Ask: Research and Methods. Volume 21, Issue 1 (2012)

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https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/69459

Measuring Attitudes toward Immigration in Europe: The Cross-Cultural Validity of the ESS Immigration Scales
Meuleman, Bart; Billiet, Jaak pp. 5-29
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When You Can’t Add it Up: Measuring Democracy with QCA
Tope, Daniel; adams, jimi pp. 31-54
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When Candidates and Vote Distribution Matter: A New Indicator of Electoral Competitiveness
Gherghina, Sergiu; Tseng, Huan-Kai pp. 55-68
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On the Limits and Possibilities of Causal Explanation with Game Theoretical Models: The Case of Two Party Competition
Mueller, Georg P. pp. 69-85
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What do respondents and non-respondents think of incentives and how do they react to them? The ESS Experience in Poland
Sztabinski, Pawel B.; Sztabinski, Franciszek; Przybysz, Dariusz pp. 87-122
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From School to Work: Individual and Institutional Determinants of Educational and Occupational Career Trajectories of Young Poles
Domanski, Henryk; Federowicz, Michal; Pokropek, Artur; Przybysz, Dariusz; Sitek, Michal; Smulczyk, Marek; Zóltak, Tomasz pp. 123-141
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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

From School to Work: Individual and Institutional Determinants of Educational and Occupational Career Trajectories of Young Poles
(IFiS Publishers, 2012) Domański, Henryk; Federowicz, Michał; Pokropek, Artur; Przybysz, Dariusz; Sitek, Michał; Smulczyk, Marek; Żółtak, Tomasz
What do respondents and non-respondents think of incentives and how do they react to them? The ESS Experience in Poland
(IFiS Publishers, 2012) Sztabiński, Paweł B.; Sztabiński, Franciszek; Przybysz, Dariusz
One method to increase the response rate in surveys is to use respondent incentives. The effectiveness of incentives depends on a number of factors which, however, may have a varied impact on respondents’ decisions about survey participation across countries. This paper shows how respondent incentives have worked in Poland, i.e. how monetary and material incentives are viewed, whether or not it is reasonable to send prepaid incentives by mail and how incentives affect the structure of the effective sample. Results of in-depth interviews and comments on to incentives used in the European Social Survey have shown that the respondents who are willing to accept a small material incentive do not accept a modest monetary incentive. In the case of monetary incentives, expectations are very high and, in most surveys, unrealistic. Research results also suggest that some respondents are distrustful about prepaid incentives received by mail. They associate such incentives with direct marketing practices, attempted fraud or scams. From this perspective, it seems safer to opt for incentives being handed over personally by interviewers. However, the use of incentives does not significantly affect the structure of the effective sample.
On the Limits and Possibilities of Causal Explanation with Game Theoretical Models: The Case of Two Party Competition
(IFiS Publishers, 2012) Mueller, Georg P.
Regression-based path- and structural equation-models have two major drawbacks, if they are used for the causal explanation of social phenomena: they are too deterministic and neglect the intentions of the concerned actors as a central driving force of the analysed processes. In order to explain the distribution-effects of two party competition, this article proposes an alternative modelling approach, which is based on the mathematical theory of repeated games. The article explores the limits and possibilities of this approach with regard to the causal explanation of social phenomena and compares the results with the capabilities of the regression approach. It turns out that game theoretical models are especially useful for explaining the non-presence of social phenomena under given causal conditions.
When Candidates and Vote Distribution Matter: A New Indicator of Electoral Competitiveness
(IFiS Publishers, 2012) Gherghina, Sergiu; Tseng, Huan-Kai
The electoral competitiveness among candidates vying for single elected positions (e.g. president, members of parliament single member districts, or candidates for the party leadership) lacks an appropriate measurement. This study reevaluates previous measurements and proposes a new indicator that accounts for the interaction between the number of candidates and the distribution of votes. The resulting indicator overcomes the oversensitivity problem associated with earlier specification and provides better competitiveness estimate for various electoral settings. Its applicability is universal and allows for cross-cases and longitudinal comparisons for a wide variety of single-winner elections.
When You Can’t Add it Up: Measuring Democracy with QCA
(IFiS Publishers, 2012) Tope, Daniel; adams, jimi
Typical democracy measures rely upon categorical classification or continuous indices to indicate the level of democracy in a study’s nations. Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis techniques, we demonstrate an alternative method for measuring democracy that retains – in the measure itself – the full-range of included components, which previous measures use in their construction, but conceal in their resultant scores. We directly compare the new measure to existing measures to (a) highlight existing measures’ forced comparisons between incommensurate components, and (b) reveal components used to calculate existing measures that do not substantially contribute to nations’ democratic classification within them. We then indirectly compare the performance of such a measure to others with an example estimating the relationship between economic development and democracy. The article concludes by discussing some additional advantages of the QCA measure, acknowledging some of its weaknesses, and suggesting several extensions for its use.
Measuring Attitudes toward Immigration in Europe: The Cross-Cultural Validity of the ESS Immigration Scales
(IFiS Publishers, 2012) Meuleman, Bart; Billiet, Jaak
Equivalence of measurement scales is a crucial prerequisite for making valid cross-cultural comparisons, as cultural differences in the interpretation of indicators could result in misleading conclusions. In this paper, we empirically assess the cross-national measurement equivalence of four scales that are included in the European Social Survey, round 1 (2002–03). These four scales, referring to various aspects of attitudes toward immigration, are: (1) opposition against new immigration into the country (REJECT), (2) support for imposing conditions to immigration (CONDITION), (3) perceived economic threat (ECOTHREAT) and (4) perceived cultural threat (CULTHREAT). To test for measurement equivalence, we make use of multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA). In this approach, a distinction is made between configural (equal factor structures), metric (equal factor loadings) and scalar (equal item intercepts) equivalence. A step-by-step strategy to test for these distinctive levels of equivalence is explained in a detailed manner. Our results show that the degree of cross-cultural equivalence differs quite strongly from one scale to another. In the case of the REJECT-scale, the number of violated equality constraints is limited, and partial scalar equivalence is found to hold for all countries. The other measurement scales are cross-culturally less robust, and comparability is only guaranteed for subsets of countries.

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