Statistics for Political Analysis

Theresa Marchant-Shapiro - Southern Connecticut State University, USA

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Research Methods & Evaluation | Research Methods for Politics & International Relations

January 2014 | 496 pages | CQ Press

Statistics are just as vital to understanding political science as the study of institutions, but getting students to understand them when teaching a methods course can be a big challenge. Statistics for Political Analysis makes understanding the numbers easy. The only introduction to statistics book written specifically for political science undergraduates, this book explains each statistical concept in plain language—from basic univariate statistics and the basic measures of association to bivariate and multivariate regression—and uses real world political examples. Students learn the relevance of statistics to political science, how to understand and calculate statistics mathematically, and how to obtain them using SPSS. All calculations are modeled step-by-step, giving students needed practice to master the process without making it intimidating. Each chapter concludes with exercises that get students actively applying the steps and building their professional skills through data calculation, analysis, and memo writing.

1. The Political Use of Numbers: Lies and Statistics

The Power of Numbers

The Science of Politics

Introductory Statistics: An Overview

Removing the Barriers to Understanding How Statistics Works

The Importance of Statistics: This Book’s Approach

Using Data to Answer a Question

A Political Application: Indoctrination U.

Your Turn: Using Statistics

Apply It Yourself: Assess Grants to Political Scientists

Key Terms

2. Measurement: Counting the Biggel-Balls

Finding Your Cases

Measure an Attribute

Evaluate the Conceptual and Operational Definitions

Translate Information in Numbers: Coding Your Data

Get a Frequency Distribution

Summarizing the Process: Measurement

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Measurement

Your Turn: Measurement

Apply It Yourself: Measure the Norm for Chief Justice Appointments

Key Terms

3. Measures of Central Tendency: That’s Some Mean Baseball

Measures of Central Tendency

Summarizing the Math: Averages

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Averages

Your Turn: Measures of Central Tendency

Apply It Yourself: Calculate the Percent of Earned Income

Key Terms

4. Measures of Dispersion: Missing the Mark

Ranges

Distance from Mean

Summarizing the Math: Dispersion

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Measures of Dispersion

Your Turn: Measures of Dispersion

Apply It Yourself: Evaluate Graduates’ Salaries

Key Terms

5. Continuous Probability: So What’s Normal Anyway?

The Normal Curve

Z-Scores

Finding a Z-Score

Use Probability to Calculate Z-Scores

Summarizing the Math: Probabilities of Continuous Events

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Continuous Probability

Your Turn: Continuous Probability

Apply It Yourself: Evaluate the Murder Rate

Key Terms

6. Means Testing: Sampling a Population

Type I and Type II Errors

Means Testing

Confidence Intervals: Two-Tailed Distributions

Choose a Sample Size

Summarizing the Math: Sampling a Population

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Means Testing

Your Turn: Means Testing

Apply It Yourself: Assess Maternal Mortality Rate Increases

Key Terms

7. Hypothesis Testing: Examining Relationships

Hypothesis Testing

Summarizing the Math: Hypothesis Testing and ANOVA

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with ANOVA

Your Turn: Hypothesis Testing

Apply It Yourself: Examine Partisanship’s Affect on Feelings toward the Democratic Party

Key Terms

8. Describing the Pattern: What Do You See?

Choosing the Appropriate Form of Presentation

Graphs: Relationships and Scales

Visualizing a Relationship: Contingency Tables

Summarizing the Math: Graphs and Contingency Tables

Use SPSS to Answer a Question Using a Contingency Table

Your Turn: Describing the Pattern

Apply It Yourself: Determine Stability across Legislative Systems

Key Terms

9. Chi-Square and Cramer’s V: What Do You Expect?

The Probability of Discrete Events

Chi-Square

Cramer’s V

Summarizing the Math: Chi-Square and Cramer’s V

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Chi-Square and Cramer’s V

Your Turn: Chi-Square and Cramer’s V

Apply It Yourself: Analyze Data by Type

Key Terms

10. Measures of Association: Making Connections

Basic Principles of Measures of Association

Pearson’s R

Gamma

Lambda

Summarizing the Math: Measures of Association

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Measures of Association

Your Turn: Measures of Association

Apply It Yourself: Measure Poor Student Graduation Rates

Key Terms

11. Multivariate Relationships: Taking Control

Spurious Relationships

Interaction Effects

Three-Way Contingency Tables

Summarizing the Process: Setting Up Three-Way Contingency Tables

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with a Three-Way Contingency Table

Your Turn: Multivariate Relationships

Apply It Yourself: Analyze Data on Race for Partisanship and Income

Key Terms

12. Bivariate Regression: Putting Your Ducks in a Line

Graph a Relationship

Fit the Data with the Ordinary Least Squares Estimate of the Line

Find the Statistical Significance

Find the Strength of the Relationship

Use Regressions with Time Series Data

Interpret Regressions with Dichotomous Independent Variables

Summarizing the Math: Regression

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Bivariate Regression

Your Turn: Bivariate Regression

Apply It Yourself: Analyze Influences on Corruption

Key Terms

13. Multiple Regression: The Final Frontier

Using Regression to Control for Other Variables

The Assumptions of Regression

Summarizing the Process: Multiple Regression

Use SPSS to Answer a Question with Multiple Regression

Your Turn: Multiple Regression

Apply It Yourself: Evaluate the Impact of Multiple Factors on the 2012 Presidential Election

Key Terms

14. Understanding the Numbers: Knowing What Counts

Measurement

Univariate Statistics

Multivariate Statistics

Keeping the Numbers Meaningful

Embracing the Uncertainty

Key Terms

Reference Materials

Notes

Glossary

Index

Supplements

Instructor Resource Site

SAGE edge for Instructors, supports teaching by making it easy to integrate quality content and create a rich learning environment for students.

Test banks built on Bloom’s Taxonomy to provide a diverse range of test items
Editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer complete flexibility for creating a multimedia presentation for the course
Instructor manual which summarize key concepts by chapter to ease preparation for lectures and class discussions
A set of all the graphics from the text, including all of the maps, tables, and figures, is available in PowerPoint, pdf, and JPEG formats for class presentations

Student Study Site

SAGE edge for Students provides a personalized approach to help students accomplish their coursework goals in an easy-to-use learning environment and features elements such as:

Chapter summaries with learning objectives that reinforce the most important material
Carefully selected video and multimedia content that enhance exploration of key topics
Datasets and documentation to be used with the "Apply It Yourself" exercises.

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Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Theresa Marchant-Shapiro

Theresa Marchant-Shapiro received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, after having received statistical training both there and at the ICPSR summer program. For her entire career she has been just as interested in teaching as she is in research. She started teaching statistics to political science undergraduates over twenty years ago and has since participated in various NSF - and APSA-sponsored programs for teaching statistics and research methods. She currently teaches the methods classes at Southern Connecticut State University where she receives consistently high student evaluations—an unusual occurrence in methods classes. She... More About Author

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Statistics for Political Analysis
Understanding the Numbers

Supplements

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Theresa Marchant-Shapiro

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