Kenneth J. Meier is Puryear Professor at Texas A & M University. Jeff Gill is assistant professor of political science at the University of Florida in Gainsville.

Preface -- Zen and the Art of Policy Analysis: Substantively Weighted Analytical Techniques -- An Introduction to Substantively Weighted Least Squares -- The Theory and Application of Generalized Substantively Reweighted Least Squares -- Substantively Weighted Analytical Techniques for Successes and Failures: SWLS and GSRLS -- Separating Excellent Agencies from the Good Ones: Pushing the Extremes of the Data Distribution -- Weighting with an Exogenous Variable or with Two Exogenous Variables: Equity Versus Excellence in Organizations -- SWAT in Pooled Analysis -- The Zen and the Practice: Some Final Remarks

This book is a concise methods text that represents a new approach for policy program analysis. It is intended to introduce a new methodological approach, substantively weighted analytical techniques (SWAT), to data analysis.