Political Science Data: Find Data, Produce Results, Share Insights.

We feature resources to support teaching and learning political science research merthods with The Essentials of Political Analysis and the Companions to Political Analysis. Featured resources update weekly to track typical fall, spring, and summer teaching patterns

THIS WEEK: A Scientific Approach to Politics

Overview: Students are introduced to the scientific approach in political analysis, focusing on evidence-based reasoning and critical inquiry. The course begins by discussing how scientific principles are applied to study political phenomena, setting the stage for the course. The Essentials preface and Companion introductions do not include exercises because this is typically an orientation week when students can drop/add classes.

📚 Read Preface and Introduction (download pdf of Introduction) for Essentials 7e
📚 Read Preface and Getting Started in Stata Companion 5e | R Companion 3e | Excel Companion | SPSS Companion 7e
🔁 Review terms for 5 minutes

Practice Quiz for A Scientific Approach to Politics

▶️ Watch streaming lectures to learn about the scientific approach to politics!
💻 Practice with Software: See Companions for Stata | R | Excel | SPSS

UPCOMING: The Definition and Measurement of Concepts

Overview: Students will learn how to define political concepts and operationalize them into measurable variables. Skills include formulating clear definitions and understanding the link between theoretical and empirical research using software to create operational definitions.

📚 Read Chapter 1 in Essentials 7e
📚 Read Chapter 1 in Stata Companion 5e | R Companion 3e | Excel Companion | SPSS Companion 7e
🔁 Review terms for 5 minutes

Practice Quiz for The Definition and Measurement of Concepts

Watch streaming lectures for introduction to main ideas
💻 Practice with Software: See Companions for Stata | R | Excel | SPSS
📖 Textbook Features: Learning objectives, glossaries & chapter exercises.
🛡️️ Instructor resources: presentations, demo. code, quiz questions, solutions manuals (available via Sage Publications)

Past Special Editions of Political Science Data

Online Survey Quality

Politics of Gun Violence

Perspectives on Russia-Ukraine War

Promise and Peril of Mexican Politics

Political Phenomena of Donald Trump

NOW AVAILABLE: The Essentials of Political Analysis, 7th EditionDownload pdf of Introduction pdf

Teach Political Analysis

Theory & Concepts:
The Essentials of Political Analysis, 7th Edition. Classic introductory text, clear writing, helps students learn, great ancillaries. More info.

Companions for SPSS, Stata, Excel & R. Practice with software of your choice.

MORE FOR TEACHERS: Sample Course Syllabi featuring our textbooks, varied software, with/without paper assignments

Review Terms for 5 Minutes - Pick chapters or just press play for quick study

Run Live R Demos in Browser - Excellent for online teaching

Links to More Resources for Teaching Political Analysis

Watch & Learn


MTurk Research: Recommendations and Best Practices
Research presentation for GWU (5:51)


Methods 101: Question Wording
From the Pew Research Center (5:27)

MORE VIDEOS: See Video Channels for more political science videos!

LEARN HOW: Watch Lecture Videos for Essentials of Political Analysis, Video Tutorials for R, Stata, SPSS, and Excel

ORIGINAL PROJECT: Studying Presidents

Pres. Buchanan's Positions on Roll Call Votes:
35th: House Senate 36th: House Senate

This data is part of a larger project to identify the policy preferences of all U.S. Presidents. See index.

More Q. Than A.

Career Planning Advice for Students (in Simple Diagram)
As a college professor, I have had many opportunities to talk with students about their...

MORE QUESTIONS: Cases that Illustrate Felony-Murder Rule

Blogs, Podcasts & Journals

Political Theory: .Publishes articles on political theory from a wide range of philosophical, ideological and methodological perspectives.

Critical Policy Studies: .(Taylor & Francis) Concentrates on the relation of political and policy theory to specific practices of governance.

Governance for Development: .From the World Bank.

National Security Law Podcast: .A weekly review of the latest legal controversies associated with the U.S. government's national security activities and institutions, featuring Professors Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas at Austin.

Social Justice Research: .nvestigating the origins, structures, and consequences of justice in human affairs

See All Political Science Journals

Data Sites

European Social Survey: .The European Social Survey (ESS) is an academically driven cross-national survey that has been conducted across Europe since 2001. Every two years, face-to-face interviews are conducted with newly selected, cross-sectional samples.

Voteview (UCLA): .Allows users to view every congressional roll call vote in American history on a map of the United States and on a liberal-conservative ideological map.

Data.gov: .Guide to data from more than 100 agencies that provide data and trend information on such topics as economic and population trends, crime, education, health care, energy use and more

Vital Statistics on the U.S. Congress: .Compiled by the Brookings Institution

Economic Fata from European Bank for Reconstruction & Development: .Macro-economic and structural data series, includes the Life in Transition Survey.

See All Data Sites

Authors with Datasets

Enders, Adam .

Benoit, Kenneth .LSE, see datasets on publications page.

Elkink, Johan .School of Politics and International Relations

Harden, Jeffrey .University of Notre Dame

Ura, Joseph .Texas A&M University

Larreguy, Horacio .

Krain, Matthew .College of Wooster, see research page.

Nyhan, Brendan .University of Michigan, replication datasets listed on web page.

Elkins, Zachary .

Hilbig, Hanno .

See All Authors with Datasets