A concise introduction to the fundamental concepts of social scientific thinking and research, this classic text makes scientific thinking, research methods, and statistics accessible to undergraduates at a commonsense level. This text is intended for use in a broad array of the social sciences, including Political Science, Sociology, and Psychology. Available with InfoTrac Student Collections http: //gocengage.com/infotrac

Todd Donovan (Ph.D., University of California, Riverside) is a professor of Political Science at Western Washington University. He teaches state and local politics; American politics, parties, campaigns, and elections; comparative electoral systems; and introductory research methods and statistics. His research interests include direct democracy, election systems and representation, political behavior, subnational politics, and the political economy of local development. He has been published extensively in academic journals; written a number of books on direct democracy, elections, institutions, and reform; and has received numerous grants and awards for his work. He is coauthor (with Ken Hoover) of THE ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC THINKING, also published by Cengage Learning.