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Political Analysis

Introduction

The coruse looks at the sorts of evidence in political studies. I have not put together proper notes for this course so I will only cover an idea of what material has been looked at here for future reference.

Topics Covered:

• Explanation and the Research Process - Empirical research in social science. The relationship between theory and hypotheses. The validation/falsification of hypotheses. The Research Cycle
• Value Change in Europe: An Example of a Complete Research Programme - Inglehart’s study of individual value change will be reviewed to illustrate the ‘research cycle’
• Locating Official Statistics, secondary analysis as a research strategy; sources of official data; availability of data; United Kingdom sources; critique of official data; the population census as an example
• Official Statistics for International Comparisons - Why compare?; comparative strategies; measurement equivalency; indices & index numbers; data availability; reliability; validity;
• Introduction to Quantitative Techniques - Statistics; Analysing Data; Research Design; Measurement; Data Matrix; Exploratory Analysis; Confirmatory Analysis.
• Introduction to Quantitative Techniques - Data by Measuring Central Tendency and Dispersion - using numbers; levels of measurement; univariate frequency distributions; measuring central tendency: mode, median, mean; measuring dispersion: variation, variance, standard deviation, ranges
• Relations Between Two Variables - bivariate patterns; scattergrams; covariation; equation of a straight line; intercept; linear models; predicted values; error; residuals, slopes; regression; regression coefficients; evaluating goodness of fit - r2; explained variance; unexplained variance; correlation; Pearson's product moment coefficient; coefficient of alienation
• Analysis - Multiple regression; control; specification
• Regression Assumptions - homoskedasticity; (no) multicollinearity; (no) autocorrelation; specification; sampling; level of measurement and dummy variables
• Social Survey Design Considerations - internal validity; external validity; survey designs: (a) cross-sectional (b) panel; survey administration strategies: (a) face-to-face (b) telephone (c) postal (d) self-administered (e) internet; studying change; sampling; non-response; ethical limits
• Sampling - populations; samples; sampling frames; random; purposive; parameters and statistics; standard error of estimates; theoretical distribution; the normal distribution
• Measurement - analysis vs. measurement; measurement error; reliability; validity; questionnaire design: question formats, knowledge questions, attitude questions, demographic questions; scales and scaling
• Using Computers in Social Research - Coding; codebooks; computer media; statistical packages; data transformation: logical recode; arithmetic recode; missing data
• Exploring Relationships in Data - Statistical controls; n-way tables.

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