Psephologist engages in the scientific study of elections and voting behaviour. The Psephologist analyses existing election results, and attempts to predict upcoming results of the electoral process using indicators such as historical voting patterns, statistical data of a region, and opinion polls.

The term ‘Psephology’ is derived from the Greek term ‘psephos’ which means pebble, which the Greeks used as ballots and ‘logy denotes a field of study or academic discipline. Hrnce the term means the scientific study of elections and voting behavior. The term was first coined in 1952 in the United Kingdom in by historian R. B. McCallum to describe the scientific analysis of past elections.

Psephologist or the professionals engaged in studying the election patterns and deviations. They make use of tools like past election’s facts and figures and public opinion polls to arrive at a conclusion.

Their scope of job mainly encompasses analysis of aspects like trends in voting, swings in votes; number of votes polled or percentage of total votes polled translating into the number of seats in the government. They also try to find out the answers of questions like how much of percent swing in the votes may lead to change in the government. Hence Psephologists play a constructive role in any democratic set up.

Psephology Eligibility Criteria

Educational Qualifications: Generally, a post-graduate qualification is desirable in either Political Science or Sociology stream. Aspirants with a doctorate degree in one of the two subjects do have an edge for this profession as they then possess comprehensive knowledge of the subject concerned. Apart from this, one must have a statistician’s mind, an eye for minute details, a deep understanding of the demographic patterns of the region/area, and a strong understanding of the caste dynamics and a sharp political sense are vital for becoming a successful Psephologist.

Skills and Attributes: A Psephologist must be prepared to undertake extensive tours especially during the elections (i.e. once the election campaign kick-starts) to understand the dynamics of the voting patterns. Voting is generally on primordial loyalties like kinship, cast etc. A Psephologist must have a good understanding of that as well the breakup of the population on caste groups, working groups, important issues in the preceding elections as well as the ongoing one. The role of a Psephologist assumes importance because if his/her predictions about poll outcome go wrong, it leads to embarrassment for the Psephologist, where as accurate or near accurate results lead to kudos. A Psephologist must take care to keep his own political allegiance at bay while indulging in professional work. He/she should take care to keep his/her own bias to minimum; otherwise, the results of his study may show variance from the actual results and this may be detrimental to the Psephologist’s reputation.

Career opportunities

Even though no formal training is required for a person to become a Psephologist, a basic understanding about politics as well as statistics is absolutely necessary. In fact, the career as a Psephologist is a good part time alternative for political commentators, political scientists or statisticians. The printed and electronic media are good arenas for Psephologist to get jobs. They can write columns as well as articles that pertain to sociology or science. Some Employment Areas where job opportunities are available for Psephologists include freelancing, Parliament, and Television Channels. Research Organizations, Market Research and Newspapers also provide Psephologists with good job opportunities.

Psephology is the scientific analysis of political elections based on statistics. It uses compilations of voting records for elections of some previous years, public opinion polls, campaign finance information and similar statistical data. Psephologist analyze aspects like trends in voting, swings in votes, number of votes polled or percentage of total votes polled and translate them into the number of seats in the government. Based on this data, a psephologist infers the outcome of the public opinion manifested in the form of elections. The role of a psephologist is very important for a vibrant democratic country like India . Courses & eligibility: The following courses are offered under psephology:

 Bachelor of Arts – B.A (Political science)  Bachelor of Arts – B.A (statistics)  Master of Arts – M.A (Political science)  Master of Arts – M.A (statistics)

Minimum qualification for the bachelor's programme is 10+2 pass in any stream. Candidates who have completed their graduation can pursue the master's programme, who in turn can opt for further studies by applying for M.Phil and Ph.D programmes. The other prerequisites for this field are, a statistician’s mind, an eye for minute details, a deep understanding of the demographic patterns of the region/area and a strong understanding of the caste dynamics and a sharp political sense. Remuneration: Due to ever increasing importance of election in India a psephologist can earn a salary between 2 lakh to 3 lac per annum. Psephology Courses To become a psephologist one must have Master’s degree in either Political Science or Statistics. The higher qualifications like M.Phil. and Ph.D. in the stream enhance the better opportunities. Along with the academic qualification, critical thinking, analyzing skills and computation skills are rather important.