Introduction to This Page
This page is meant to supplement the syllabus and lectures for my undergraduate course "Introduction to International Relations" (PSCI 3300) at the University of North Texas. It is organized along the same outline as the reading list for the course, to help students who wish to go beyond the original assigned readings.
Obviously, this page -- like any other page on the Web -- is a work in progress. I will do my best to keep it up-to-date throughout the semester. Unfortunately, many of these links may be redirected or even removed from the Web by the end of the semester (one semester I found that over one-third of all of the links on one of my pages broke between September and December). I would appreciate being informed via email if you find any broken links on this page, so that I can attempt to fix or delete the link in question.
Using SPSS (and PSPP) Software
SPSS statistical software ("Statistical Package for the Social Sciences") is used in many academic settings and many businesses, so experience using it can be very helpful after completing this course. Even if you end up in a discipline or business that uses a different statistical package, the experience of having worked with SPSS will help you make the transition to their preferred software much more easily than if you had never done this. This document offers a brief introduction to SPSS and guidelines on how to use it for this course's homework assignments. Note that this will be a work in progress, with more guidelines and instructions being added later in the semester as later assignments require additional statistical techniques, and I will eventually add material that won't be required this semester but could be very helpful if you ever use SPSS for future research, coursework, or employment (such as reading in raw data, formatting and recoding data, and using SPSS syntax files rather than just using the dropdown menus).
- My SPSS Guidelines and Instructions (Last updated 17 November 2019 - added more details about crosstabs, scatterplots, and correlations, including notes about how these differ between SPSS and PSPP)
These additional online resources go into more detail about some of the techniques and options that we will be using in this course's homeworks, as well as many of the techniques and options available in SPSS that we will not be using this semester but that you might need to use later:
- SPSS Manuals (more detail on what each command does and what options are available)
- Online SPSS Tutorials:
- Philip H. Pollock III (2015), IBM SPSS Companion to Political Analysis, 5th edition. (A book about using SPSS that is intended as a companion to the textbook)
Using PSPP: These resources cover the use of PSPP, the free open-source equivalent to SPSS. Based on my testing so far, it should work almost identically to SPSS, except that PSPP does not currently offer some of the more advanced statistical techniques that we will discuss at the end of the semester (although it does everything that is required for course homework assignments).
- PSPP Manual (more detail on what each command does and what options are available)
- PSPP FAQs
- Online PSPP Tutorials:
- Basic Stats in PSPP (from Norm Lewis of the University of Florida)
- PSPP Tutorial (from NC State University)
Methodology References
While many students in this course will be satisfied with completing the course and will not want to use quantitative methods in their own careers (at UNT or afterward), others will want to go further with topics covered in this course, perhaps in writing a senior honors thesis or in preparing for graduate school. This is not a definitive list, but these resources might be helpful guides for going further with these methods than we could in this class. Many of these are from Sage Publications' Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences series, which offers relatively brief (around 80 pages), accessible, and affordable (around $20) discussion of many important topics (these volumes are often consulted by grad students and faculty doing their own research).
Greek Letters
Confused by all of the Greek letters used in statistics? This web page offers pictures of both uppercase and lowercase Greek letters, with the name of each letter spelled out and the English equivalent.
Undergraduate Research Methods Textbooks
- Philip H. Pollock III, The Essentials of Political Analysis, various editions. Sage/CQ Press. (The book that I am currently using for this course)
- Craig Leonard Brians, Lars Willnar, Jarol B. Manheim, and Richard C. Rich, Empirical Political Analysis, various editions. Routledge/Taylor and Francis. (A book that a number of my colleagues have used over the years. This book does a good job of covering a lot of material, but it is also quite pricey, at nearly three times the cost of the Pollock book.)
- Janet Buttolph Johnson, H.T. Reynolds, and Jason D. Mycoff. Political Science Research Methods, various editions. Sage/CQ Press. (I have used this book in the past. This does a good job of covering the material used in this course, and adds far more coverage of various data sources and data collection techniques than we have time for in the course as I currently teach it; a bit pricier than the Pollock book)
- Paul M. Kellstedt and Guy D. Whitten, The Fundamentals of Political Science Research, various editions. (a little more advanced than Pollock or Johnson et al., but a very good book)
Less Advanced Statistics Books (less mathematical, often aimed at the general public)
- Larry Gonick and Woollcott Smith (1993). The Cartoon Guide to Statistics. New York: HarperPerennial.
- Charles Wheelan (2014). Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data. W. W. Norton.
More Advanced Statistics Textbooks (typically require more math background, aimed at grad students and professionals)
- William H. Greene. Econometric Analysis, various editions. Pearson/Prentice-Hall.
- Damodar Gujarati. Basic Econometrics, various editions. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Peter Kennedy. A Guide to Econometrics, various editions. Blackwell Publishing.
- Gary King (1989). Unifying Political Methodology: The Likelihood Theory of Statistical Inference. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- G. S. Maddala (1983). TLimited-Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mathematical Review
- Jeff Gill (2006). Essential Mathematics for Political and Social Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Will H. Moore and David A. Siegel (2013). A Mathematics Course for Political and Social Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- John Fox (2008). A Mathematical Primer for Social Scientists
- Timothy M. Hagle (1995). Basic Math for Social Scientists: Concepts
- Timothy M. Hagle (1996). Basic Math for Social Scientists: Problems and Solutions
- Gudmund R. Iversen (1996). Calculus
- Krishnan Namboodiri (1984). Matrix Algebra: An Introduction
Online References
- Introductory Statistics: Concepts, Models, and Applications and Multivariate Statistics: Concepts, Models, and Applications (by David W. Stockburger at Missouri State University)
- StatPrimer (by B. Burt Gerstman at San Jose State University
- Statistics Every Writer Should Know (by Robert Niles)
- UCLA Statistics department's Probability and Statistics ebook
Thinking Scientifically
- Hubert M. Blalock, Jr. (1984). Basic Dilemmas in the Social Sciences. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
- John L. Casti (1990). Searching for Certainty: What Scientists Can Know about the Future. New York; William Morrow and Company.
- A.F. Chalmers (1999). What Is This Thing Called Science, 3rd edition. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
- Cynthia Crossen (1994). Tainted: The Manipulation of Fact in America. New York Touchstone.
- Jordan Ellenberg (2014). How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking. New York: Penguin.
- Steve D. Levitt and Stephen J. Duber (2006). Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explains the Hidden Side of Everything. William Morrow Publishers.
- John Allen Paulos (1995). A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper. New York: Basic Books.
- Arthur L. Stinchcombe (1968). Constructing Social Theories. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Stephen Van Evera (1997). Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Research Design
- Henry E. Brady and David Collier, eds. (2004). Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
- Hubert M. Blalock, Jr. (1964). Causal Inferences in Nonexperimental Research. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
- John W, Creswell (1994). Research Design: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Gary Goertz (2006). Social Science Concepts: A User's Guide. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Gary King, Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba (1994). Designing Social Inquiry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Valentin R. Alfares (2012), Methods of Randomization in Experimental Design
- Steven R. Brown and Lawrence E. Melamed (1990), Experimental Design and Analysis
- James A. Davis (1985), The Logic of Causal Order
- Irwin P. Levin (1999), Relating Statistics and Experimental Design: An Introduction
- Scott Menard (2002), Longitudinal Research, 2nd edition
- Paul E. Spector (1981), Research Designs
Case Studies and Comparative Method
- David Collier and James Mahoney (1996). "Selection Bias in Qualitative Research." World Politics 49, 1: 56-91.
- Barbara Geddes (1990). “How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics.” Political Analysis 2, 1: 131-150.
- Harry Eckstein (1975). "Case Study and Theory in Political Science." In Fred Greenstein and Nelson Polsby (eds), Handbook of Political Science vol.7. Addison Wellsley.
- Alexander George and Andrew Bennett (2004). Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- John Gerring (2007). Case Study Research: Principles and Practices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- James Mahoney (2007), “Qualitative Methodology and Comparative Politics." Comparative Political Studies 40: 2 (February).
- James Mahoney and Gary Goertz (2004). "The Possibility Principle: Choosing Negative Cases in Comparative Research." American Political Science Review 98, 4 (November): 653-669.
- Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune(1970). The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. Malabar, FL: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company.
- Charles C. Ragin (1987). The Comparative Method: Moving beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Jason Seawright and John Gerring (2008). "Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research: A Menu of Qualitative and Quantitative Options." Political Research Quarterly 61, 2 (June): 294-308.
- Robert K. Yin (2017). Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. Sage. (see also earlier editions published as Case Study Research: Design and Methods)
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Daniele Caramani (2008), Introduction to the Comparative Method with Boolean Algebra
Concepts and Measurement
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Edward G. Carmines and Richard A. Zeller (1979), Reliability and Validity Assessment
Using Quantitative Data
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Paul D. Allison (2001), Missing Data
- Herbert Jacob (1984), Using Published Data: Errors and Remedies
Collecting Your Own Data
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Randy Hodson (1999), Analyzing Documentary Accounts
Survey Data
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Orlando Behling and Kenneth S. Law (2000), Translating Questionnaires and Other Research Instruments
- Linda B. Bourque and Virginia A. Clark (1992), Processing Data: The Survey Example
- Jean M. Converse and Stanley Presser (1986), Survey Questions: Handcrafting the Standardized Questionnaire
- Glenn Firebaugh (1997), Analyzing Repeated Surveys
- K. Jill Kiecolt and Laura E. Nathan (1985), Secondary Analysis of Survey Data
- Eun Sul Lee and Ronald N. Forthofer (2005), Analyzing Complex Survey Data
Political Science Research Skills
- Lisa A. Baglione (2012), Writing a Research Paper in Political Science. Washington, DC: Sage/CQ Press.
- Leanne C. Powner (2015), Empirical Research and Writing. Washington, DC: Sage/CQ Press.
Descriptive Statistics
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Frederick Hartwig and Brian E. Dearing (1979), Exploratory Data Analysis
- William G. Jacoby (1997), Statistical Graphics for Univariate and Bivariate Data
- William G. Jacoby (1998), Statistical Graphics for Visualizing Multivariate Data
- Michael Lewis-Beck (1995), Data Analysis: An Introduction
- Herbert F. Weisberg (1991), Central Tendency and Variability
Sampling and Inferential Statistics
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Tamas Rudas (2004), Probability Theory: A Primer
- Michael J. Smithson (2002), Confidence Intervals
Hypothesis Testing
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Ramon E. Henkel (1976), Tests of Significance
- Lawrence B. Mohr (1990), Understanding Significance Testing
Measures of Association
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Peter Y. Chen and Paula M. Popovich (2002), Correlation: Parametric and Nonparametric Measures
- Jean D. Gibbons (1992), Nonparametric Statistics: An Introduction
- Jean D. Gibbons (1993), Nonparametric Measures of Association
- Frederick Hartwig and Brian E. Dearing (1979), Exploratory Data Analysis
- David K. Hildebrand, James D. Laing, and Howard L. Rosenthal (1977), Analysis of Ordinal Data
- Gudmund R. Iversen and Helmut P. Norpoth (1997), Analysis of Variance
- Albert M. Liebetrau (1983), Measures of Association
- H.T. Reynolds (1984), Analysis of Nominal Data
- Tamas Rudas (1997), Odds Ratios in the Analysis of Contingency Tables
Regression Analysis
- William D. Berry and Mitchell S. Sanders (2000), Understanding Multivariate Research: A Primer for Beginning Social Scientists
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- Christopher H. Achen (1982), Interpreting and Using Regression
- Paul D. Allison (2009), Fixed Effects Regression Models
- Robert Andersen (2007), Modern Methods for Robust Regression
- William D. Berry (1993), Understanding Regression Assumptions
- William D. Berry and Stanley Feldman (1985), Multiple Regression in Practice
- John Fox (1991), Regression Diagnostics: An Introduction
- Damodar N. Gujarati (2018), Linear Regression: A Mathematical Introduction
- Rpbert L. Kaufman (2013), Heterskedasticity in Regression
- Larry D. Schroeder, David L. Sjoquist, and Paula E. Stephan (2016), Understanding Regression Analysis: An Introductory Guide, 2nd edition
- Colin Lewis-Beck and Michael S. Lewis-Beck (2015), Applied Regression: An Introduction, 2nd edition
- Melissa A. Hardy (1993), Regression with Dummy Variables
- James Jaccard and Robert Turrisi (2003), Interaction Effects in Multiple Regression>, 2nd edition
Logit/Probit and Related Methods
- David W. Hosmer and Stanley Lemeshow (2000), Applied Logistic Regression, 2nd edition. New York: Wiley-interscience.
- David G. Kleinbaum (1994), Logistic Regression: A Self-Learning Text. New York: Springer.
- Relevant Titles from Sage QASS Series:
- John H. Aldrich and Forrest D. Nelson (1984), Linear Probability, Logit, and Probit Models
- Alfred DeMaris (1992), Logit Modeling: Practical Applications
- Scott R. Eliason (1993), Maximum Likelihood Estimation: Logic and Practice
- James J. Jaccard (2001), Interaction Effects in Logistic Regression
- Tim Futing Liao (1994), Interpreting Probability Models: Logit, Probit, and Other Generalized Linear Models
- Scott W. Menard (2001), Applied Logistic Regression Analysis
- Fred C. Pampel (2000), Logistic Regression: A Primer
Methods We Didn't Cover
This section includes other methods that are widely used in social science research, which you may need to understand better, or you may even need to use in your own research. These sources offer a useful starting point; the more advanced statistics textbooks listed above often cover many of these topics as well.
Content / Narrative / Textual Analysis
- Robert Philip Weber (1990), Basic Content Analysis (part of Sage QASS series)
- Roberto Franzosi (2009), Quantitative Narrative Analysis (part of Sage QASS series)
Event History / Survival / Duration Analysis
- Paul D. Allison (2014), Event History and Survival Analysis, 2nd edition (part of Sage QASS series)
- Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier and Bradford S. Jones (2004). Event History Modeling: A Guide for Social Scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- David W. Hosmer and Stanley Lemeshow (1999). Applied Survival Analysis: Regression Modeling of Time to Event Data. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
- David G. Kleinbaum (1996). Survival Analysis: A Self-Learning Text. New York: Springer.
- Tony Lancaster (1990). The Econometric Analysis of Transition Data. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Kazuo Yamaguchi (1991). Event History Analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Generalized Linear Models (GLM)
- George H. Dunteman and Moon-ho R. Ho (2005), An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models (part of Sage QASS series)
- Jeff Gill (2000), Generalized Linear Models: A Unified Approach (part of Sage QASS series)
- Richard F. Haase (2011), Multivariate General Linear Models (part of Sage QASS series)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Spatial Analysis
- G. David Garson and Robert S. Biggs (1992), Analytic Mapping and Geographic Databases, 2nd edition (part of Sage QASS series)
- Michael D. Ward and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch (2018), Spatial Regression Models, 2nd edition (part of Sage QASS series)
Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) / Multilevel Modeling
- Douglas A. Luke (2004), Multilevel Modeling, 2nd edition (part of Sage QASS series)
Multinomial and Ordered Logit/Probit Models
- Vani Kant Borooah (2001), Logit and Probit: Ordered and Multinomial Models (part of Sage QASS series)
- Ann Aileen O'Connell (2005), Logistic Regression Models for Ordinal Response Variables (part of Sage QASS series)
Neural Network Models
- Herve Abdi, Dominique Valentin, and Betty Edelman (1998), Neural Networks (part of Sage QASS series)
Selection Models
- Richard Breen (1996), Regression Models: Censored, Sample Selected, or Truncated Data (part of Sage QASS series)
Time Series Analysis
- Patrick T. Brandt and John T. Williams (2006), Multiple Time Series Models (part of Sage QASS series)
- Jeff B. Cromwell, Walter C. Labys, and Michel Terraza (1993), Univariate Tests for Time Series Models (part of Sage QASS series)
- Jeff B. Cromwell, Walter C. Labys, Michael J. Hannan, and Michel Terraza (1994), Multivariate Tests for Time Series Models (part of Sage QASS series)
- David McDowall, Richard McCleary, Errol Meidinger, and Richard A. Hay, Jr. (1980), Interrupted Time Series Analysis (part of Sage QASS series)
- Charles W. Ostrom (1990), Time Series Analysis: Regression Techniques (part of Sage QASS series)
- Mark Pickup (2014), Introduction to Time Series Analysis (part of Sage QASS series)
- Lois Sayrs (1989), Pooled Time Series Analysis (part of Sage QASS series)
Online Data Sources
These sources may be used to download many of the main data sets used by professional political scientists, as well as other sample data sets that might be helpful in learning or applying quantitative techniques.
Political Polls
- 538's Politics section (a web site focused on polling and scientific approaches to common questions)
- Pollster ratings (summaries of how major polls work, with ratings of their methodology and accuracy
- Gallup presidential approval poll
- Poll methodology (see also their broader Methodology center)
- State of the States (state-level polling data)
- Other political polls
- Pew Research Center polls
- Survey methodology
- Specific polling topics: U.S. politics, Religion and public life, Social trends, Global polls
- RealClearPolitics polling data (access to the results of current political polls from many different sources)
- U.S. Presidential Approval data and other polling data (from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University)
Survey Data
- Afrobarometer (survey data from 37 African countries)
- American National Election Studies (ANES) data center (data and documentation for all ANES surveys dating back to 1948)
- 2016 survey methodology (note that earlier surveys may have used different methods, so be sure to check the survey page in the Data Center linked above to see how any given survey was run
- ANES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior (track poll results over time for repeated questions, some dating back to 1948)
- Eurobarometer survey archive (survey data from European countries)
- General Social Survey (GSS) data archive (data and documentation for GSS surveys dating back to 1972)
- Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) (survey data on 34 Western Hemisphere countries, from Vanderbilt University; includes the AmericasBarometer survey project)
- Latinobarometro survey archive (survey data from 18 Latin American countries)
- World Values Survey (survey data covering close to 100 countries).
Widely Used Poli Sci Data Sets
- Correlates of War (COW) project data archive
- Historical U.S. Election Results (from the U.S. Electoral College)
- Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) (a huge archive containing data sets from decades of quantitative research in poli sci and the other social sciences)
- Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO) data archive
- Polity IV political data archive (from the Center for Systemic Peace - scroll down to find the Polity data)
- U.S. Census Bureau data
Other Data Sources
These data sources are useful for teaching or learning about new methods. Most of the materials included here will never be used in professional publications, but they are often straightforward and easy for new users to understand (unlike many professional data sets).
- Journal of Statistical Education (JSE) Data Archive
- Sports Data Resources (from the American Statistical Association's "Statistics in Sports" section
- StatLib Datasets Archive
http://www.paulhensel.org/Teaching/psci3300r.html
Last updated: 25 January 2022
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Paul R. Hensel. All rights reserved.