Political Analysis
A Guide to Data and Statistics
Second Edition
If you’re in North America, please visit our Sage College Publishing website to purchase or sample this book:
Go to College Publishing WebsiteDescription
Statistics are part of our everyday life: from polling and elections to advertising claims, we confront numerical claims all the time. Rather than being swayed by bad arguments and questionable correlations, this book introduces you to the most common and contemporary statistical methods so that you can better understand the world.
This is the most accessible guide to using statistics in Politics and IR research. Praised for being intuitive and engaging, this textbook walks you through the most common tools – from crosstabs to correlations; from multiple to logistic regression – in a way that couldn’t be more different than dull number crunching or complicated techniques. Instead, it empowers you to decide the best means to analyse a problem.
Fully updated and revised throughout, this new edition is accompanied by four workbooks that provide both practical and theoretical examples using different statistical software: SPSS, Stata, R, and Python. Simply choose the relevant workbook and learn how to do your own statistical analysis with the included activities, screenshots and step-by-step instructions.
This text is essential for anyone looking to become proficient in statistics: whether that’s to gain statistical literacy, to complete your thesis, to boost your value on the job market, or to become an active and informed consumer of current affairs.
Why let other people explain the world to you?
Matthew Loveless is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy.
This is the most accessible guide to using statistics in Politics and IR research. Praised for being intuitive and engaging, this textbook walks you through the most common tools – from crosstabs to correlations; from multiple to logistic regression – in a way that couldn’t be more different than dull number crunching or complicated techniques. Instead, it empowers you to decide the best means to analyse a problem.
Fully updated and revised throughout, this new edition is accompanied by four workbooks that provide both practical and theoretical examples using different statistical software: SPSS, Stata, R, and Python. Simply choose the relevant workbook and learn how to do your own statistical analysis with the included activities, screenshots and step-by-step instructions.
This text is essential for anyone looking to become proficient in statistics: whether that’s to gain statistical literacy, to complete your thesis, to boost your value on the job market, or to become an active and informed consumer of current affairs.
Why let other people explain the world to you?
Matthew Loveless is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Contents
Chapter 1: The Scientific Method and Statistics
Chapter 1: The Scientific Method and Statistics
Chapter 2: Theory and Hypotheses
Chapter 2: Theory and Hypotheses
Chapter 3: Data and Variables
Chapter 3: Data and Variables
Chapter 4: Research Design and the Scientific Study of Politics
Chapter 4: Research Design and the Scientific Study of Politics
Chapter 5: The Ethics of Data Analysis
Chapter 5: The Ethics of Data Analysis
PART I Descriptive Statistics
- Chapter 6: Univariate Descriptive Statistics
- Chapter 7: Measures of Association I: Nominal- and Ordinal-level Variables
- Chapter 8: Measures of Association II: Means Comparison and Correlation
- Chapter 9: Measures of Association III: (Bivariate) Regression
PART II Inferential Statistics
- Chapter 10: An Introduction to Interference
- Chapter 11: Inference for Nominal- and Ordinal-level Variables
- Chapter 12: The Central Limit Theorem
- Chapter 13: Inference for Interval-level Variables
PART III Multiple Regression
- Chapter 14: Multiple Regression
- Chapter 15: Extensions to Multiple Regression
- Chapter 16: Issues with Multiple Regression
- Chapter 17: Binary Logistic Regression
- Chapter 18: Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables Epilogue
Additional materials
Description
Statistics are part of our everyday life: from polling and elections to advertising claims, we confront numerical claims all the time. Rather than being swayed by bad arguments and questionable correlations, this book introduces you to the most common and contemporary statistical methods so that you can better understand the world.
This is the most accessible guide to using statistics in Politics and IR research. Praised for being intuitive and engaging, this textbook walks you through the most common tools – from crosstabs to correlations; from multiple to logistic regression – in a way that couldn’t be more different than dull number crunching or complicated techniques. Instead, it empowers you to decide the best means to analyse a problem.
Fully updated and revised throughout, this new edition is accompanied by four workbooks that provide both practical and theoretical examples using different statistical software: SPSS, Stata, R, and Python. Simply choose the relevant workbook and learn how to do your own statistical analysis with the included activities, screenshots and step-by-step instructions.
This text is essential for anyone looking to become proficient in statistics: whether that’s to gain statistical literacy, to complete your thesis, to boost your value on the job market, or to become an active and informed consumer of current affairs.
Why let other people explain the world to you?
Matthew Loveless is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy.
This is the most accessible guide to using statistics in Politics and IR research. Praised for being intuitive and engaging, this textbook walks you through the most common tools – from crosstabs to correlations; from multiple to logistic regression – in a way that couldn’t be more different than dull number crunching or complicated techniques. Instead, it empowers you to decide the best means to analyse a problem.
Fully updated and revised throughout, this new edition is accompanied by four workbooks that provide both practical and theoretical examples using different statistical software: SPSS, Stata, R, and Python. Simply choose the relevant workbook and learn how to do your own statistical analysis with the included activities, screenshots and step-by-step instructions.
This text is essential for anyone looking to become proficient in statistics: whether that’s to gain statistical literacy, to complete your thesis, to boost your value on the job market, or to become an active and informed consumer of current affairs.
Why let other people explain the world to you?
Matthew Loveless is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Contents
Chapter 1: The Scientific Method and Statistics
Chapter 1: The Scientific Method and Statistics
Chapter 2: Theory and Hypotheses
Chapter 2: Theory and Hypotheses
Chapter 3: Data and Variables
Chapter 3: Data and Variables
Chapter 4: Research Design and the Scientific Study of Politics
Chapter 4: Research Design and the Scientific Study of Politics
Chapter 5: The Ethics of Data Analysis
Chapter 5: The Ethics of Data Analysis
PART I Descriptive Statistics
- Chapter 6: Univariate Descriptive Statistics
- Chapter 7: Measures of Association I: Nominal- and Ordinal-level Variables
- Chapter 8: Measures of Association II: Means Comparison and Correlation
- Chapter 9: Measures of Association III: (Bivariate) Regression
PART II Inferential Statistics
- Chapter 10: An Introduction to Interference
- Chapter 11: Inference for Nominal- and Ordinal-level Variables
- Chapter 12: The Central Limit Theorem
- Chapter 13: Inference for Interval-level Variables
PART III Multiple Regression
- Chapter 14: Multiple Regression
- Chapter 15: Extensions to Multiple Regression
- Chapter 16: Issues with Multiple Regression
- Chapter 17: Binary Logistic Regression
- Chapter 18: Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables Epilogue
Additional materials
November 2025 | 424 pages | Sage UK
| Format | Published Date | ISBN | Price |
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Statistics are part of our everyday life: from polling and elections to advertising claims, we confront numerical claims all the time. Rather than being swayed by bad arguments and questionable correlations, this book introduces you to the most common and contemporary statistical methods so that you can better understand the world.
This is the most accessible guide to using statistics in Politics and IR research. Praised for being intuitive and engaging, this textbook walks you through the most common tools – from crosstabs to correlations; from multiple to logistic regression – in a way that couldn’t be more different than dull number crunching or complicated techniques. Instead, it empowers you to decide the best means to analyse a problem.
Fully updated and revised throughout, this new edition is accompanied by four workbooks that provide both practical and theoretical examples using different statistical software: SPSS, Stata, R, and Python. Simply choose the relevant workbook and learn how to do your own statistical analysis with the included activities, screenshots and step-by-step instructions.
This text is essential for anyone looking to become proficient in statistics: whether that’s to gain statistical literacy, to complete your thesis, to boost your value on the job market, or to become an active and informed consumer of current affairs.
Why let other people explain the world to you?
Matthew Loveless is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy.
This is the most accessible guide to using statistics in Politics and IR research. Praised for being intuitive and engaging, this textbook walks you through the most common tools – from crosstabs to correlations; from multiple to logistic regression – in a way that couldn’t be more different than dull number crunching or complicated techniques. Instead, it empowers you to decide the best means to analyse a problem.
Fully updated and revised throughout, this new edition is accompanied by four workbooks that provide both practical and theoretical examples using different statistical software: SPSS, Stata, R, and Python. Simply choose the relevant workbook and learn how to do your own statistical analysis with the included activities, screenshots and step-by-step instructions.
This text is essential for anyone looking to become proficient in statistics: whether that’s to gain statistical literacy, to complete your thesis, to boost your value on the job market, or to become an active and informed consumer of current affairs.
Why let other people explain the world to you?
Matthew Loveless is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Table Of Contents:
- Chapter 1: The Scientific Method and Statistics
- Chapter 2: Theory and Hypotheses
- Chapter 3: Data and Variables
- Chapter 4: Research Design and the Scientific Study of Politics
- Chapter 5: The Ethics of Data Analysis
- PART I Descriptive Statistics
- Chapter 6: Univariate Descriptive Statistics
- Chapter 7: Measures of Association I: Nominal- and Ordinal-level Variables
- Chapter 8: Measures of Association II: Means Comparison and Correlation
- Chapter 9: Measures of Association III: (Bivariate) Regression
- PART II Inferential Statistics
- Chapter 10: An Introduction to Interference
- Chapter 11: Inference for Nominal- and Ordinal-level Variables
- Chapter 12: The Central Limit Theorem
- Chapter 13: Inference for Interval-level Variables
- PART III Multiple Regression
- Chapter 14: Multiple Regression
- Chapter 15: Extensions to Multiple Regression
- Chapter 16: Issues with Multiple Regression
- Chapter 17: Binary Logistic Regression
- Chapter 18: Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables Epilogue