The study of political elections.
[Greek psēphos, pebble, ballot (from the ancient Greeks' use of pebbles for voting) + –LOGY.]
psephological pse'pho·log'i·cal (sē'fə-lŏj'ĭ-kəl) adj.psephologist pse·phol'o·gist n.
psephology
Dictionary:
pse·phol·o·gy (sē-fŏl'ə-jē)  |
psephologist pse·phol'o·gist n.
| 5min Related Video: psephology |
| Word Overheard: psephology |
Political polls and the study thereof may not necessarily be untruthful but they should be taken with a grain of salt. So says conservative columnist William F. Buckley, undertaking the defense of the popularity-challenged George W. Bush:
"The most amusing, and jauntily informative, depiction of the popularity track [of the president] was done by Stuart Eugene Thiel, an enterprising student of psephology. One line shows the price of gas, a second line the popularity of President Bush. The lines follow in fascinating parallel. They suggest that if gas went to $5 a gallon, Bush would be impeached. If down to $2 a barrel, he'd be put up for a third term."
Link: Bush the evangelist?
Posted May 11, 2006.
See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words. 
| Political Dictionary: psephology |
Term coined 1952 by R. B. McCallum and popularized by D. E. Butler to denote the study of elections and voting behaviour. From Greek psephos, the pebble thrown into one or another urn to cast a vote in democratic Athens.
| Obscure Words: psephology |
| Wikipedia: Psephology |
| This article is part of the Politics series |
| Elections |
| Terminology |
| Subseries |
| Lists |
| Politics portal |
Psephology (from Greek psephos ψῆφος, 'pebble', which the Greeks used as ballots) is the statistical analysis of elections. Psephology uses compilations of precinct voting returns for elections going back some years, public opinion polls, campaign finance information and similar statistical data. The term was coined in the United Kingdom in 1952 by historian R. B. McCallum to describe the scientific analysis of past elections. In Britain the term occasionally appears in scholarly literature.
Psephology is that branch of political science, which deals with the study and statistical analysis of elections.
Psephology also has various applications specifically in analysing the results of election returns for current indicators, as opposed to predictive purposes. For instance, the Gallagher Index measures the disproportionality of an election.
References
- William Safire. New Political Dictionary, Random House, New York 1993.
See also
External links
- ACE Project - Comprehensive information resource for Electoral Design and Administration. Includes much comparative data on elections and electoral systems
- 'Psephos' Dr. Adam Carr's Elections Archive
- International IDEA - International Organisation providing (amongst other things) statistical analysis of elections and electoral systems
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Psephology |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - valganalyse
Nederlands (Dutch)
verkiezingskunde
Français (French)
n. - étude du comportement électoral
Deutsch (German)
n. - Wahlanalytik
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ψηφολογία, εκλογολογία
Português (Portuguese)
n. - estudo do processo eleitoral (m)
Русский (Russian)
исследование активности избирателей
Español (Spanish)
n. - psefología, estudio estadístico de elecciones
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - valanalys (pol.)
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
选举学
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 選舉學
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) علم الانتخابات
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - תורת הבחירות
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
To select your translation preferences click here.
Learn More
 | ballot |
| R. B. McCallum |
| Psephos |
Help us answer these
 | Is Psephology a branch in Market Research? |
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Word Overheard. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Political Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Psephology". Read more |
 |
| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
ADVERTISEMENT
Mentioned in
|
