Description
By (author) Pollock Philip H.; By (author) Edwards, Barry Clayton
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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 TablesList of BoxesPrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorsChapter 1 The Definition and Measurement of Concepts1.1 Conceptual Definitions1.2 Operational Definitions1.3 Measurement Error1.4 Reliability and Validity1.5 Working With Datasets, Codebooks, and SoftwareSummaryKey TermsExercisesChapter 2 Measuring and Describing Variables2.1 Essential Features2.2 Levels of Measurement2.3 Central Tendency and Dispersion of Variables2.4 Describing Nominal-Level Variables2.5 Describing Ordinal-Level Variables2.6 Describing Interval-Level VariablesSummaryKey TermsExercisesChapter 3 Creating and Transforming Variables3.1 Transforming Interval-Level Variables With Math Functions3.2 Sometimes, Less Is More: Simplifying Variables3.3 Managing Data and Metadata3.4 Additive Indexes and Measurement Scales3.5 Advanced Data Transformation MethodsSummaryKey TermsExercisesChapter 4 Proposing Explanations, Framing Hypotheses, and Making Comparisons4.1 “All Models Are Wrong, but Some Are Useful”4.2 Proposing Explanations4.3 Framing Hypotheses4.4 Making ComparisonsSummaryKey TermsExercisesChapter 5 Graphing Relationships and Describing Patterns5.1 Historic Examples of Data Visualization5.2 Levels of Measurement and Choice of Graph Types5.3 Visualizing Relationships With Categorical Variables5.4 Describing Patterns5.5 Graphing Relationship Between Interval-Level Variables5.6 Challenges of Visualizing DataSummaryKey TermsExercisesChapter 6 Research Design, Research Ethics, and Evidence of Causation6.1 Establishing Causation6.2 Experimental Designs6.3 Selecting Cases for Analysis6.4 Conducting Research EthicallySummaryKey TermsExercisesChapter 7 Making Controlled Comparisons7.1 The Logic of Controlled Comparisons7.2 Essential Terms and Concepts7.3 Effect of Partisanship on Gun Control Vote, Controlling for Gender: An Illustrative Example7.4 Controlled Mean Comparisons7.5 Identifying Patterns7.6 Advanced Methods of Making Controlled ComparisonsSummaryKey TermsExercisesChapter 8 Foundations of Statistical Inference8.1 Population Parameters and Sample Statistics8.2 The Central Limit Theorem and the Normal Distribution8.3 Quantifying Standard Errors8.4 Confidence Intervals8.5 Sample Size and the Margin of Error of a Poll8.6 Inferences With Small Batches: The Student’s t-DistributionSummary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 9 Hypothesis Tests With One or Two Samples9.1 Statistical Significance and Null Hypothesis Testing9.2 One-Sample Significance Tests9.3 Two-Sample Significance Tests9.4 Criticisms of Null Hypothesis TestingSummary Key Terms Exercises Chapter 10 Chi-Square Test and Analysis of Variance10.1 Null Hypothesis Tests With More than Two Groups
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