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Imagine instead that what Edwards was really talking about was the traditional way of teaching research methods. To re-enter the kitchen, instead of week one starting with the methods equivalent of cutting carrot sticks and boiling eggs, you were taught the history, composition, and theory of the fork. In fact, Edwards was talking about the style of teaching methods that he and co-author Philip H. "Hutch" Pollock III hope to overturn in their book, The Essentials of Political Analysis. Essentials, which saw its sixth edition publish this summer, aims to "cultivate students' analytic abilities and develop their statistical reasoning" by having them actually do it. "Hutch has always thought, and I agree with him, that one of the best ways to learn about political analysis is to do political analysis. We try to encourage students to jump in and do some political analysis right away, as soon as they possibly can, in a class. So even as early as week one, students can start doing some data analysis, at least uploading data sets and looking at variables within a data set." This not only builds their intellectual muscle memory and gives students "Imagine we're taking a cooking class," suggests Barry C. Edwards, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Central Florida. "The instructor would spend the fi rst fi ve weeks talking about the layout of the kitchen, different kitchen utensils and how they're used. Next you may spend the next fi ve weeks talking about cuisines of the world and nutritional content, with the students reading a recipe book. Then, around week 11, at the end of the course, you have an assignment — to cook dinner for everyone. So at the very end, you'd be expected to be able to prepare an entire meal based on what you had learned passively." confi dence, Edwards says, "it makes class a lot more fun and productive throughout the semester." Edwards feels that "Scope and Methods of Political Science" (as the political analysis course at Central Florida is named) is the most challenging course in the political science curriculum to teach. Students have anxieties about it. And it can be harder to relate the material to them than other classes. At the same time, he thinks anyone who teaches it realizes that the skills students can learn in the class are extremely useful. In addition to the main textbook, Pollock and Edwards have companion books to Essentials focused on using R, Stata One of the best ways to learn about political analysis is to do political analysis. The Perfect Recipe to Cook Up Interest in Political Analysis Bestselling author Barry C. Edwards discusses his active learning approach to teaching political analysis. Political Analysis 4

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