This module seeks to equip students with the analytical skills needed to analyse election outcomes from the perspective of both voters' behaviour and parties' strategies;

The module also aims to enable students to analyse survey data using quantitative methods; to provide them with sufficient knowledge of the statistical package SPSS; and to prepare students to write reports and interpret data in a way that can be used to advise politicians, political parties, or any organisation concerned with public opinion and voting. By fulfilling these goals the module also aims at widening students' employability, enabling them to develop some of the main analytical and statistical skills which are demanded by employers.

(LO1) You will be able to contrast the theoretical assumptions of structural, social-psychological and rational-choice models of voting behaviour.

(LO2) You will be able to critically analyse the potential and limitations of voting behaviour models both in general and when applied to specific elections and contexts.

(LO3) You will be able to critically analyse how voting behaviour varies across types of party, as well as the dynamic relationship between the behaviour of voters and parties.

(LO4) You will be able to use the statistical package SPSS to prepare datasets for data analysis.

(LO5) You will acquire knowledge of key statistical techniques and be able to apply them to analyse specific election outcomes.

(LO6) You will be able to apply notions of statistical inference and generalise findings based on survey data.

(S1) Problem solving skills

(S2) Numeracy

(S3) IT skills

(S4) Organisational skills

(S5) International awareness

(S6) Teamwork

(S7) Communication skills

(S8) Adaptability

Topics covered during this module may include:

Voting behaviour, party preferences and SPSS;

Classical theories: cleavages, rational choice and socio-psychological attachments;

Social class, decline or persistence?

Religion, religiosity and values;

Race, ethnicity and national identity;

Gender and voting;

Age, cohorts and generational changes;

Valence issues, economic voting and pork barrel politics;

Leaders, campaigns and media effects;

Non-mainstream parties I: the radical right;

Non-mainstream parties II: Green parties and radical left parties.

Teaching method 1 - lecture.
The lectures introduce the main concepts and theories of the module.

Teaching method 2 - problem based learning.
PC lab sessions will be based on flipped-classroom and problem-based learning methods.
Students will be given a set of questions about particular voting behaviour mechanisms in a specific context and will be asked to work with survey data in order to find out about the ways to answer those questions. Before each session, materials will be made available covering particular statistical methods that can be used by students in order to fulfil each session's tasks.