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.

ISBN: 978-1-60871-673-9

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Tables and Figures
Preface

1. Introduction to Conducting Empirical Analysis

Using SDA Web-based Software

Conclusion and Looking Ahead

2. Political Socialization

Parental Socialization

Adult Socialization

For Further Exploration: Life Cycle Effects

Mini-Research Project

3. Mass Media

Where Do Citizens Get Their News?

Newspaper Readership

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

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.

- Laurie Rice, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

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 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.

Instructor's Resources available!

http://college.cqpress.com/Sites/Default.aspx?alias=college.cqpress.com/sites/clawsonoxley

Resources include an instructor's manual, a solutions manual, and mini-research project rubrics.