A Stata® Companion to Political Analysis

Philip H. Pollock III is a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. He has taught courses in research methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels for more than thirty years. His main research interests are American public opinion, voting behavior, techniques of quantitative analysis, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. His recent research has been on the effectiveness of Internet-based instruction. Pollock’s research has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Social Science Quarterly, and the British Journal of Political Science. Recent scholarly publications include articles in Political Research Quarterly, the Journal of Political Science Education, and PS: Political Science and Politics.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Stata
Information about a Dataset
Information about Variables
Do-Files
Log Files
Printing Results and Copying Output
A CLOSER LOOK: Weighting the gss2012 and nes2012 Datasets
Getting Help
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 2: Descriptive Statistics
Interpreting Measures of Central Tendency and Variation
Describing Nominal Variables
Describing Ordinal Variables
Describing Interval Variables
Obtaining Bar Charts and Histograms
Obtaining Case-Level Information with sort and list
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 3: Transforming Variables
Transforming Categorical Variables
Transforming Interval Variables
A CLOSER LOOK: The xtile command
The label define and label values Commands
Creating an Additive Index
Creating Indicator Variables
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 4: Making Comparisons
Cross-Tabulation Analysis
Mean Comparison Analysis
A CLOSER LOOK: The format Command
A CLOSER LOOK: The replace Command
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 5: Making Controlled Comparisons
Cross-Tabulation Analysis with a Control Variable
A CLOSER LOOK: The If Qualifier
Mean Comparison Analysis with a Control Variable
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 6: Making Inferences about Sample Means
Describing a Sample Mean
Testing the Difference between Two Sample Means
Extending the mean and lincom Commands
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 7: Chi-square and Measures of Association
Analyzing Ordinal-Level Relationships
Analyzing an Ordinal-Level Relationship with a Control Variable
Analyzing Nominal-Level Relationships
Analyzing Unweighted Data with the tabulate Command
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 8: Correlation and Linear Regression
The correlate Command and the regress Command
A CLOSER LOOK: R-squared and Adjusted R-squared: What’s the Difference?
Creating a Scatterplot with a Linear Prediction Line
Multiple Regression
A CLOSER LOOK: Bubble Plots
Correlation and Regression with Weighted Data
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 9: Dummy Variables and Interaction Effects
Regression with Dummy Variables
A CLOSER LOOK: The test Command
Interaction Effects in Multiple Regression
Graphing Linear Prediction Lines for Interaction Relationships
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 10: Logistic Regression
The logit Command and the logistic Command
Logistic Regression with Multiple Independent Variables
A CLOSER LOOK: The estimates Command and the lrtest Command
Working with Predicted Probabilities
MERS-MEMS Hybrids
Exercises
Notes
Chapter 11: Doing Your Own Political Analysis
Five Doable Ideas
Inputting Data
Writing It Up
Notes