Psephology

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Psephology (/sɪˈfɒlədʒi/; from Greek ψῆφος, psephos, 'pebble') is the "quantitative analysis of elections and balloting".^[1] Psephology attempts to both forecast and explain election results.

Psephology should not be confused with social choice theory or mechanism design, the branch of welfare economics and mathematics that studies voting systems.

Psephology uses historical precinct voting data, public opinion polls, campaign finance information and similar statistical data. The term was first coined in 1948 by W. F. R. Hardie (1902–1990) in the United Kingdom. This occurred after R. 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]

"Psephology" as a term is more common in Britain and in those English-speaking communities that rely heavily on the British standard of the language.^{[citation needed]}