Statistics
for Political Scientists
Much of my teaching load at CSULB has consisted of both
undergraduate and graduate level quantitative methods courses. In order to introduce students to much of
the quantitative work in political science such courses need to cover
multivariate statistical analysis. This
has caused me to write introductory level presentations of relatively advanced
statistical techniques. If you would
like a copy of the statistical component I use for the undergraduate Scope and
Methods course (which goes through multiple regression and probit/logit)
click here. If you would like a copy of the syllabus for
this course click here. In addition to the aforementioned statistical
component, this course has seven “outside readings” (for reading #1 click here; for
reading #2 click here; for
reading #3 click here; for
reading #4 click here; for
reading #5 click here; for
reading #6 click here and for
reading #7 click here). The career benefits of the term paper used
in this course are explained in the “Policy Analysis for Political Scientists”
section of this website.
I also have PowerPoint slides that, I hope, will be useful to you
in teaching this material. Matt Lebo,
Brad Jones and Thad Kousser have excellent sets of
PowerPoint slides. I downloaded their
slides, modified them and added material that I use in this course. The slides roughly correspond to the order of
topics in the course. For set #1 click here; set #2 click here; for set #3 click here; for set #4 click here; for set #5 click here; for set #6 click here; for set #7 click here; for set #8 click here; for set #9 click here; for set #10 click here; for set #11 click here; for set #12 click here; for set #13 click here; for set #14 click here; for set #15 click here; for set #16 click here; for set #17 click here; for set #18 click here and for set
#19 click here. I also have prepared slides that discuss
the term paper for this course (for part #1 click here; for part #2 click here; for part #3 click here; for part #4 click here and for part
#5 click here). If would like a group of slides that will
not take much class time but will improve both the term paper, as well as the
ability to think critically, click here. If you would like a group of basic skills slides
that I use at the beginning of this course click here.
You can download a book I wrote containing very accessible
discussions (i.e., not very mathematical – much less difficult than the Sage
Series or any textbook I’m familiar with) of many topics covered in
introductory graduate level methods courses (e.g., multiple regression,
multicollinearity, heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, distributed lags,
polynomial and logarithmic models, logit, probit,
causal models, simultaneous equations, etc.).
This book illustrates statistical applications commonly used by
political scientists through a very wide variety of examples from across the
discipline. Due to the size of the files
this book is in 6 separate files (the book is 178 pages). If you would like a copy of section 1 click
here; section 2 click
here; section 3 click
here; section 4 click
here; section 5 click
here and section 6 click
here. If you would like a copy of
the syllabus for this course, please click here. I also have a file which provides teaching
tips for this material as well as references to a series of additional pages I
frequently combine with the book. If you
would like a copy of the teaching material please click here. In order to fully utilize the teaching
materials, you need three files that contain additional pages to the book. If you would like these “additional pages”
please click
here for file #1; click here
for file #2 and click here
for file #3. The “omitted pages” (i.e.,
there are gaps in the page numbers in the preceding three files) are tables
from journal articles. All the page
numbers in the teaching materials file correspond to both the book and the page
numbers in the three “additional page” files. Additionally, I have written a file
which explains how to execute many fundamental operations in both Stata and
Excel. If you would like a copy please click here.
I have also prepared a directed readings course in policy analysis
for political science that explains in detail how to undertake an actual policy
analysis in most all sub-fields of political science using internet
sources. This material assumes no prior
knowledge. Such an analysis can
significantly enhance the job prospects of political science students. For a fuller discussion and link to this
material, click here.
The “Courses” section of this website
has PowerPoint slides, lecture outlines, syllabi and exams for a wide variety
of courses in American Politics (slides and syllabi for Introduction to
American Government, Political Parties and State Government with lecture
outlines, syllabi and exams for the Legislative Process, Political Behavior and
Public Opinion) as well as public administration courses (slides for
Introduction to Public Administration, Organization Theory, Public Budgeting
and Public Policy Analysis). If you
would like a break from “academic” material you might enjoy seeing beautiful
ocean scenes. If so, go to the “Gallery” section (click here).