Student anxiety runs high given the seemingly intimidating nature of the methods course. Philip Pollock's first order of business is to get math-phobic students comfortable learning and using the tools of political analysis. Brief and accessible, his text walks students through the basics—measuring concepts, formulating and testing hypotheses, describing variables—and uses key terms, chapter-opening objectives, more than eighty tables and figures, and class-tested chapter exercises to promote skill application and aid student review.

Fully up-to-date with new exercises and data, this third edition includes a new chapter devoted to measuring and describing variables, as well as fresh coverage of multiple regression and research design.