Longman / Prentice Hall

Political Science

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Empirical Political Analysis: Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods, 7/E
Jarol B. Manheim, The George Washington University
Richard C. Rich, Virginia Tech
Lars Willnat, The George Washington University
Craig L. Brians, Virginia Tech

ISBN-10: 0205576400
ISBN-13: 9780205576401

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 2008
Format: Cloth; 448 pp
Published: 07/30/2007

Suggested retail price: $112.67
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This comprehensive research methods text introduces students, both concretely and theoretically, to a wide variety of techniques, applications, and concerns that are important to political science research.

 

Organized around the various stages of the research process, and balancing the competing demands placed on an introductory text, each chapter of the book is planned around a series of substantive questions and enhanced with a series of research exercises that give students practical insights into the important issues raised.

  • Retaining the breadth that has been its hallmark for over 25 years, the text offers comprehensive coverage of all facets of the Political Science research process.
  • Each chapter is organized around several substantive questions, and includes research exercises, bulleted summary points, a list of key terms, and an annotated bibliography for more advanced discussions.
  • An entire chapter is devoted to the benefits and potential pitfalls of Web-based research, with suggested solutions to each concern.
  • This book is arrange with a logical organization that follows the research process from start to finish, integrating theory, hypothesis formation, literature review, operationalization, data gathering, data analysis, and reporting the findings.
  • Written by Political Scientists who actively publish in subfields ranging from comparative politics to environmental policy to political communications to voting behavior.
  • Current qualitative and quantitative research examples from all fields of political science illustrate each chapter’s topic.
  • Offers a solid research foundation for both undergraduate and graduate students.
  • The supplementary lab manual’s hands-on exercises augment and expand upon the text.
  • Written in an accessible manner, this book introduces students to necessary technical terms but avoids unnecessary jargon.

  •  Each chapter includes a new section of research examples, with descriptions of research in current political science journals that employ the methods described in the chapter.
  • In every chapter, a section identifies professional and personal ethical considerations — with topics ranging from working with human subject review boards to avoiding plagiarism through the proper use of citations.
  • A new step-by-step method in Chapter 3 guides students in researching and writing literature reviews; it includes powerful techniques for searching, evaluating sources, and attributing source material.
  • Three new chapters have been added to the supplementary Quantitative Analysis Lab Manual (Brians 2008), which provides hands-on exercises that augment and expand upon the text.  These chapters introduce students to comparative data analysis, procedures for managing missing data, and analyzing data using Microsoft Excel.
  • Additional revisions focus on suggestions offered by dozens of political science faculty, personally interviewed at colleges throughout the country by one of the text's authors, Craig Brians.

Part I: Introduction.

 

1. The Research Process.

 

Part II: Preparing to Do Research.

 

2. Theory Building: Concepts and Hypotheses in Political Research.

 

3. Setting the Foundation: Techniques of Systematic Bibliographic Search.

 

4. Internet Research.

 

5. From Abstract to Concrete: Operationalization and Measurement.

 

6. Working from a Plan: Considerations in Research Design.

 

7. Who, What, Where, When: The Problem of Sampling.

 

Part III: Quantitative Methods.

 

8. Survey Research.

 

9. Scaling Techniques.

 

10. Content Analysis.

 

11. Sources and Applications of Aggregate Data.

 

12. Comparative Research.

 

13. Social Network Analysis: Finding Structure in a Complex World.

 

Part IV: Analyzing Quantitative Data.

 

14. Data Preparation and Data Processing.

 

15. Describing the Data: The Construction of Tables and Charts.

 

16. Statistics I: Summarizing Distributions on One Variable.

 

17. Statistics II: Examining Relationships Between Two Variables.

 

18. Statistics III: Examining Relationships Among Several Variables.

 

Part IV: Qualitative Methods.

 

19. Direct Observation.

 

20. Focus Group Methodologies.

 

21. Elite and Specialized Interviewing.

 

Part V: Conclusion.

 

22. Writing (and Reading) the Research Report. 

 

23. Overview.

 

View a Sample Chapter PDF:

For Research Methods in Political Science


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