Doing Research in Political Science 2/e

Paul Pennings is Associate Professor of Political Science at the VU University Amsterdam. His research and teaching interests are in the fields of Comparative (European) Politics and Comparative Methods and Statistics. He has publised widely in peer-reviewed academic journals in political science, such as Acta Politica, Electoral Studies, European Journal of Political Research, European Union Politics, Party Politics, Political Studies and Sociological Methods and Research. His recent publications include Doing Research in Political Science. An Introduction to Comparative Methods and Statistics (with Hans Keman and Jan Kleinnijenhuis), London: Sage (2nd edition, 2006) and (with Christine Arnold) Is Constitutional Politics like Politics 'At Home'? The Case of the EU Constitution, Political Studies 56 (4): 789-806, which was a finalist for the Harrison Prize for the best article published in Political Studies in 2008. Hans Keman is Professor and Chair of Political Science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam CONTRIBUTORS' AFFILIATIONS: Klaus Armingeon Institut fuer Politiekwissenschapft, Unitobler Uwe Becker Universiteit van Amsterdam Ian Budge University of Essex Francis Castles The Australian National University, Canberra Hans Daalder The Hague Svante Errson Umea Universitet Kees van Kersbergen Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen Jan-Erik Lane Universite de Geneve Peter Mair Universiteit van Leiden Paul Pennings Vrije Universiteit Manfred Schmidt Current lines of research News effects Economic news and political news, patterns of agenda-building Content Analysis, Semantic Network Analysis

PART ONE: COMPARATIVE METHODOLOGY - Hans Keman Comparative Methodology and Statistics in Political Science The Comparative Approach Theory and Method Meaning and Use of the Comparative Method Research Design PART TWO: STATISTICS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE - Jan Kleinnijenhuis Concepts, Cases, Data and Measurement Explorative and Descriptive Statistics Multivariate Analysis and Causal Inference PART THREE: DOING POLITICAL RESEARCH - Paul Pennings How Problems Arise How Decisions Are Made How Problems Are Solved