"Student anxiety runs high given the seemingly intimidating nature of the methods course. Philip Pollock's first order of business is to get math-phobic students comfortable learning and using the tools of political analysis. Brief and accessible, his text walks students through the basics - measuring concepts, formulating and testing hypotheses, describing variables - and uses key terms, chapter-opening objectives, more than eighty tables and figures, and class-tested chapter exercises to promote skill application and aid student review. Fully up-to-date with new exercises and data, this third edition includes a new chapter devoted to measuring and describing variables, as well as fresh coverage of multiple regression and research design."--Publisher's website.