Political Science Research Methods 6th Edition

Don't let an introduction to research methods be your students' least favorite (and most intimidating) political science course. Relevant, timely, insightful, comprehensive, and always mindful of their student audience, the authors have revamped their popular text so that the sixth edition is friendlier and more intuitive than ever--the perfect gateway to understanding not just the "how" but also the "why" behind research into politics. Covering the discipline's major methods, the authors lead students step-by-step through the logic of research design. "Building block" chapters on hypothesis formation and testing, variables, and measurement are right up front; the introduction to research design, sampling, and literature reviews now come with more explanation as to why a researcher would pursue different kinds of methods; the stats chapters begin with a common-sense primer that walks students through foundational ideas and practices. Throughout the text, updated examples of contemporary research problems keep readers engaged. Each chapter has bolded key terms that are also listed in a glossary at the end of each chapter and the end of the text. "Helpful hints" feature boxes give students nuts-and-bolts reminders they can refer to when they conduct their own research or assess the work of others. NEW TO THIS EDITION New examples of political science research in Chapter 1, including a case on judicial decision making and current research into public opinion on the war in Iraq. Expanded discussion of theory in Chapter 2, showing how competing paradigms can be applied to the same topic of study. Substantially updated discussion of survey research including coverage of Internet polling and a fuller description of interviewing. Computational formulas and calculations are now featured in "How It's Done" boxes allowing students to separate lengthy calculations from substantive discussion of the meaning or interpretation of statistical results. Greater coverage of newer developments in applied statistics, including exploratory data analysis and descriptive and inferential statistics for counts and functions of counts. In general, less emphasis on computation, and more on interpretation. Reorganized statistics chapters for better comprehension with regression analysis and logistic regression in their own chapters. A new overview of statistical analysis, including discussion of data preparation, description, modeling, inference, interpretation, and the communication of results.

Increase the probability of success! Buy Political Science Research Methods, Sixth Edition and Working with Political Science Research Methods, Second Edition together and save. Specify ISBN 978-0-87289-772-4 when ordering. Does the “science” part of political science cause your students to break out in a cold sweat? This companion workbook gives students the perfect opportunity to practice each of the methods presented in the text. To maximize their ability to master each technique, the workbook is organized to parallel the text chapter for chapter, breaking out each aspect of the research process into manageable parts, and comes with updated data sets and primary documents. Given invaluable feedback from adopters, this second edition workbook has been restructured so that exercises more consistently increase in complexity and degree of difficulty, and fuller, more explicit directions accompany problems. A solutions manual with answers to the workbook and useful tips for instructors is available to adopters. Contact [email protected] for more information.

This text starts by explaining the fundamental goal of good political science research—the ability to answer interesting and important questions by generating valid inferences about political phenomena. Before the text even discusses the process of developing a research question, the authors introduce the reader to what it means to make an inference and the different challenges that social scientists face when confronting this task. Only with this ultimate goal in mind will students be able to ask appropriate questions, conduct fruitful literature reviews, select and execute the proper research design, and critically evaluate the work of others. The authors' primary goal is to teach students to critically evaluate their own research designs and others’ and analyze the extent to which they overcome the classic challenges to making inference: internal and external validity concerns, omitted variable bias, endogeneity, measurement, sampling, and case selection errors, and poor research questions or theory. As such, students will not only be better able to conduct political science research, but they will also be more savvy consumers of the constant flow of causal assertions that they confront in scholarship, in the media, and in conversations with others. Three themes run through Barakso, Sabet, and Schaffner’s text: minimizing classic research problems to making valid inferences, effective presentation of research results, and the nonlinear nature of the research process. Throughout their academic years and later in their professional careers, students will need to effectively convey various bits of information. Presentation skills gleaned from this text will benefit students for a lifetime, whether they continue in academia or in a professional career. Several distinctive features make this book noteworthy: A common set of examples threaded throughout the text give students a common ground across chapters and expose them to a broad range of subfields in the discipline. Box features throughout the book illustrate the nonlinear, "non-textbook" reality of research, demonstrate the often false inferences and poor social science in the way the popular press covers politics, and encourage students to think about ethical issues at various stages of the research process.

"Pollock and Edwards explain the nuts-and-bolts of research design and data analysis in a clear and concise style. The Essential of Political Analysis is an intuitive introduction to complex material, replete with examples from the political science literature that add relevance to statistical concepts. This text offers students an excellent balance between the technical and the practical." —Francis Neely, San Francisco State University Gain the skills you need to conduct political analysis and critically assess statistical research. In this Sixth Edition of The Essentials of Political Science, bestselling authors Philip H. Pollock III and Barry C. Edwards build students’ analytic abilities and develop their statistical reasoning with new data, fresh exercises, and accessible examples. This brief, accessible guide walks students through the essentials—measuring concepts, formulating and testing hypotheses, describing variables—while using key terms, chapter-opening objectives, over 80 tables and figures, and practical exercises to get them using and applying their new skills. Using SPSS, STATA or R? Discounted package deals available with Philip H. Pollock’s companion workbooks. . Give your students the SAGE edge! SAGE edge offers a robust online environment featuring an impressive array of free tools and resources for review, study, and further exploration, keeping both instructors and students on the cutting edge of teaching and learning.

The SAGE Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations offers a comprehensive overview of research processes in social science — from the ideation and design of research projects, through the construction of theoretical arguments, to conceptualization, measurement, & data collection, and quantitative & qualitative empirical analysis — exposited through 65 major new contributions from leading international methodologists. Each chapter surveys, builds upon, and extends the modern state of the art in its area. Following through its six-part organization, undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and practicing academics will be guided through the design, methods, and analysis of issues in Political Science and International Relations: Part One: Formulating Good Research Questions & Designing Good Research Projects Part Two: Methods of Theoretical Argumentation Part Three: Conceptualization & Measurement Part Four: Large-Scale Data Collection & Representation Methods Part Five: Quantitative-Empirical Methods Part Six: Qualitative & "Mixed" Methods

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. practice, a new companion student workbook meaningfully ties exercises and assignments to learning objectives covered in each chapter. 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. 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.

Understand the “how” and the “why” behind research in political science. Step by step, Political Science Research Methods walks students through the logic of research design, carefully explaining how researchers choose which method to employ. The Eighth Edition of this trusted resource offers a greater emphasis on the ways in which particular methods are used by undergraduates, expanded coverage of the role of the Internet in research and analysis, and more international examples. Practice makes perfect. In the new fourth edition of the accompanying workbook, Working with Political Science Research Methods, students are given the perfect opportunity to practice each of the methods presented in the core text. This helpful supplement breaks each aspect of the research process into manageable parts and features new exercises and updated data sets. A solutions manual with answers to the workbook is available to adopters.

Through accounts from innovative research projects by world-leading political scientists, this volume offers a unique perspective on research methodology. It discusses the practical and intellectual dilemmas researchers face throughout the research process in a wide range of fields from implicit attitude testing to media analysis and interviews.