Ask: Research and Methods. Volume 22, Issue 1 (2013)
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Anti-Immigrant Sentiment and Occupational Context: An Examination of Multilevel Model Estimates When Samples Are Small
Kunovich, Robert M. pp. 5-36
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Evaluating Measurement Invariance for Social and Political Trust in Western Europe over Four Measurement Time Points (2002-2008)
Davidov, Eldad; Coromina, Lluis pp. 37-54
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How (Not) to Estimate the Design Effect of a Complex Sampling Scheme: A Case Study of the Polish Section of the European Social Survey, Round 5
Jabkowski, Piotr pp. 55-77
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Putnam et al’s Making Democracy Work: A Re-Examination in Cross-National Perspective
Valentim, Rosa; Ramos, Marilia Patta; Paiva, Carlos Águedo Nagel pp. 79-101
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Item Putnam et al’s Making Democracy Work: A Re-Examination in Cross-National Perspective(IFiS Publishers, 2013) Valentim, Rosa; Ramos, Marilia Patta; Paiva, Carlos Águedo NagelThe objective of this article is to provide a critical evaluation of the empirical analysis in Robert Putnam et al’s (2005) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. We propose new measurements of the major concepts and also incorporate information about income inequality as a factor in the determination of institutional and economic performance, all in cross-national perspective. This article has two concerns. Substantively, the research question posed is: what is the impact of the distribution of income on civic community, institutional performance and economic performance? We hypothesize that an equitable distribution of income leads to the development of a civic community, which in turn leads to institutional and socioeconomic performance. Methodologically, we consider the difficulties that arise examining this hypothesis in cross-national perspective, as well as proposed solutions, especially with regards to data harmonization and measuring the main concepts. The database of the World Values Survey (WVS) was used to test this hypothesis. The sample includes 49 countries that participated in the survey. Our reexamination synthesizes aspects of Putnam et al’s book with the methodology of Knack and Keefer’s (1997) Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A key finding is that civism and active participation in organizations and associations, taken individually, have a negative effect on the determination of economic performance and consequently on institutional performance, a finding that differs from the results of Putnam et al (2005). The distribution of income had a negative and significant effect on economic performance in the sense that in countries where income inequality is greater, economic performance was proportionally lower. This article proposes an analysis that focused more on economic factors than the analysis proposed by Putnam et al.Item How (Not) to Estimate the Design Effect of a Complex Sampling Scheme: A Case Study of the Polish Section of the European Social Survey, Round 5(IFiS Publishers, 2013) Jabkowski, PiotrDesign effect (DEFF) is a measure used to assess the effectiveness of a particular sampling scheme. Even though its definition is remarkably simple (cf. Kish 1965: 258), its practical implementation turns out to be problematic. Researchers therefore usually simplify the estimation of DEFF by independently determining the values of three components, namely, the clustering effect (DEFFc), the stratification effect (DEFFs) and the effect of unequal sampling probabilities (DEFFp) and by multiplying these partial measures to obtain a measure of overall effect. However, the validity of such a simplified version depends on strict formal requirements which are met only in a few sampling schemes. The subject of the analysis presented here is the sampling scheme in the Polish section of round 5of the European Social Survey (ESS). It will be shown that the method of DEFF estimation applied by the Polish coordinators of the project, which is compatible with the methodological recommendations of ESS (cf. Lynn et al. 2007: 114),does not satisfy the formal criteria that would validate its use. The author proposes two other ways of estimating the size of DEFF (cf. Gabler et al. 2006: 116-117) appropriate for the sampling scheme in ESS5-PL. Empirical analyses indicate that the use of the simplified procedure of DEFF prediction leads to significant underestimation of variance inflation in the sample design of ESS5-PL and, in turn, to overestimation of effective sample size.Item Evaluating Measurement Invariance for Social and Political Trust in Western Europe over Four Measurement Time Points (2002-2008)(IFiS Publishers, 2013) Davidov, Eldad; Coromina, LluisIt is a well-documented fact that social trust, i.e., the extent to which people trust others, and political trust, i.e., trust in political institutions, are key factors in social capital theory. However, to compare these concepts in cross-national or longitudinal frameworks, it is important to first establish whether the measurements of these concepts are compatible across countries or over time. This paper tests the measurement and cross-national and longitudinal invariance properties of social and political trust. We use multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA) to evaluate the different levels of invariance (configural, metric and scalar) using data from the European Social Survey (ESS) measured at four different time points (2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008) in seven Western European countries. In a second step, the country mean rankings of social and political trust are computed based on the latent scores and compared with those based on traditional sum score measurements. This comparison illustrates the potential inaccuracy of sum scores for country mean comparisons when measurement invariance is not supported by the data.Item Anti-Immigrant Sentiment and Occupational Context: An Examination of Multilevel Model Estimates When Samples Are Small(IFiS Publishers, 2013) Kunovich, Robert M.Many who study anti-immigrant sentiment attribute negative attitudes among the native population to objective economic threats that immigrants may pose. In multilevel studies, researchers focus almost exclusively on geographic regions, such as metropolitan areas or countries, as contexts within which to examine the consequences of objective economic threats. Although geographic regions are relevant, it is important to measure competition in other contextual units, such as occupations. Methodological challenges, however, have inhibited the measurement of economic competition and other important concepts in alternative contexts. Small sample sizes within occupations, for example, raise questions about statistical power and estimation. In this paper, the author uses data from the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS) to examine the consequences of small occupation-specific sample sizes for multilevel models predicting the perceived threat of immigrants in the US. The author examines estimates using different groupings within the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) scheme: 1) 390 detailed occupations, 2) 116 minor groups, 3) 28 sub-major groups and 4) 9 major groups. Results demonstrate that estimates based on a larger number of occupations (i.e., 390 or 116) are generally adequate despite the small occupation-specific sample sizes. Moreover, pooling the data substantially reduces the between-occupation variance, which may lead researchers to conclude that occupations are irrelevant.