The Craft of Political Research is a non-technical introduction to research design and analysis in political science, emphasizing the choices we make when we design a research project and analyze its results.

W. Phillips Shively is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, and has also served on the faculties of Yale University, the University of Oregon, and Oslo University, Norway. At the University of Minnesota, he has served as Provost for Arts, Sciences and Engineering, and has also been inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers for his work with students.

James W. Endersby is Professor of Political Science in the Harry S Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. He was previously a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. He has received several awards for teaching and scholarship.

1. Doing Research 2. Political Theories and Research Topics 3. The Importance of Dimensional Thinking 4. Problems of Measurement: Accuracy 5. Problems of Measurement: Precision 6. Causal Thinking 7. The Design of Research 8. Selection of Observations for Study 9. Introduction to Statistics: Measuring Relationship for Interval Data 10. Introduction to Statistics: Further Topics on Measurement of Relationships 11. Introduction to Statistics: Inference, or How to Gamble on Your Research