Political Science Research in Practice, 2nd Edition

About the book

Nothing rings truer to those teaching political science research methods: students hate taking this course. Tackle the challenge and turn the standard research methods teaching model on its head with Political Science Research in Practice. Akan Malici and Elizabeth S. Smith engage students first with pressing political questions and then demonstrate how a researcher has gone about answering them, walking them through real political science research that contributors have conducted. Through the exemplary use of a comparative case study, field research, interviews, textual and interpretive research, statistical research, survey research, public policy and program evaluation, content analysis, and field experiments, each chapter introduces students to a method of empirical inquiry through a specific topic that will spark their interest and curiosity. Each chapter shows the process of developing a research question, how and why a particular method was used, and the rewards and challenges discovered along the way. Students can better appreciate why we need a science of politics—why methods matter—with these first-hand, issue-based discussions.
The second edition now includes:

Two completely new chapters on field experiments and a chapter on the textual/interpretative method.
New topics, ranging from the Arab Spring to political torture to politically sensitive research in China to social networking and voter turnout.
Revised and updated "Exercises and Discussion Questions" sections.
Revised and updated "Interested to Know More" and "Recommended Resources" sections.

List of Contributors

Deven Carlson is Presidential Research Professor, Associate Professor of Political Science, and Associate Director for Education at the National Institute for Risk and Resilience at the University of Oklahoma. He received his B.A. from St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN and his M.P.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work has been published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, the Journal of Urban Economics, Policy Studies Journal, Sociology of Education, and many other journals and edited volumes.

Joshua M. Cowen, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Education Policy and Co-Director of the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at the College of Education at Michigan State University. His research currently focuses on teacher quality, student and teacher mobility, program evaluation and education policy. His work has been published in the American Educational Research Journal, Economics of Education Review, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Education Finance and Policy, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Sociology of Education, and Teachers College Record, among other outlets, and has been funded by a diverse array of philanthropies, including the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Spencer Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation. He has worked on program evaluations in Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin, and worked directly with state and district-policymakers in Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin to inform decision-making. Dr. Cowen is presently co-editor of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, the flagship peer-reviewed journal for education policy in the United States.

Zaid Eyadat is a professor of Political Science and Human Rights, expert on international and comparative politics and the chairperson of the board of trustees and the advisory board of ARDD (Arab Renascence for Development and Democracy). He is the founding chairperson of the Human Rights Department, which later became the Political Development Department, and the founding dean of the Prince al-Hussein School of International Studies at the University of Jordan. His training and research interests are in the fields of international politics, comparative politics, international political theory, modeling and Game theory. He is a leading and distinguished expert on Middle East politics, Human Rights, Islamic thought and on Islam and human rights. His most recent book is titled Islam, State, and Modernity: Mohammed Abed al-Jabri and the Future of the Arab World. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). His research has also been published in many leading journals.

David J. Fleming is an Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs and a Senior Researcher at the Riley Institute at Furman University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009. Dr. Fleming has participated in a number of program evaluations, including studies examining Montessori education, summer programs, school-based health clinics, and school vouchers. He teaches classes in American politics, research methods, and public policy.

Sarah Allen Gershon is Associate Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University. Her research interests include political communication, gender politics and race and ethnicity. She has published articles in Politics, Groups and Identities, Political Communication, Political Research Quarterly, Journal of Politics, and Social Science Quarterly. Dr. Gershon is co-editor (with Dr. Nadia Brown) of Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics (Routledge, 2016).

James L. Guth is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. He received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is the co-author or co-editor of Religion and the Struggle for European Union, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics, The Bully Pulpit, Religion and the Culture Wars, and The Bible and the Ballot Box. His work has also appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, European Union Politics, Journal of Common Market Studies, Sociological Analysis, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and in many other journals and edited collections.

Katherine Palmer Kaup is Professor of Politics and International Affairs and Asian Studies at Furman University. She is author of Creating the Zhuang: Ethnic Politics in China (Lynne Rienner Press 2000) and editor of Understanding Contemporary Asia Pacific (Lynne Rienner 2007) and has written numerous articles and book chapters on ethnic politics in China. She served as Distinguished Fellow at Yunnan Nationalities Institute and Visiting Scholar at the Guangxi Ethnic Affairs Commission in China and as Senior Advisor on Minority Nationality Affairs for the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China. She is a National Committee on United States-China Relations Public Intellectuals Fellow.

Lyman A. Kellstedt is a Professor of Political Science (emeritus) at Wheaton College (IL). He received his B.S. from Bradley University and his PhD from the University of Illinois. He is co-author or co-editor of the following books: Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics, Religion and the Culture Wars, The Bully Pulpit, and The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics. He is the author or co-author of articles in The American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, The Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, and Social Forces as well as numerous book chapters. Upon retirement from Wheaton College, he taught for three years at Furman University and for one year at Texas A&M.

Akan Malici is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. He is the author of When Leaders Learn and When They Don't (SUNY Press, 2008) and The Search for a Common European Foreign and Security Policy (Palgrave Press, 2008). Akan Malici is also the co-author of U.S. Presidents and Foreign Policy Mistakes (Stanford University Press, 2011) and Role Theory and Role Conflict in U.S.-Iran Relations: Enemies of Our Own Making (Routledge 2016). He is the co-editor of Re-thinking Foreign Policy Analysis (Routledge, 2011) and Political Science Research in Practice (Routledge 2013, first edition). His published articles appear in The Journal of Conflict Resolution, The Journal of Peace Research, Political Psychology and in other journals. At Furman, he teaches classes in International Politics and Research Methodology.

Melissa R. Michelson is Professor of Political Science at Menlo College. She received her B.A. from Columbia University and her Ph.D. from Yale University. She is co-author of Mobilizing Inclusion: Redefining Citizenship through Get-Out-the-Vote Campaigns (Yale, 2012), Living the Dream: New Immigration Policies and the Lives of Undocumented Latino Youth (Paradigm, 2014), A Matter of Discretion: The Politics of Catholic Priests in the United States and Ireland (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), and Listen, We Need to Talk: How to Change Attitudes about LGBT Rights (Oxford, Feb. 2017). Her work has also appeared in American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, and in many other journals and edited collections.

Adrian D. Pantoja is Professor of Political Studies and Chicano Studies at Pitzer College. He has published extensively in the fields of Latino politics, immigration politics and racial and ethnic politics. He is also a senior analyst with Latino Decisions, a public opinion polling firm that works with a number of political and advocacy groups seeking to understand the Latino electorate.

Elizabeth S. Smith is Professor and Chair of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. She received her Ph.D. in American politics with a minor in political psychology from the University of Minnesota. She has taught research methods for over 18 years. She has published articles and chapters in The Journal of Political Science Education, Polity, Political Psychology, The Handbook for Teaching Social Issues, the American Education Research Journal, Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement and in an edited volume entitled Competition in Theory and Practice: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Sense Publishers 2009).

Brent J. Steele is the Francis D. Wormuth Presidential Chair and Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah. He is the author of Alternative Accountabilities in Global Politics: The Scars of Violence (Routledge, 2013); Defacing Power: The Aesthetics of Insecurity in Global Politics (University of Michigan Press, 2010) and Ontological Security in International Relations (Routledge, 2008). He’s currently pursuing research projects on the topics of restraint, vicarious identity, micropolitics, and further studies on ontological security. He is the co-editor of five books, has edited three journal special issues or symposia, and has published articles in a number of international studies journals, most recently in Cooperation and Conflict, the European Journal of International Relations, and Millennium. At the University of Utah, he teaches courses on US foreign policy, international security, international relations theory, and international ethics.

Holly Teresi is currently a member of the Research and Market Intelligence team for Cox Automotive Inc. and has been a researcher for over a decade. Prior to joining Cox Automotive in 2014, Holly Teresi worked for multiple marketing research suppliers including Harris Interactive and CMI Research focusing specifically on heavily regulated industries. Holly has also worked on nearly a dozen political campaigns ranging from state senate races to presidential elections. She earned a B.A. in Public Communications from American University in Washington, D.C. and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Georgia State University. Her academic interests include political psychology, American voting behavior, technology and digital media, and experimental methods.

Kristina Thalhammer is Professor of Political Science and director of Latin American Studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She is coauthor of Courageous Resistance: The Power of Ordinary People (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and articles in Political Psychology, Perspectives on Politics and La Revista de Paz y Conflictos among other publications. She earned her PhD from the University of Minnesota and specializes in teaching comparative politics, with a focus on Latin America, human rights and political development.

C. Danielle Vinson is Professor of Political Science at Furman University. She is the author of Congress and the Media (Oxford University Press 2017) and Local Media Coverage of Congress and Its Members (Hampton Press 2003). She has published articles or chapters in Political Communication, The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics, and in the edited volumes New Directions in Media and Politics, Media Power, Media Politics and Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion.