Conducting Empirical Analysis is an ideal way to marry substance with skills, getting students to experience the joy of discovery firsthand. Through straightforward instruction and guided examples, Clawson and Oxley show students how to conduct web-based data analysis using UC Berkeley’s Survey Documentation and Analysis (available online for free) to answer questions about party identification or attitude stability, and to measure racial prejudice and political knowledge. Exercises cover a range of data collection techniques, survey research, and statistical analyses, ramping up from multiple-choice and open-ended questions to mini-research projects. An instructor’s guide with solutions is available for adopters.
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For Further Exploration: Evaluations of the News Media
Mini-Research Project
4. Attitude Stability and Attitude Change
Attitude Change, Partisanship, and Exposure to Newspapers
Collective Public Opinion: Attitude Stability or Attitude Change?
For Further Exploration: Issue Attitude Stability or Change?
Mini-Research Project
5. Political Ideology
Citizen Ideology
Sex Differences in Ideology
Ideology and Government Spending
For Further Exploration: More on Ideology and Issue Positions
Mini-Research Project
6. Pluralistic Roots of Public Opinion
Self-Interest
Racial Attitudes
For Further Exploration: Racial Prejudice Over Time
For Further Exploration: Race and Racial Prejudice
Mini-Research Project
7. Political Knowledge
Measuring Political Knowledge
Political Knowledge and Gender
Political Knowledge and Age
Political Knowledge and Education
For Further Exploration: Examining Political Knowledge
Mini-Research Project
8. Support for Civil Liberties
Public Support for Free Expression
Contextual Effects on Tolerance
For Further Exploration: GSS Tolerance Measures
Mini-Research Project
9. Support for Civil Rights
Attitudes toward Interracial Marriage
Attitudes toward Gay Marriage
For Further Exploration: Ideology and Attitudes toward Gay Marriage
For Further Exploration: Examining Attitudes toward Gay Marriage
Mini-Research Project
10. Trust in Government and Social Capital
Trust in Government
Social Capital
For Further Exploration: Measures of Political Trust
Mini-Research Project
11. Impact of Public Opinion on Policy
Income Variation in Policy Opinions
Appealing to the Public
Mini-Research Projects
12. Public Opinion and the 2008 Election
Race, Gender, and Candidate Evaluation
Racial Resentment and the Vote
For Further Exploration: The Iraq War and the Vote
Mini-Research Project
Reference Appendix
The SDA Archive
The SDA Main Page
Statistical Analysis Techniques and SDA Features
Testimonials
The exercises are well structured, and Clawson and Oxley provide very clear instructions on how to complete them. The questions included in the exercises seek to balance interpretation and critical thinking–helping students get at what the numbers tell us about the relationship between two variables and why that relationship exists. I like the hands-on approach, and I think the exercises address topics that students will find interesting and engaging.
- Erin Cassese, West Virginia University
I think this book can help students experience the joy of discovery firsthand. Rather than talking about how data can be used to shed new insights on public opinion or refute hoary truths, Clawson and Oxley show them how to find out such things on their own. Hearing a professor say it or show it with slides is one thing, but doing it on your own and waiting for the data to pop up online is a lot more fun, informative, and powerful.
- Paul Goren, University of Minnesota
I found the text both straightforward and engaging, an often difficult balance to strike for a text teaching basic research methods. The explanations in the workbook are very clear-it walks students through each step and reinforces content with multiple examples. I was also quite impressed with the balance between skill development and substance. The explanations of how to perform analyses and the exercises are well grounded in both the substance of politics and well-established research areas in political science.
Rosalee A. Clawson is professor of political science at Purdue University. Her research focuses on public opinion, mass media and politics, political psychology, and the politics of race, class, and gender. Her work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Political Communication, Journal of Black Studies, Judicature, and Social Science Quarterly. She is the co-author of Legacy and Legitimacy: Black Americans and the Supreme Court and Conducting Empirical Analysis: Public Opinion in Action.
Zoe M. Oxley, Union College
Zoe M. Oxley is associate professor of political science at Union College. Her research interests include the effects of the media on public opinion, new media and political knowledge, political psychology, and women in electoral politics. She is the co-author of Conducting Empirical Analysis: Public Opinion in Action. Her work has also been published in the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Politics & Gender, Political Research Quarterly, Political Behavior, Judicature, and PS: Political Science and Politics.
