Researching the Polity: A Handbook of Scope and Methods / Edition 2

by Laurence Jones, Edward Olson

Overview

Researching the Polity provides students in political science with the tools and methods necessary to understand and conduct research within the sphere of their field. Examples of actual studies and a detailed workbook emphasize the role of correctly applying SPSS research software and principles when conducting studies

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592601219
Publisher:	CENGAGE Learning Custom Publishing
Publication date:	07/23/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	372
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Edward Olson, Angelo State University
Edward C. Olson is Professor of Government and Head of the Department at Angelo State University. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of California at Davis (UCD). He has held teaching positions at UCD, California State University, Sacramento, and since 1979, at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. Professor Olson has served as Department Head since 1990. Professor Olson has taught a variety of courses in American Politics, Campaigns and Elections, the Presidency, the Politics of Western Europe in addition to Research Methods. His research has appeared in Western Political Quarterly, The American Journal of Political Science, Campaigns and Elections, and The Texas Journal of Political Studies. He is coauthor of Political Science Research: A Handbook of Scope and Method with Laurence F. Jones. Olson has served as the principal campaign advisor on numerous campaigns for state and local candidates, and worked as a committee and legislative assistant in the Texas House of Representatives. He lives with his wife Shelly in San Angelo, and as a flat lander, still enjoys skiing as much as he can throughout the Rockies.

Table of Contents

Preface
Using Atomic Dog Textbooks
Recommended System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements
Printing Atomic Dog Textbooks
Preface
About the Authors Part 1 - An Introduction to Political Science and Political Research
Chapter 1 - Conducting Systematic Political Research: An Overview
1-1 Introduction
1-2 The Importance of Political Research: An Overview
1-3 Characteristics of Scientific Research
1-4 Acquiring Scientific Knowledge
1-5 Obstacles to the Scientific Study of Politics
1-6 The Use of Theory to Investigate the Scope of Politics
1-7 Traditional Methods Used to Investigate the Scope of Politics
1-8 Modern Methods Used to Investigate the Scope of Politics
1-9 Composite Political Research: Our Method of Choice
1-10 The Systematic Research Process
Chapter 2 - The Problem: Essence of the Research Project
2-1 Introduction
2-2 Deciding on a Potential Topic
2-3 The Research Problem
2-4 Topic Selection: Some Concluding Remarks
Chapter 3 - The Literature Review: Becoming Familiar with Your Topic
3-1 Introduction
3-2 Purpose of the Review
3-3 How to Begin the Search for Related Literature
3-4 How to Write the Literature Review Part 2 - The Scope of Political Science
Chapter 4 - An Overview of the Political World
4-1 Introduction
4-2 Politics and Human Relations
4-3 Politics and Human Nature
4-4 The Political System
4-5 Some Key Political Concepts
4-6 The Major Political Questions
4-7 The Political Science Discipline
4-8 Political Science Subfields
Chapter 5 - The American PoliticalProcess
5-1 Introduction
5-2 Political Environment: Revolutionary Ideals and Constitutionalism
5-3 Some Key Questions
5-4 How the System Works
5-5 The American Political System
Chapter 6 - Public Administration and Public Policy
6-1 Public Administration: Our Working Definition
6-3 The Who of Public Administration
6-4 The What of Public Administration: The Functions of Public Administration
6-5 The How of Public Administration
6-6 Administrative Ethics: A Fertile Field for Research
Chapter 7 - Comparative Politics
7-1 Introduction
7-2 The Study of Comparative Politics
7-3 Approaches to the Study of Comparative Politics
7-4 Key Questions and Concepts: Methods
7-5 Key Questions and Concepts: Substantive
7-6 The State of Comparative Politics
Chapter 8 - International Relations
8-1 Introduction
8-2 The Study of International Relations
8-3 Key Concepts
8-4 Some Key Questions
8-5 The Goals of Nation-States
8-6 How States Play the Game
8-7 The Causes of War
8-8 Approaches to the Study of International Relations Part 3 - The Methods of Political Science
Chapter 9 - Elements of Research: Determining Causal Relationships
9-1 Introduction
9-2 Constructing Causal Explanations
9-3 Multiple Causation
Chapter 10 - Understanding Measurement
10-1 Introduction
10-2 The Theory of Measurement
10-3 Levels of Measurement
10-4 Measurement Validity
10-5 Measurement Reliability
Chapter 11 - The Research Design
11-1 Introduction
11-2 The Research Design: An Overview
11-3 Preexperimental Designs
11-4 Experimental Designs
11-5 Nonexperimental Designs
11-6 Other Types of Research Designs
11-7 Obstacles to a Successful Research Effort
11-8 A Comparison of Research Designs
Chapter 12 - Data Collection and Input
12-1 Introduction
12-2 Data Collection Techniques
12-3 Sampling
12-4 Sample Designs
12-5 Determining the Sample Size
12-6 Survey Errors
12-7 Coding the Data
12-8 Data Input
Chapter 13 - Univariate Statistics
13-1 Introduction
13-2 The Role of Statistics
13-3 Limitations of Statistics in Research
13-4 The Frequency Distribution
13-5 Graphic Presentations
13-6 Measures of Central Tendency
13-7 Measures of Dispersion
13-8 Shape of the Distribution and Metric Distributions
Chapter 14 - Bivariate Statistics
14-1 Introduction
14-2 The Rudiments of Association
14-3 Contingency Tables or Cross-Tabulation
14-4 Measures of Association
14-5 Statistical Significance and Hypothesis Testing
14-6 Bivariate Tests for Metric Data
Chapter 15 - Multivariate Analysis
15-1 Introduction
15-2 On the Nature of Control
15-3 Multivariate Cross-Tabulation to Control for the Effect of an Antecedent Variable
15-4 Multivariate Cross-Tabulation to Control for the Effect of an Intervening Variable
15-5 Disadvantages of Cross-Tabulation Procedures
15-6 Partial Correlation
15-7 Multiple Regression
15-8 Determining the Relative Importance of Coefficients
Chapter 16 - Putting It All Together
16-1 Introduction
16-2 Theoretical Implications
16-3 Policy Implications
16-4 Writing the Report Appendixes Appendix 1 - Sample Research Studies
1-1 Research Paper 1: Examining Public Attitudes toward Miscegenation
1-2 Research Paper 2: Examining Public Attitudes toward Workplace Equity Appendix 2 - Political Science World Wide Web Resources
2-1 The American Political Process [Chapter 5]
2-2 Public Administration and Public Policy [Chapter 6]
2-3 Comparative Politics [Chapter 7]
2-4 International Relations [Chapter 8] Appendix - Bibliography