This concise introduction to political science tools covers the research process and scholars use of research methods.

Table of Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Studying politics scientifically 26
3 Research design 49
4 The building blocks of social scientific research : hypotheses, concepts, and variables 103
5 Conducting a literature review 130
6 The building blocks of social scientific research : measurement 153
7 Making empirical observations : direct and indirect observation 185
8 Document analysis : using the written record 206
9 Sampling 238
10 Elite interviewing and survey research 270
11 Univariate data analysis and descriptive statistics 305
12 Measuring relationships and testing hypotheses : bivariate data analysis 339
13 Searching for complete explanations and causal knowledge : multivariate analysis 403
14 The research report : an annotated example 452