Statistical Method:
Statistical method means measuring and counting something. Measurement is an essential method for surveying a political event, like voting. We shall deal with statistical techniques of measuring political opinion later on.
Scientific Method:
Scientific Method is both an attitude and a procedure. As an attitude, scientific method “consist in the persistent search for truth, constantly asking: Is it so? To what extent is it so? Why is it so? What general conditions or considerations determine it to be so? And this can be seen on reflection to be the demand for the best available evidence, the determination of which we call logic. In essence scientific method is simply the pursuit of truth so determined by logical considerations.”
Methods are to be judged scientific or not depending upon the reliability of their results, and if successful replication is possible, that is, the experiment can be repeated. “A political scientist pursues scientific study (i) if he has, as his object of inquiry, a matter that can be illuminated by empirical evidence, (ii) if he accords to empirical evidence highest probative force, (iii) if in search for analysis and evaluation of evidence, he approaches the highest standards which other social scientists have proved to be attainable, and (iv) if he “reports his procedures and his findings in a way that affords other students ample opportunity to judge whether his evidence supports his findings”.