Political Analysis

Why let other people explain the world to you? From news reporting on elections or unfolding political crises to everyday advertising, you are confronted with statistics. 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. It's not about mindless number crunching or flashy techniques but about knowing when to use statistics as the best means to analyse a problem.  Whether you want to answer: "Who is most likely to turn out and vote at the next election?" or "What accounts for some political conflicts escalating to war?"   you'll explore what can and can't be done with statistics, and how to select the most appropriate statistical techniques and correctly interpret the results. Perhaps you simply want to understand enough to pass your statistics class and move on. Maybe you want to build your knowledge so that you are not excluded from research and debate. Or it could be the first step towards more advanced study. Whatever your goal, this book guides you through the journey, empowering you to confidently interact with statistics to make you a more formidable student, employee, and democratic citizen.

Matthew Loveless is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna (Italy). He is also co-founder of the Center for Research and Social Progress. He has taught quantitative methods to undergraduate and graduate students since 2003. He has held academic positions in the United States (Georgetown University; University of Mississippi), the United Kingdom (Nuffield Fellow, Oxford; University of Kent), and Italy (Jean Monnet Fellow, European University Institute, Florence; University of Bologna) in addition to visiting positions at Sciences Po - Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Grenoble (France), the University of Georgia (USA); Davison College (USA); St. Antony's College (Oxford, UK); Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung: (Germany), and the University of Debrecen (Hungary). His research interests include in the field of Political Behavior in Europe, particularly as it relates to how individuals perceive and make sense of politics (recent examples focusing on political attitudes include International Political Science Review, Political Studies, the Journal of European Public Policy). Recent publications also include co-authored work that incorporate party competition with recent publications in Government and Opposition, Electoral Studies, and the Journal of Common Market Studies. He lives with his family in Italy.