Empirical Political Analysis

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods

Richard C. Rich, Samuel Brazys

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040605332
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Social Sciences

Empirical Political Analysis introduces readers to the foundations of social science research. Organized around the stages of the research process, this textbook prepares readers to conduct both quantitative and qualitative research, from the formation of theory through the design of research projects, to the collection and analysis of data.

The book offers a clear and concise presentation of basic concepts and tools that can be applied in a wide range of research settings and highlights ethical conduct in the research process. It will help you both to achieve sound results in your own research and to critically evaluate research presented by others.

Key features:

· Offers comprehensive coverage of quantitative and qualitative research methods in political science – this book is one of the key texts in the field of political research methods since it was first published over 25 years ago

· Covers the research process from start to finish—hypothesis formation, literature review, research design, data gathering, data analysis, and research report writing. Includes in-depth examples of political science research to give discipline-specific instruction on political analysis

· Features a "Practical Research Ethics" box in every chapter to make students aware of common ethical dilemmas and potential solutions to them. Includes learning goals, key terms, and research examples to help students engage and explore the most important concepts

New to this edition:

· Updated directions for conducting a literature review

· Updated and international case studies

· New material on understanding research design – what constitutes a sound research design and how this contributes to being able to justify research findings

This is the ideal introductory resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, and instructors in political science, sociology, public administration, and related fields.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• 1 Research as a Process
• 2 Building Theories and Hypotheses
• 3 Developing Your Literature Review
• 4 Designing Your Research and Choosing Your Methods
• 5 From Abstract to Concrete: Operationalization and Measurement
• 6 Creating Complex Indicators: Using Scaling Techniques
• 7 Research Design: Attributing Causation Through Control
• 8 Who, What, Where, When: The Problem of Sampling
• 9 Survey Research: Characterizing a Broader Population
• 10 Experimental Methods: Experimental Methods in Political Science
• 11 Content and Quantitative Text Analysis: Researching Textual Material
• 12 Comparative Methods: Research Across Populations
• 13 Data: Studying Individuals and Groups
• 14 Open Science and Data Wrangling: Preparing Observations for Analysis
• 15 Describing and Visualizing One Variable: Univariate Distributions and Statistics
• 16 Evaluating and Visualizing Relationships Between Two Variables: Bivariate Analysis
• 17 Causal Inference with Multivariate Observational Data: Relationships Among Several Variables
• 18 Direct Observation: Systematically Watching Behavior
• 19 Focus Group Research
• 20 Elite and Specialized Interviewing
• 21 The Research Report: Diagramming a Sample Article
• 22 Summary: Overview of a Research Process
• Appendix A: Statistical Tables
• Appendix B: Ethical Standards in Empirical Research
• Glossary
• Index