Abstract
AbstractThe Satisfaction With Democracy (SWD) indicator is very often used in social sciences’ research. However, while there is debate about which concept it measures, the discussion about the size of its measurement errors (how well it measures the underlying concept ‘satisfaction with the way democracy works’) is scarce. Nonetheless, measurement errors can affect the results and threaten comparisons across studies, countries and languages. Thus, in this paper, we estimated the measurement quality (complement of measurement errors) of the SWD indicator for 7 response scales across 38 country-language groups, using three multitrait-multimethod experiments from the European Social Survey. Results show that measurement errors explain from 16% (11-point scale) to 54% (4-point scale) of the variance in the observed responses. Additionally, we provide insights to improve questionnaire design and evaluate the indicator’s comparability across scales, countries and languages.
Highlights
Political support (Easton, 1965; 1975) is considered key for the evolution of democracies
Many empirical studies of political support concentrated on a specific survey indicator: the Satisfaction With Democracy (SWD) indicator, which asks respondents how satisfied they are with the way democracy works in their country
In order to understand the reasons behind the variations in measurement quality observed in previous research about the measurement quality of the SWD indicator, we use the list of characteristics expected to affect measurement quality proposed by Saris and Gallhofer (2007)
Summary
Political support (Easton, 1965; 1975) is considered key for the evolution of democracies. Easton distinguished between a) specific support: essentially, support based on short-term utility and rather immediate performance; and b) diffuse support: a more stable, long-term attachment to the democratic regime (Thomassen and Van Ham, 2017). Drawing on this conceptualization, other scholars developed more refined models of political support, for example, Norris’ fivefold model (Norris, 2011). Many empirical studies of political support concentrated on a specific survey indicator: the Satisfaction With Democracy (SWD) indicator, which asks respondents how satisfied they are with the way democracy works in their country.
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