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Introduction: Methods, methodology and making sense of the study of politics -Guiding themes -Structure of the book 1. The discipline of politics -The diverse traditions of political science -Dominant paradigms -Political studies or political science: some methodological considerations 2. Research design -Introduction -The meaning of research design -The research process -The research wheel -Types of research design -Conclusion 3.Comparative methodology -Comparative political science: substance and method -Designing comparative research -Why compare? The advantages -The limits of comparison -Cases: how many, and which? -Conclusion 4. Surveys and opinion polls -Introduction -Surveys, opinion polls and politics -History of opinion polls and surveys -Sampling procedures -Types of sample design -Administering surveys -Interviewing -Coding and analysis -Focus groups 5. Descriptive statistics -Levels of measurement, central tendency and spread -Choosing descriptive statistics -Presenting descriptive statistics -All that glitters 6. Making inferences -Why inference matters -Descriptive and causal inference -Inferences in quantitative political science -Inferences in qualitative political science 7. Documentary and archival analysis -Use and abuse of secondary and tertiary documentary sources in political science -The analysis of primary sources -Research in the Public Record Office (the UK'a National Archives) and the National Archives, Washington -Conclusion: the value and limits of documentary and archival analysis 8. The internet and political Research -Searching the Internet -Electronic resources for political research -On-line polling -Elite interviewing on-line 9. Elite interviewing -Decide who you want to see -Get acess and arrange the interview -Conduct the interview -Analyse the results 10. Participant observation and the analysis of communications -Introduction -Participant observation -Content analysis -The advantages and limitations of content analysis -Discourse analysis 11. Ethics and political research -The nature of ethical problems -Two broad approaches to ethical problems -Five basic ethical principles -The relationship with sponsors -Gatekeepers -Citizens -The problem of fraud in research -Professional codes of conduct 12. Conclusion: Challeging the mainstrem and the qualitative/quantitative divide -Feminist methods -Anti-0racist and Marxist challenges -Theory, methods and the qualitative/quantitave divide