Research Designs For Political Science

The third edition of Research Methods for Political Science retains its effective approach to helping students learn what to research, why to research and how to research. The text integrates both quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in one volume and covers such important topics as research design, specifying research problems, designing questionnaires and writing questions, designing and carrying out qualitative research and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative research data. Heavily illustrated, classroom tested, exceptionally readable and engaging, the text presents statistical methods in a conversational tone to help students surmount "math phobia." Updates to this new edition include: Research topics chapters have been upgraded and expanded. Two mixed methods design chapters have been added. A new chapter on hermeneutic analysis designs and research with large data sets. The chapter on multivariate statistics has been expanded, with an expanded discussion on logistic regression. Tools on how to prepare and present research findings are now featured in the appendix, allowing instructors more flexibility when teaching their courses. Research Methods for Political Science will give students the confidence and knowledge they need to understand the methods and basics skills for data collection, presentation and analysis.

When embarking on a new research project students face the same core research design issues. This volume provides readers with practical guidelines for both qualitative and quantitative designs, discusses the typical trade-offs involved in choosing them and is rich in examples from actual research.

This is a comprehensive introduction to research design for university students at all levels across the whole range of political science, including international relations and public administration. It covers the key steps in the research process and explains the logic and detail of a variety of classic and cutting-edge methods. Based on a pluralistic approach, the text endorses both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and outlines the strengths and limitations of different designs for addressing particular research goals. Giving accessible and practical advice, without use of mathematical formulas or formalized notation, this clear and engaging book features many examples of real political science research, and will enable readers to design their own research projects as well as to critically evaluate existing research in the social sciences.

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.

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

This Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art research methods and applications currently in use in political science. It combines theory and methodology (qualitative and quantitative), and offers insights into the major approaches and their roots in the philosophy of scientific knowledge. Including a comprehensive discussion of the relevance of a host of digital data sources, plus the dos and don’ts of data collection in general, the book also explains how to use diverse research tools and highlights when and how to apply these techniques.

Thoroughly updated, more concise than the previous edition, and available for the first time in paperback, "Research Methods for Political Science" is designed to help students learn what to research, why to research, and how to research. The text integrates both quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in one volume, and includes the most comprehensive coverage of qualitative methods currently available. It covers such important topics as research design, specifying research problems, designing questionnaries and writing questions, designing and carrying out qualitative research, and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative research data. Heavily illustrated, classroom tested, and exceptionally readable and engaging, the text also provides specific instructions on the use of available statistical software programs such as Excel and SPSS.

The third edition of Research Methods for Political Science retains its effective approach to helping students learn what to research, why to research and how to research. The text integrates both quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in one volume and covers such important topics as research design, specifying research problems, designing questionnaires and writing questions, designing and carrying out qualitative research and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative research data. Heavily illustrated, classroom tested, exceptionally readable and engaging, the text presents statistical methods in a conversational tone to help students surmount "math phobia." Updates to this new edition include: Research topics chapters have been upgraded and expanded. Two mixed methods design chapters have been added. A new chapter on hermeneutic analysis designs and research with large data sets. The chapter on multivariate statistics has been expanded, with an expanded discussion on logistic regression. Tools on how to prepare and present research findings are now featured in the appendix, allowing instructors more flexibility when teaching their courses. Research Methods for Political Science will give students the confidence and knowledge they need to understand the methods and basics skills for data collection, presentation and analysis.