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Resources for Learning Political Analysis

We feature resources to support teaching and learning political science research merthods with The Essentials of Political Analysis and the Companions to Political Analysis. Featured resources update weekly to track typical fall, spring, and summer teaching patterns.

THIS WEEK'S THEME: The Chi-Square Test and Analysis of Variance
Overview: This week covers analyzing relationships between categorical variables with chi-square tests and comparing group means using ANOVA. Students will apply these techniques to datasets using statistical software.

Watch streaming lectures for introduction to main ideas
Read Chapter 10 in The Essentials of Political Analysis, 7th Ed. (or pp. 215–238 of Chapter 7 in Essentials, 6th Ed.)
Read Chapter 10 in Stata Companion, 5th Ed.; R Companion, 3rd Ed.; Excel Companion, 1st Ed.; or SPSS Companion, 7th Ed. (or Chapter 7 in SPSS Companion, 6th Ed.)
Review terms for 5 minutes
Practice with software, see tutorials for Stata | R | Excel | SPSS
Textbooks feature learning objectives, term glossaries, and chapter exercises.
Resources for instructors: presentations, demo. code, quiz questions, solutions manuals (available via Sage Publications)

NEXT WEEK'S THEME: Correlation and Bivariate Regression
Overview: Students will study linear relationships between two variables using correlation and regression analysis. Skills include interpreting Pearson’s r and running bivariate regressions in statistical software.

Watch streaming lectures for introduction to main ideas
Read Chapter 11 in The Essentials of Political Analysis, 7th Ed. (or pp. 239–257 of Chapter 8 in Essentials, 6th Ed.)
Read Chapter 11 in Stata Companion, 5th Ed.; R Companion, 3rd Ed.; Excel Companion, 1st Ed.; or SPSS Companion, 7th Ed. (or pp. 169-180 of Chapter 8 in SPSS Companion, 6th Ed.)
Review terms for 5 minutes
Practice with software, see tutorials for Stata | R | Excel | SPSS
Textbooks feature learning objectives, term glossaries, and chapter exercises.
Resources for instructors: presentations, demo. code, quiz questions, solutions manuals (available via Sage Publications)

Also see Journal Data Archives | Author Replication Data
Special Editions: Online Survey Quality; Gun Violence; Russia-Ukraine War; Mexican Politics; Donald Trump

Teach Political Analysis

Theory & Concepts:
The Essentials of Political Analysis, 6th Edition. Classic introductory text, clear writing, helps students learn, great ancillaries. More info.

Companions for SPSS, Stata, Excel & R. Practice with software of your choice.

MORE FOR TEACHERS: Sample Course Syllabi featuring our textbooks, varied software, with/without paper assignments

Review Terms for 5 Minutes - Pick chapters or just press play for quick study

Run Live R Demos in Browser - Excellent for online teaching

Links to More Resources for Teaching Political Analysis

Watch & Learn


MTurk Research: Recommendations and Best Practices
Research presentation for GWU (5:51)


Methods 101: Question Wording
From the Pew Research Center (5:27)

MORE VIDEOS: See Video Channels for more political science videos!

LEARN HOW: Watch Lecture Videos for Essentials of Political Analysis, Video Tutorials for R, Stata, SPSS, and Excel

More Q. Than A.

Career Planning Advice for Students (in Simple Diagram)
As a college professor, I have had many opportunities to talk with students about their...

MORE QUESTIONS: Cases that Illustrate Felony-Murder Rule

Blogs, Podcasts & Journals

J. of Law, Econ. & Organization: .Promotes understanding by examining complex phenomena from a combined law, economics, and organization perspective

Public Administration: .Publishes articles on all facets of public administration, public policy and public management.

International Theory: .A peer reviewed journal which promotes theoretical scholarship about the positive, legal, and normative aspects of world politics respectively.

National Security Law Podcast: .A weekly review of the latest legal controversies associated with the U.S. government's national security activities and institutions, featuring Professors Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas at Austin.

Journal of Experimental Criminology: .focuses on high quality experimental and quasi-experimental research in the development of evidence based crime and justice policy

See All Political Science Blogs

Data Sites

Africa Information Highway: .Multiple customized tools to gather indicators, analyze them, and export them into multiple formats.

High Courts Judicial Database: .The High Courts Judicial Database (HCJD) provides coded information on the content of universes or random samples of the decisions produced by eleven of the top courts of the world.

Uppsala Conflict Data Program: .The world's main provider of data on organized violence and the oldest ongoing data collection project for civil war, with a history of almost 40 years, see downloads page

Gun Violence Archive: .online archive of gun violence incidents, provides near-real time data about the results of gun violence.

Open ICSPR: .Accessible repository of behavioral health and social science research data.

See All Data Sites

Authors with Datasets

Dancygier, Rafaela .

James, Oliver .

Poast, Paul .Univ. of Chicago, see original data.

Zhukov, Yuri .Univ. of Michigan

Reif, Megan .University of Gothenburg

Schoen, Harald .

Simas, Elizabeth .

Clifford, Scott .

Nooruddin, Irfan .Georgetown Univ., see dataverse.

Larson, Jennifer .

See All Authors with Datasets