Politics and Policy Teaching Titles

Brings together experienced instructors to offer a range of perspectives on how to teach courses in political science. It focuses on numerous topics, including identifying good research questions, measuring key concepts, writing literature reviews and developing information literacy skills. Chapters outline quantitative and qualitative methods, feminist methodologies and techniques for studying African-American politics, to review and demonstrate the many avenues that instructors of research methods courses might take.

The book is split into four distinct sections for undergraduate research methods education: the approach, the foundations of research design, quantitative analysis and qualitative data. All the advice is evidence-based and grounded in the science of teaching and learning (SoTL) literature from experienced, award-winning and highly recognized instructors of political methodology.

The book is split into four distinct sections for graduate research methods education: the approach, the foundations of research design, quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis. Chapters offer evidence-based advice grounded in the science of teaching and learning (SoTL) literature from experienced, award-winning and highly recognized instructors of political methodology.

The most important step in social science research is the first step - finding a topic. Unfortunately, little guidance on this crucial and difficult challenge is available. The first part of the book asks How do social scientists arrive at ideas for their work? What are the different ways in which a study can contribute to knowledge in a field? The second part of the book offers suggestions about how to think creatively, including general strategies for finding a topic and heuristics for discovery. The third part of the book shows how data exploration may assist in generating theories and hypotheses. The fourth part of the book offers suggestions about how to fashion disparate ideas into a theory.

Guides novice researchers in knowing the difference between an area of interest and a research topic; defining the relevant parts of a potentially infinite research literature; mastering sampling, operationalization, and generalization; understanding which research methods best answer your questions; and beating writer's block. Most important, she shows how friendships, nonacademic interests, and even salsa dancing can make for a better researcher.

Stephen Van Evera greeted new graduate students at MIT with a commonsense introduction to qualitative methods in the social sciences. His helpful hints evolved into a book of how-to information research in political science, which is essential reading for graduate students and their advisers.

ONLY IN PRINT. Using plain language and assuming no prior knowledge of statistics and coding, the book provides a step-by-step guide to analyzing real-world data with the statistical program R for the purpose of answering a wide range of substantive social science questions. It teaches not only how to perform the analyses but also how to interpret results and identify strengths and limitations. A gentler introduction than Imai's QSS (below).

ONLY IN PRINT (multiple copies). A practical introduction to data analysis and statistics written especially for undergraduates and beginning graduate students in the social sciences. Shows students how to analyze data using the R programming language and to interpret the results through hands-on learning. More than forty data sets taken directly from leading quantitative social science research illustrate how data analysis can be used to answer important questions about society and human behavior.

Integrates both quantitative and qualitative approaches to research 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. Presents statistical methods in a conversational tone to help students surmount "math phobia."

Focuses on teaching how to design research that uses observational data to make causal inferences. The first half of the book focuses on grasping the intuition behind causality and why to structure a design in a certain way and what it is you want to do with the data. The second half of the book focuses on more technical details of common research designs like regression with controls, regression discontinuity, and differences in differences. Includes extensive code examples in R, Stata, and Python and has an accompanying free online version.

This influential work presents a unified approach to qualitative and quantitative research in political science, showing how the same logic of inference underlies both. It addresses topics such as interpretation and inference, comparative case studies, constructing causal theories, dependent and explanatory variables, the limits of random selection, selection bias, and errors in measurement. The book only uses mathematical notation to clarify concepts, and assumes no prior knowledge of mathematics or statistics.

ONLY IN PRINT. The authors present an integrated approach to research design and empirical analyses whereby researchers can develop and test causal theories. They use examples from political science research that students will find interesting and inspiring, and that will help them understand key concepts.

ONLY IN PRINT. Covering both quantitative and qualitative methods, the book guides readers on how to come up with a research question and leads right through to writing up a final report. It also includes chapters on theory, methodology, and the philosophy of social science, and includes up-to-date 'real world' examples, such as Gerber and Green's survey on political attitudes or Wantchekon's study on clientelism in Benin.

ONLY IN PRINT. Helps students to understand the logic behind research design by guiding them through a step-by-step process that explains when and why a researcher would pursue different kinds of methods.

ONLY IN PRINT. With wit and practical wisdom, Howard teaches budding political scientists critical research skills. The first part of the book is devoted to asking three fundamental questions in political science: What happened? Why? Who cares? In the second section, Howard demonstrates how to answer these questions by choosing an appropriate research design, selecting cases, and working with numbers and written documents as evidence. Draws on examples from American and comparative politics, international relations, and public policy.

ONLY IN PRINT. Introduces the fundamentals of research in a student-friendly writing style. Flowcharts in every chapter provide step-by-step guides for conducting social research and evaluating the research of others. Using relatable, everyday examples, it provides a balance between qualitative and quantitative research.

ONLY IN PRINT. Highlights practical skills needed to advise decision-makers on matters of public policy in ways that are well-informed and solutions-oriented, while managing limitations like time, resources, and information.

ONLY IN PRINT (multiple copies). An alternative version of the acclaimed textbook on data analysis and statistics for the social sciences that shows students how to analyze and interpret data using the tidyverse family of R packages.

ONLY IN PRINT. An alternative version of the acclaimed textbook on data analysis and statistics for the social sciences that shows students how to analyze and interpret data using the Stata statistical software.

With this comprehensive workbook, students analyze research-quality data to learn descriptive statistics, data transformations, bivariate analysis (such as cross-tabulations and mean comparisons), controlled comparisons, correlation and bivariate regression, interaction effects, and logistic regression. The clear explanations and instructions are aided by the use of many annotated and labeled screen shots, as well as QR codes linking to demonstration videos.

In this new guide, students dive headfirst into actual political data from all major subfields working with the ubiquitous Excel software.

Students quickly learn Stata via step-by-step instruction, more than 50 exercises, customized datasets, annotated screen shots, boxes that highlight Stata′s special capabilities, and guidance on using Stata to read raw data.

ONLY IN PRINT. Built in parallel with the main text, this workbook teaches students to apply the techniques they learn in each chapter by reproducing the analyses and results from each lesson using R. Students will also learn to create all of the tables and figures found in the textbook.

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. More appropriate for graduate students.

ONLY IN PRINT. Shows how to combine new sources of data, machine learning tools, and social science research design to develop and evaluate new insights. The book is organized around the core tasks in research projects using text--representation, discovery, measurement, prediction, and causal inference. Each research task is presented complete with real-world applications, example methods, and a distinct style of task-focused research.

Process-tracing in social science is a method for studying causal mechanisms linking causes with outcomes. This enables the researcher to make strong inferences about how a cause (or set of causes) contributes to producing an outcome. The authors develop the underlying logic of process-tracing, including how one should understand causal mechanisms and how Bayesian logic enables strong within-case inferences. They provide instructions for identifying the variant of process-tracing most appropriate for the research question at hand and a set of guidelines for each stage of the research process.

Drawing on the experience of both case study researchers and policy practitioners, this book explores key issues of methodology and practice--How does one prepare a rigorous case study? When can causal inferences reasonably be drawn from a single case? When and how can policy-makers reasonably presume that a demonstrably successful intervention in one context might generate similarly impressive outcomes elsewhere, or if massively 'scaled up'?

A practical, applied text for courses in experimental design. The text assumes that students have just a basic knowledge of the scientific method, and no statistics background is required. With its focus on how to effectively design experiments, rather than how to analyze them, the book concentrates on the stage where researchers are making decisions about procedural aspects of the experiment before interventions and treatments are given.

ONLY IN PRINT. A brief, authoritative introduction to field experimentation in the social sciences. Written by two leading experts on experimental methods, this concise text covers the major aspects of experiment design, analysis, and interpretation in clear language. Students learn how to design randomized experiments, analyze the data, and interpret the findings.

Focusing on deep analysis of documents in context, this volume guides readers through the process of developing research questions, and how this impacts on the documents selected; considering aspects of bias and quality within the documentary sources; and undertaking analysis, using six different strategies including thematic analysis, framework analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis, and narrative analysis.

Interviews are a frequent and important part of empirical research in political science, but graduate programs rarely offer discipline-specific training in selecting interviewees, conducting interviews, and using the data thus collected. The book addresses how to construct a sample of interviewees; how to collect and report interview data; how to address ethical considerations and the IRB process; how to link interview-based evidence with causal claims; how to use proxy interviews or an interpreter to improve access; and how to structure interview questions.

ONLY IN PRINT. Using an interpretive methodology, the book examines interviewing as a relational enterprise. As a relational undertaking, interviewing is more akin to a two-way dialogue than a one-way interrogation. Fujii examines the methodological foundations for a relational approach to interviewing, while at the same time covering many of the practical nuts and bolts of relational interviewing. Examples come from the author's experiences conducting interviews in Bosnia, Rwanda, and the United States, and from relevant literatures across a variety of social scientific disciplines.

Interpretive approaches are a major growth area in the social sciences today. This is because they offer a full-blown alternative to the behavioralism, institutionalism, rational choice, and other quasi-scientific approaches that dominate the study of human behavior. In addition to presenting a systematic case for interpretivism and a critique of scientism, the authors propose their own uniquely 'anti-naturalist' notion of an interpretive approach. Provides detailed discussions of a distinctly interpretive approach to methods and empirical research. The book draws on the latest social science to cover everything from concept formation and empirical inquiry to ethics, democratic theory, and public policy.

Interpretive political science focuses on the meanings that shape actions and institutions, and the ways in which they do so. Provides the first definitive survey of the field edited by two of its pioneers, split into five parts: the contrast between interpretive theory and mainstream political science; the main forms of interpretive theory and its theoretical concepts; methods used; insights on empirical topics; and the implications of interpretive political science for professional practices such as policy analysis, planning, and public health.

Provides a vital resource to those students and researchers approaching their studies from a feminist perspective. Interdisciplinary in its approach, the book covers everything from research design, analysis and presentation, to formulating research questions, data collection and publishing research.