The POWERMUTT Project: Home Page

Introduction to Research Methods in Political Science:
The POWERMUTT* Project
(SPSS Version)
*Politically-Oriented Web-Enhanced Research Methods for Undergraduates — Topics and Tools
Resources for introductory research methods courses in political science and related disciplines

Home Table of Contents Introduction Note to Instructors Course Syllabi Using POWERMUTT Author's Home Page

Political Science As a Social Science Research Design Levels of Measurement Displaying Categorical Data Data Collection More About Measurement Contingency Table Analysis Control Variables Discriptive Statistics Standard Scores and the Normal Distribution Comparing Means Regression and Correlation Logitudinal Analysis of Survey Data

American National Election Study 2004 Subset American National Election Study 2000-2004 Panel Study Subset General Social Survey Cumulative (1972-2006) Subset U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate U.S. States Countries California State Legislature

Data Downloads Topic Downloads (RTF format)

General Data Statistics/Methods Texts Applets, etc. SPSS Resources ICPSR Resources SDA Resources Glossaries

TABLE
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Note: This is the Academic Year 2008-2009 version. The 2007-2008 version is available here and, barring the unforeseen, will remain posted until early June 2009.

The POWERMUTT Project is a cross between an introductory political science research methods textbook and an online resource for teaching and learning such methods. It includes:

Topics. Each topic is equivalent to a short chapter in a traditional textbook.
Tools. These are brief step-by-step tutorials for carrying out specific techniques. At present, the Tools described are some of those found in SPSS, a leading software package for statistical analysis.
Datasets and codebooks. Data, and codebooks describing them, on public opinion, the American states, the U.S. Congress, and the countries of the world.
Links to other sites providing additional information about research methods.

Compared to traditional textbooks, POWERMUTT offers several important advantages, including:

Flexibility. Your instructor may have decided to adopt the entire POWERMUTT site as the main course "textbook," or to use just a small portion of the site's resources as supplementary material.
Interactivity. Want to see exactly how a table or graph was generated? With POWERMUTT PUPs (Pop Up Protocols), the answer is just a click away. Just as close is additional information on other resources within POWERMUTT or elsewhere on the Web.
Affordability. In fact, it's free! However, your instructor may ask you to purchase hard copy of all or part of POWERMUTT for a nominal cost at your campus copy center. While most of the materials in the project are for reference, some, especially the Topics, need to be studied carefully. A highlighter will really mess up your monitor. You can save money by directly downloading the Topics and printing them at home.

Ready to begin? Go to the Table of Contents or choose from the menu at the top of the page.

Except where indicated, © 2003-2008 John L. Korey. Last updated September 9, 2008