Students of political science will welcome this accessible introduction to methods and statistics. The authors introduce the main theories and methodologies employed from across the social sciences in understanding and doing comparative political research. They outline the importance of the relationship of theory and method to empirical analytical research; introduce both basic descriptive and advanced multivariate and explanatory statistical techniques; and demonstrate the application of these methods and techniques to a number of research questions drawn from contemporary themes and issues in political science. Incorporating summary questions, practice exercises, glossary and further reading sections throughout, Doing Research in Political Science provides an invaluable step by step guide to doing political research.
Paul Pennings is Associate Professor of Political Science at the VU University Amsterdam. His research and teaching interests are in the fields of Comparative (European) Politics and Comparative Methods and Statistics. He has publised widely in peer-reviewed academic journals in political science, such as Acta Politica, Electoral Studies, European Journal of Political Research, European Union Politics, Party Politics, Political Studies and Sociological Methods and Research. His recent publications include Doing Research in Political Science. An Introduction to Comparative Methods and Statistics (with Hans Keman and Jan Kleinnijenhuis), London: Sage (2nd edition, 2006) and (with Christine Arnold) Is Constitutional Politics like Politics ‘At Home’? The Case of the EU Constitution, Political Studies 56 (4): 789-806, which was a finalist for the Harrison Prize for the best article published in Political Studies in 2008.
Hans Keman is Professor and Chair of Political Science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam
CONTRIBUTORS′ AFFILIATIONS:
Klaus Armingeon Institut fuer Politiekwissenschapft, Unitobler
Uwe Becker Universiteit van Amsterdam
Ian Budge University of Essex
Francis Castles The Australian National University, Canberra
Hans Daalder The Hague
Svante Errson Umea Universitet
Kees van Kersbergen Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen
Jan-Erik Lane Universite de Geneve
Peter Mair Universiteit van Leiden
Paul Pennings Vrije Universiteit
Manfred Schmidt
Current lines of research
News effects
Economic news and political news, patterns of agenda-building
Content Analysis, Semantic Network Analysis