Titelaufnahme

Tables, Figures, and Features; Preface; About the Authors; Chapter 1 • Introduction; Research on Income Inequality; Politics and the Gender Gap; The Case of Italian (Non) Tax Compliance; Protests and Repression in New Democracies; The Observer Effect in International Politics: Evidence from a Natural Experiment; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Chapter 2 • The Empirical Approach to Political Science; Elements of Empiricism; The Importance of Theory; A Brief Overview of the Empirical Research Process; Reactions to the Empirical Approach: Practical Objections; Competing Points of View; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 3 • Beginning the Research Process: Identifying a Research Topic, Developing Research Questions, and Reviewing the Literature; Specifying the Research Question; Sources of Ideas for Research Topics; Why Conduct a Literature Review?; Collecting Sources for a Literature Review; Writing a Literature Review; Anatomy of a Literature Review; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 4 • The Building Blocks of Social Scientific Research: Hypotheses, Concepts, Variables, and Measurement; Proposing Explanations; Formulating Hypotheses; Defining Concepts; Devising Measurement Strategies; The Accuracy of Measurements; The Precision of Measurements; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 5 • Sampling; The Basics of Sampling; How Do We Use a Sample to Learn About a Population?; Sampling Methods; Types of Samples; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 6 • Research Design: Establishing Causation; Verifying Causal Assertions; Qualitative and Quantitative Methods and Analysis: Causes-of-Effects and Effects-of-Causes Approaches; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 7 • Qualitative Research: Case Study Designs; Case Study Methods; Case Study Types; Using Cases to Explore Causal Mechanisms: Process Tracing; Generalizing from Cases Studies; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 8 • Making Empirical Observations: Qualitative Analysis; Types of Data and Collection Techniques; Data Collection in Qualitative Research; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 9 • Quantitative Research Designs; Randomized Experimental Designs; Natural Experiments; Nonrandomized Designs: Quasi-Experiments; Observational Studies; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 10 • Quantitative Methods; The Wide Variety of Quantitative Projects; Sources of Data for Quantitative Studies; Data Management; Ethical Concerns with Quantitative Methods; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 11 • Making Sense of Data: First Steps; The Data Matrix; Descriptive Statistics; Graphs for Presentation and Exploration; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 12 • Testing Relationships; The Normal Distribution and z Scores; Confidence Intervals; Hypothesis Testing; Testing a Relationship with Two Samples; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 13 • Analyzing Relationships for Categorical Data; The Basics of Identifying and Measuring Relationships; Table Summaries of Categorical Variable Associations; Measuring Strength of Relationships in Tables; Measures of Association: Statistics for Reporting the Strength of Relationships in Tables; Chi Square Test for Independence; Multivariate Analysis of Categorical Data; Analysis of Variance: Analyzing the Difference between Means for More Than Two Means; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 14 • Regression; Logic of Regression; Minimizing the Sum of the Squared Error; The Linear Regression Model; Maximum Likelihood Models for Dichotomous Dependent Variables; Conclusion; Terms Introduced; Suggested Readings; Chapter 15 • The Research Report: An Annotated Example; Annotated Research Report Example; Appendixes; Appendix A: Normal Curve Tail Probabilities; Appendix B: Critical Values from t Distribution; Appendix C: Chi-Squared Distribution Values for Various Right-Tail Probabilities; Appendix D: F Distribution; Glossary; Index;