Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

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.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Introduction
• Research on Winners and Losers in Politics
• Who Votes, Who Doesn't?
• Repression of Human Rights
• a Look into Judicial Decision Making and Its Effects Influencing Bureaucracies
• Effects of Campaign Advertising on Voters
• Research on Public Support for U.S. Foreign Involvement
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Studying Politics Scientifically
• Characteristics of Scientific Knowledge
• The Importance of Theory
• Acquiring Empirical Knowledge: The Scientific Method
• Deduction and Induction
• The Scientific Method at Work
• Is Political Science Really "Science"?
• Practical Objections
• Philosophical Objections
• a Brief History of Political Science as a Discipline
• The Era of Traditional Political Science
• The Empirical Revolution
• Reaction to Empiricism
• Political Science Today: Peaceful Coexistence?
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• The Building Blocks of Social Scientific Research: Hypotheses, Concepts, and Variables
• Specifying the Research Question
• Proposing Explanations
• Formulating Hypotheses
• Characteristics of Good Hypotheses
• Specifying Units of Analysis
• Cross-level Analysis: Ecological Inference and Ecological Fallacy
• Defining Concepts
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• The Building Blocks of Social Scientific Research: Measurement
• Devising Measurement Strategies
• Examples of Political Measurements: Getting to Operationalization
• The Accuracy of Measurements
• Reliability
• Validity
• Problems with Reliability and Validity in Political Science Measurement
• The Precision of Measurements
• Levels of Measurement
• Working with Precision: Too Little or Too Much
• Multi-item Measures
• Indexes
• Scales
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Research Design
• Causal Inferences and Controlled Experiments
• Causal versus Spurious Relationships
• Randomized Controlled Experiments
• Randomization and the Assignment of Subjects
• Interpreting and Generalizing the Results of an Experiment
• Internal Validity
• External Validity
• Other Versions of Experimental Designs
• Simple Post-test Design
• Repeated-Measurement Design
• Multigroup Design
• Field Experiments
• Nonexperimental Designs
• Small-N Designs
• Cross-Sectional Designs: Surveys and Aggregate Data Analysis
• Large Longitudinal (Time Series) Designs
• Panel Studies
• Alternative Research Strategies
• Formal Modeling
• Simulation
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Conducting a Literature Review Selecting a Research Topic
• Why Conduct a Literature Review?
• Collecting Sources for a Literature Review
• Identifying the Relevant Scholarly Literature
• Identifying Useful Popular Sources
• Reading the Literature
• Writing a Literature Review
• Anatomy of a Literature Review
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Sampling
• The Basics of Sampling
• Population or Sample?
• Fundamental Concepts
• Types of Samples
• Simple Random Samples
• Systematic Samples
• Stratified Samples
• Cluster Samples
• Nonprobability Samples
• Samples and Statistical Inference: a Gentle Introduction
• Expected Values
• Measuring the Variability of the Estimates: Standard Errors
• Sampling Distributions
• How Large a Sample?
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Making Empirical Observations: Direct and Indirect Observation
• Types of Data and Collection Techniques
• Qualitative versus Quantitative Uses of Data
• Choosing among Data Collection Methods
• Observation
• Direct Observation
• Indirect Observation
• Physical Trace Measures
• Validity Problems with Indirect Observation
• Ethical Issues in Observation
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Document Analysis: Using the Written Record
• Types of Written Records
• The Episodic Record
• The Running Record
• The Running Record and Episodic Record Compared
• Presidential Job Approval
• Content Analysis
• Content Analysis Procedures
• News Coverage of Presidential Campaigns
• Advantages and Disadvantages of the Written Record
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Survey Research and Interviewing
• Fundamentals: Ensuring Validity and Reliability
• Survey Research
• Types of Surveys
• Characteristics of Surveys
• Response Quality
• Survey Type and Response Quality
• Question Wording
• Question Type
• Question Order
• Questionnaire Design
• Using Archived Survey Data
• Advantages of Using Archived Surveys
• Publicly Available Archives
• Interviewing
• The Ins and Outs of Interviewing
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Statistics: First Steps
• The Data Matrix
• Data Description and Exploration
• Frequency Distributions, Proportions, and Percentages
• Descriptive Statistics
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Measures of Variability or Dispersion
• Deviations from Central Tendency
• Graphs for Presentation and Exploration
• Presentation Graphs: Bar Charts and Pie Diagrams
• Exploratory Graphs
• Statistical Inference
• Two Kinds of Inference
• Hypothesis Testing
• Significance Tests of a Mean
• Confidence Intervals and Confidence Levels: Reporting Estimates of Population Parameters
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Investigating Relationships between Two Variables
• The Basics of Identifying and Measuring Relationships
• Types of Relationships
• The Strength of Relationships
• Numerical Summaries: Measures of Association
• Cross-tabulations of Nominal and Ordinal Variables
• a First Look at the Strength of a Relationship
• The Direction of a Relationship
• Coefficients for Ordinal Variables
• a Coefficient for Nominal Data
• Association in 2 x 2 Tables: The Odds Ratio
• Testing a Cross-tabulation for Statistical Significance
• Analysis of Variance and the Difference of Means
• Difference of Means or Effect Size
• Difference of Proportions
• Analysis of Variance
• Regression Analysis
• Scatterplots
• Matrix Plots
• Modeling Linear Relationships
• The Regression Model
• Interpretation of Parameters
• Measuring the Fit of a Regression Line
• The Correlation Coefficient
• Standardized Regression Coefficients
• Inference for Regression Parameters
• Regression Is Sensitive to Large Values
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• Multivariate Analysis
• Multivariate Analysis of Categorical Data
• Multiple Regression
• Interpretation of Parameters
• Dummy Variables
• Estimation and Calculation of a Regression Equation
• Standardized Regression Coefficients
• Measuring the Goodness of Fit
• Tests of Significance
• Logistic Regression
• Estimating the Model's Coefficients
• Measures of Fit
• Significance Tests
• An Alternative Interpretation of Logistic Regression Coefficients
• a Substantive Example
• Conclusion
• Terms Introduced
• Suggested Readings
• The Research Report: An Annotated Example
• Bias in Newspaper Photograph Selection
• Relevant Literature
• Political Atmosphere Theory
• Why Newspapers
• Research Design
• Findings
• Conclusion
• Notes
• References
• Conclusion
• Appendixes
• Appendix A Normal Curve Tail Probabilities
• Appendix B Critical Values from t Distribution
• Appendix C Chi-Squared Distribution Values for Various Right-tail Probabilities
• Appendix D F Distribution

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Janet Buttolph Johnson is associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware, where she specializes in public policy, state and local politics, and environmental policy and politics.

H. T. Reynolds is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Delaware. He is author of Governing America, with David Volger; The Analysis of Nominal Data , Second Edition; and several articles on methodology.

Jason Mycoff is associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware. His research is on American political institutions, in particular the US Congress, congressional committees, and parties.