The Essentials Of Political Analysis

By (author) Pollock Philip H.; By (author) Edwards, Barry Clayton
Description:
Equip students with the skills and confidence they need to conduct political analyses and critically assess statistical research. In the Seventh 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 clear examples. This brief and reader-friendly guide walks students through the essentials— defining measurement, formulating and testing hypotheses, measuring 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 Excel, R, SPSS, or STATA? Companion workbooks featuring statistical software instructions and exercises help your students apply their knowledge.

Table of contents:
List of Tables List of Boxes Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors Chapter 1 The Definition and Measurement of Concepts 1.1 Conceptual Definitions 1.2 Operational Definitions 1.3 Measurement Error 1.4 Reliability and Validity 1.5 Working With Datasets, Codebooks, and Software Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 2 Measuring and Describing Variables 2.1 Essential Features 2.2 Levels of Measurement 2.3 Central Tendency and Dispersion of Variables 2.4 Describing Nominal-Level Variables 2.5 Describing Ordinal-Level Variables 2.6 Describing Interval-Level Variables Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 3 Creating and Transforming Variables 3.1 Transforming Interval-Level Variables With Math Functions 3.2 Sometimes, Less Is More: Simplifying Variables 3.3 Managing Data and Metadata 3.4 Additive Indexes and Measurement Scales 3.5 Advanced Data Transformation Methods Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 4 Proposing Explanations, Framing Hypotheses, and Making Comparisons 4.1 “All Models Are Wrong, but Some Are Useful” 4.2 Proposing Explanations 4.3 Framing Hypotheses 4.4 Making Comparisons Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 5 Graphing Relationships and Describing Patterns 5.1 Historic Examples of Data Visualization 5.2 Levels of Measurement and Choice of Graph Types 5.3 Visualizing Relationships With Categorical Variables 5.4 Describing Patterns 5.5 Graphing Relationship Between Interval-Level Variables 5.6 Challenges of Visualizing Data Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 6 Research Design, Research Ethics, and Evidence of Causation 6.1 Establishing Causation 6.2 Experimental Designs 6.3 Selecting Cases for Analysis 6.4 Conducting Research Ethically Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 7 Making Controlled Comparisons 7.1 The Logic of Controlled Comparisons 7.2 Essential Terms and Concepts 7.3 Effect of Partisanship on Gun Control Vote, Controlling for Gender: An Illustrative Example 7.4 Controlled Mean Comparisons 7.5 Identifying Patterns 7.6 Advanced Methods of Making Controlled Comparisons Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 8 Foundations of Statistical Inference 8.1 Population Parameters and Sample Statistics 8.2 The Central Limit Theorem and the Normal Distribution 8.3 Quantifying Standard Errors 8.4 Confidence Intervals 8.5 Sample Size and the Margin of Error of a Poll 8.6 Inferences With Small Batches: The Student’s t-Distribution Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 9 Hypothesis Tests With One or Two Samples 9.1 Statistical Significance and Null Hypothesis Testing 9.2 One-Sample Significance Tests 9.3 Two-Sample Significance Tests 9.4 Criticisms of Null Hypothesis Testing Summary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 10 Chi-Square Test and Analysis of Variance 10.1 Null Hypothesis Tests With More than Two Groups