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: Measuring and Describing VariablesOverview: This week covers descriptive statistics and levels of measurement. Students will practice summarizing data using means, medians, modes, and visualizations like bar charts and histograms, applying statistical software to describe datasets effectively.
- Watch streaming lectures for introduction to main ideas
- Read Chapter 2 in The Essentials of Political Analysis, 7th Ed. (or pp. 34–55 of Chapter 2 in Essentials, 6th Ed.)
- Read Chapter 2 in Stata Companion, 5th Ed.; R Companion, 3rd Ed.; Excel Companion, 1st Ed.; or SPSS Companion, 7th Ed. (or Chapter 2 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: Creating and Transforming VariablesOverview: Students will learn how to create new variables and transform existing ones to fit research needs. Skills include calculating indices, recoding data, and applying transformations in statistical software to enhance data analysis.
- Watch streaming lectures for introduction to main ideas
- Read Chapter 3 in The Essentials of Political Analysis, 7th Ed. (or pp. 55–71 of Chapter 2 in Essentials, 6th Ed.)
- Read Chapter 3 in Stata Companion, 5th Ed.; R Companion, 3rd Ed.; Excel Companion, 1st Ed.; or SPSS Companion, 7th Ed. (or Chapter 3 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)
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