Measuring public knowledge on nuclear weapons in the post-Cold War: dimensionality and measurement invariance across eight European countries

Fabrício M Fialho

doi:10.1186/s42409-021-00028-5

Abstract

Research on public opinion and international security has extensively examined attitudes toward nuclear weapons, but the diffusion of basic knowledge about nuclear weapons among the everyday citizens has nevertheless been mostly missed. This study proposes a working definition and advances a measurement model of knowledge on nuclear weapons in the general public. It analyzes data from two novel surveys conducted in 2018 (N = 6559) and 2019 (N = 6227) where respondents from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom answered a web survey on attitudes and factual knowledge on nuclear weapons. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic models are used to examine the dimensionality and to assess the measurement invariance of a scale of knowledge about nuclear weapons. A bifactor measurement model, where a strong general factor represents the construct of interest and specific factors account for the presence of testlets due to questionnaire design, is established and validated. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance are established across the eight samples. The findings indicate that knowledge about nuclear weapons in the general, non-expert public can be reliably measured cross-nationally.

Highlights

Pierce et al (2000) examined perceived familiarity with terms related to nuclear weapons production rather than factual knowledge in their comparative study in areas in Russia and the USA
Once again, results for the validation sample largely resemble those for the calibration sample
Education seems not to be the only predictor of knowledge about nuclear weapons but is an important one ; results in Table 7 are similar to correlations between education and political information and political thinking found in previous studies (r = 0.28 in Neuman (1981); first difference = 0.27 in Barabas et al (2014); unstandardized regression coefficient = 016–0.37 in Zaller (1986))

Summary

Introduction

Scholarship on public opinion and international security have paid close attention to attitudes toward nuclear weapons and concerns about nuclear war, their impact on mental health, their importance for security, and support to policy decisions during the Cold War and afterwards (e.g., Boehnke et al, 1989; Egeland & Pelopidas, 2021; Fiske et al, 1983; Haste, 1989; Haworth, Sagan, & Valentino 2019; Herron & Jenkins-Smith, 2006, 2014; Herzog & Baron, 2017; Kramer et al, 1983; McAllister & Mughan, 1986; Pelopidas, 2017; Press et al, 2013; Rosi, 1965; Russett, 1990-1991; Russett & Deluca, 1983; Sagan& Valentino, 2017; Zweigenhaft, 1984; Zweigenhaft et al, 1986). Compared with what has been learned about attitudes toward nuclear weapons, public knowledge about such devices remains lesser studied and known. Since Graham’s (1988) review of measures of public knowledge of nuclear issues from -existing surveys, little progress has been made. Pierce et al (2000) examined perceived familiarity with terms related to nuclear weapons production rather than factual knowledge in their comparative study in areas in Russia and the USA. In their study of Indian elites, Cortright and Mattoo (1996) found that respondents believed to be difficult to obtain information about nuclear weapons in Fialho Measurement Instruments for the Social Sciences (2021) 3:10 the country, but no measure of factual knowledge is presented. The paucity of studies on public knowledge about nuclear weapons leaves important gaps in the fields of public opinion and international security

Objectives

Results

Conclusion