction. Pollock’s research has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Social Science Quarterly, and British Journal of Political Science. Recent scholarly publications include articles in Political Research Quarterly, the Journal of Political Science Education, and PS: Political Science and Politics.

About this edition

• Publisher: CQ Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1506305830
• ISBN 13: 9781506305837
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 280