Psephology (/sɪˈfɒlədʒi/; from Greekψῆφος,psephos, 'pebble') is the study of elections and voting.[1] Psephology attempts to bothforecast and explainelection results. The term is more common in Britain and in those English-speaking communities that rely heavily on the British standard of the language.[citation needed]
Psephology uses historical precinctvoting data, publicopinion polls,campaign finance information and similar statistical data. The term was coined in 1948 byW. F. R. Hardie (1902–1990) in the United Kingdom afterR. B. McCallum, a friend of Hardie's, requested a word to describe the study of elections. Its first documented usage in writing appeared in 1952.[2]
The term draws from the Greek word forpebble as theancient Greeks used pebbles to vote. (Similarly, the word "ballot" is derived from the medieval French word "ballotte", meaning a small ball.[3])
Psephology is a division ofpolitical science that deals with the examination as well as the statistical analysis of elections and polls. People who practise psephology are called psephologists.
A few of the major tools that are used by a psephologist are historical precinct voting data, campaign finance information, and other related data.Public opinion polls also play an important role in psephology. Psephology also has various applications specifically in analysing the results of election returns for current indicators, as opposed to predictive purposes. For instance, theGallagher Index measures the amount of proportional representation in an election.
Degrees in psephology are not offered (instead, a psephologist might have a degree in political science and/or statistics). Knowledge of demographics, statistical analysis and politics (especially electoral systems and voting behaviour) are prerequisites for becoming a psephologist.
Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Christopher Bates, who together write the dailyelectoral-vote.com website, which tracks polling for US presidential and congressional elections
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