Political Science Research in Practice

Nothing rings truer to those teaching political science research methods: students hate taking this course. Tackle the challenge and turn the standard research methods teaching model on its head with Political Science Research in Practice. Akan Malici and Elizabeth S. Smith engage students first with pressing political questions and then demonstrate how a researcher has gone about answering them, walking them through real political science research that contributors have conducted. Through the exemplary use of a comparative case study, field research, interviews, textual and interpretive research, statistical research, survey research, public policy and program evaluation, content analysis, and field experiments, each chapter introduces students to a method of empirical inquiry through a specific topic that will spark their interest and curiosity. Each chapter shows the process of developing a research question, how and why a particular method was used, and the rewards and challenges discovered along the way. Students can better appreciate why we need a science of politics―why methods matter―with these first-hand, issue-based discussions.

The second edition now includes:

• Two completely new chapters on field experiments and a chapter on the textual/interpretative method.
• New topics, ranging from the Arab Spring to political torture to politically sensitive research in China to social networking and voter turnout.
• Revised and updated "Exercises and Discussion Questions" sections.
• Revised and updated "Interested to Know More" and "Recommended Resources" sections.

Akan Malici is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. He authored When Leaders Learn and When They Don't (SUNY, 2008) and The Search for a Common European Foreign and Security Policy (Palgrave, 2008). He co-authored U.S. Presidents and Foreign Policy Mistakes (Stanford, 2011) and Role Theory and Role Conflict in U.S.-Iran Relations (Routledge, 2016) and co-edited of Re-thinking Foreign Policy Analysis (Routledge, 2011). He teaches classes in International Politics and Research Methodology.

Elizabeth S. Smith is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. She received her Ph.D. in American politics with a minor in political psychology from the University of Minnesota. She has taught research methodology for many years. Her work appears in The Journal of Political Science Education, Polity, Political Psychology, The Handbook for Teaching Social Issues, the American Education Research Journal and in Competition in Theory and Practice (Sense Publishers 2009).