Ask: Research and Methods. Volume 25, Issue 1 (2016)
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Front Matter
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Articles
10 points versus 11 points? Effects of Left-right Scale Design in a Cross-national Perspective
Zuell, Cornelia; Scholz, Evi pp. 3-16
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The Impact of Well-Being on Fertility Intentions – An Analysis Based on the European Social Survey (2010);
Matsuo, Hideko; Matthijs, Koen pp. 17-46
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Sensitive Populations and Self-reflexive Methods: Ethnographic Exploration of Race and Racism in Poland
Grunberg, Sarah pp. 47-60
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Research Projects
The Vanishing Lists: Collecting and Matching Parliamentary Candidate Data in Romania
Chiru, Mihail pp. 61-76
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Advances in Methodology in Poland: Abstracts of Ask: Research and Methods in English, 1995–2007
Bell, Inna; Dubrow, Joshua Kjerulf; Purisch, Ania pp. 77-110
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Back Matter
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Item Front Matter (Volume 25, Issue 1, 2016)(The Ohio State University Libraries in partnership with IFiS Publishers, 2016)Item 10 points versus 11 points? Effects of Left-right Scale Design in a Cross-national Perspective(The Ohio State University Libraries in partnership with IFiS Publishers, 2016) Zuell, Cornelia; Scholz, EviLeft-right self-placement on a unidimensional scale is a standard question in many social and political surveys to measure respondents' ideological orientation in a minimalist way.Although the left-right scale is a standard question, the scale design is not standardized across surveys. One aspect of scale design is the offer of a midpoint. This paper is about design effects on central left-right scale placement in a cross-national context. How do respondents answer if there is no true midpoint: Do respondents who want to express a middle position, in the case of a 10-point scale, use scale middle categories as a substitute for a true midpoint? Are findings consistent across countries? Offering a midpoint is much debated among researchers and quite often, a midpoint might serve as a hidden "don't know" or a missing attitude. Does nonresponse increase when non-attitudes cannot be expressed by choosing the neutral midpoint to hide nonresponse? If middle categories in the 10-point scale work as substitute for a true midpoint in the 11-point scale, nonresponse will not differ. We tested these questions in a split-half experiment where either a 10-point or an 11-point scale was asked in an experimental web survey fielded in six countries. Our results seem to confirm the idea that respondents who favor choosing a scale middle find a virtual center in the 10-point scale. However, results are inconsistent in cross-national perspective.Item The Impact of Well-Being on Fertility Intentions – An Analysis Based on the European Social Survey (2010)(The Ohio State University Libraries in partnership with IFiS Publishers, 2016) Matsuo, Hideko; Matthijs, KoenThis article examines the relation between well-being and fertility intentions in Europe and addresses three main research questions: Does overall well-being influence fertility intentions? What kind of well-being factors are more important in the determination of fertility intentions (individual-level subjective ones vs. individual-level objective ones vs. country-level ones)? Does the role of specific well-being variables change over the course of the life course, i.e. as age and parity increase? In accordance with the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991), fertility intentions are studied as important predictors of actual fertility behaviour. And in line with established studies, a broad approach is taken towards the concept of well-being. The analysis is theoretically grounded in the framework of methodological individualism (i.e. micro-macro linkages). Use is made of data on women aged 20-39 in 27 countries, which were taken from the 'Family, work and well-being' module in the 5th round (2010) of the European Social Survey. The analysis of a comparable European population sample is made possible by taking account of both unit and item non-responses, and correcting for them. Our analysis shows overall positive but small correlations between well-being and fertility intentions in all countries: the higher the level of well-being, the higher the intended fertility, although the strength of the correlation differs between countries. Also, overall, individual-level objective well-being factors, such as level of education and employment status, have a larger impact on fertility intentions than individual-level subjective well-being factors and country-level well-being factors regarding human development, gender inequality and region. Changes in the effects of these well-being factors are found depending on the stage of the life course: as parity and age increase, the importance of country-level well-being effects increases. This shows that family-friendly country policies targeted to these groups can have positive effects on fertility.Item Sensitive Populations and Self-reflexive Methods: Ethnographic Exploration of Race and Racism in Poland(The Ohio State University Libraries in partnership with IFiS Publishers, 2016) Grunberg, SarahPoland has witnessed a rise in cross-border migration from both within the European Union and from regions around the world. A demographic consequence is biracial families in Poland. A social consequence is that in formerly racially homogenous Poland, racial inequality evolves from a nascent stage experienced by the few to a rapidly developing institution, with biracial families caught in the middle of past and future. In this article I discuss the methodology of a research project on identity strategies of Black African men, White Polish mothers, and biracial children, and the communities that they build. These groups are sensitive populations due to the racism, xenophobia, and discrimination that they face. I discuss (a) how the oral history method can be effective when working with sensitive populations, (b) the ethical and privacy concerns that come with social network snowball sampling and maintaining the anonymity of this population, and (c) how selfreflexive methods offers an honest, straightforward, and effective approach to examine the subjects and communities of my research.Item The Vanishing Lists: Collecting and Matching Parliamentary Candidate Data in Romania(The Ohio State University Libraries in partnership with IFiS Publishers, 2016) Chiru, MihailPublishing and preserving detailed information about candidates running for public offi ce is a form of accountability and a precondition for the production of reliable academic knowledge about electoral and partisan politics. This article offers a guide to researchers interested in collecting candidate data in environments where both politicians who design and civil servants who administer the electoral process have a limited understanding of the relevance of such data and where their bureaucratic capacity is underdeveloped. It does so by focusing on the case of Romania, where no complete registry of candidatures at parliamentary elections exists and key information about the candidates running in the 1990–2000 elections seems to have been lost forever. We employ process tracing and an in-depth analysis of legal documents to reveal the causes of this outcome. The article describes how a team of researchers devised and implemented several research strategies to cope with scarce data, the various types of logistical or methodological obstacles encountered and the solutions used in order to recover data and build a new, matched dataset of Romanian parliamentary candidates.Item Advances in Methodology in Poland: Abstracts of Ask: Research and Methods in English, 1995–2007(The Ohio State University Libraries in partnership with IFiS Publishers, 2016) Bell, Inna; Dubrow, Joshua KjerulfAsk: Research and Methods is an open access, peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to the methodology of social science research. ASK was first published in 1995 by the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Before 2008, ASK followed the tradition of other Polish language scientific journals by publishing short English language summaries of the articles. These summaries, available in the back issues of ASK, cover only a small portion of what the article is about. To provide more information about advances in Polish methodology as published in ASK from the early stages of the post-Communist era to the mid-2000s, we decided to translate the abstracts themselves. Funded by a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, we translated into English all abstracts published in ASK from 1995 to 2007.Item Back Matter (Volume 25, Issue 1, 2016)(The Ohio State University Libraries in partnership with IFiS Publishers, 2016)