Comparative Survey Research Research Articles

Truth Be in the Field: Conducting Comparative Survey Research in a Multicultural Society such as South Africa

Set against growing interest and advances in relation to multinational, multiregional, and multicultural (3MC) survey research, this paper will reflect on some of the survey challenges that inevitably confront the survey scientist in South Africa. South Africa is a heterogeneous, multicultural society with a variety of socio-economic problems and large inequalities and endeavors to collect data involves appreciable challenges. This paper will use examples and experiences from the South African Social Attitude Survey (SASAS) which has been conducted annually since 2003 in South Africa. It will also reflect on challenges experienced as part of participating in cross-national survey research, specifically focusing on its participation in the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), as well as more recent engagement with the European Social Survey (ESS) and International Wellbeing Group (IWbG). This paper will focus on practical, field-related difficulties that may arise and will discuss how these challenges is best handled within the South African context.

Internationally Comparative Research Designs in the Social Sciences: Fundamental Issues, Case Selection Logics, and Research Limitations

This paper synthesizes methodological knowledge derived from comparative survey research and comparative politics and aims to enable researches to make prudent research decisions. Starting from the data structure that can occur in international comparisons at different levels, it suggests basic definitions for cases and contexts, i. e. the main ingredients of international comparison. The paper then goes on to discuss the full variety of case selection strategies in order to highlight their relative advantages and disadvantages. Finally, it presents the limitations of internationally comparative social science research. Overall, the paper suggests that comparative research designs must be crafted cautiously, with careful regard to a variety of issues, and emphasizes the idea that there can be no one-fits-all solution.

Dalits and Dispossession: A Comparison

ABSTRACT Widespread “land wars” in contemporary India have rekindled older debates over the implications of capitalism for caste, with some arguing that land dispossession for new economy projects may be liberating for Dalits. We assess this argument through comparative ethnographic and survey research into the consequences of dispossession for Dalits in the cases of two Special Economic Zones built during the 2000s. We advance three arguments. The first, methodological, is that approaching this question requires systematically comparing the outcomes of dispossession for Dalits relative to upper castes. The second, based on such an assessment, is that the interaction between exclusionary growth and caste-based agrarian inequalities has in both cases expanded socio-economic inequalities between upper and lower castes and left most dispossessed Dalits worse off in absolute terms. Third, the cases demonstrate important qualitative differences across generally bad outcomes for Dalits, which derive from the combination of project characteristics and pre-existing agrarian inequalities. While demonstrating how the exclusionary growth driving dispossession in contemporary India is generally unpromising for Dalits, we underscore the importance of comparative ethnographic research into the interaction between different forms of dispossession and specific agrarian social structures.

Anxiety, depression, self-esteem among children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic parents.

Context:Children of alcoholics (COAs) face risks of behavioral problems during childhood and mental health problems in adult life. Identifying these problems at the earliest can significantly reduce the problems in future.Aims:To compare the anxiety, depression, and self-esteem between COA and non-COA parents.Settings and Design:A cross-sectional comparative survey research design was adopted for the present study. The study was conducted at selected government high school located in Bangalore urban.Subjects and Methods:The simple random sampling technique was used. A total of 200 children comprising 100 children of each alcoholic parents and nonalcoholic were recruited for the study. A screening test (modified) was used for identifying COA. Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC), and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used to assess anxiety, depression, and self-esteem, respectively.Statistical Analysis Used:Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software package (version 23).Results:The results show that there is statistically significant difference between COA and non-COA group with regard to anxiety, depression, self-esteem, separation anxiety, social phobia, obsessive compulsive problems, and physical injury.Conclusion:The study concludes that COAs are having higher rate of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem compared with children of nonalcoholics.

English

Seed systems that provide farmers with planting materials may be divided into formal and informal systems. For the sweet potato sector, the informal seed system is the main provider of planting materials to small and medium sized farmers in developing countries. This informal system provides planting materials to smallholder farmers at the right time, place and quantity. However, for it to be effective there must be an appropriate means of communication between multipliers and buyers of sweet potato vines. This may be achieved with the use of mobile phones. Mobile phones are said to have great impact in improving trade through provision of accurate and timely information directly to farmers. However mobile phones usage in agriculture is still low. Many farmers still rely on the traditional way of accessing information which seems inadequate. This study characterized users and non-users of mobile phones and assessed factors that influenced mobile phones usage in sweet potato vines trade. A cross sectional causal comparative survey research design was used.  The study obtained primary data from 140 randomly selected respondents in three purposively selected project sub-counties in Gulu district. Descriptive statistics and probit regression were used to analyse the data. Our results indicated that users and non-users of mobile phones in sweet potato vines marketing differed in a number of socio-economic characteristics. Users of mobile phone were on average younger, better educated and had bigger sweet potato fields. The Probit regression results revealed that the farmers’ age negatively influenced the decision to use mobile phones in sweet potato vines trade. On the other hand, education and household income positively influenced the decision to use mobile phones in sweet potato vine trade.  Mobile phones therefore have potential for improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and should be specifically targeted to lure the youths into agriculture. Key words: Mobile phones, sweet potato vines, seed system, marketing, Gulu district. &nbsp

Students' Perceptions of Grading Practices and Impacts on Mindset Development

This study examined the impact grading policies have on students’ mindsets in urban Midwestern middle schools. The components of this quasi-experimental, causal comparative survey research relied on the grading policies in place at the school level and the students’ reporting of their mindset. The findings demonstrated no statistically significant differences between the mindset levels of students from schools with different grading policies. Further analysis revealed inconsistencies between student perceptions of the grading practices and the schools’ stated grading policies. These findings begin to explore the impact grading practices have on students, during the transition from traditional to standards based grading.

The Secularization Theory—Not Disconfirmed, Yet Rarely Tested

Abstract Tendencies of secularization-religiosity decreases in Western societies since 1950-have been found abundantly in comparative survey research. They are taken as starting point to examine what the theory of secularization predicts and which predictions have been confirmed. It is shown that the three canonical theories of the change of religiosity-secularization, individualization, and market theory-are identical in their structure und can be integrated as the secularization theory. The secularization theory has been tested in cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, and by macro and multi-level analyses-that is, cross-classfied in four forms. Neglecting cross-sectional macro analyses, there are only 11 publications within the three remaining forms. They confirm a negative effect of social differentiation throughout und a negative effect of cultural pluralization often. Yet they often fail to control for important micro impacts upon religiosity, such as denomination or parenthood. In sum, they show that the secularization theory is by no means disconfirmed, yet rarely tested.

Impact of Massification on Resource Adequacy in Public and Private Universities in Kenya

The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of resource adequacy in public and private universities in Kenya. Massification is the rapid enrolment of students in universities. Kenya has expanded her student enrolment in universities for her development needs. Research findings raise pertinent issues touching on the quality of education in the Kenyan universities. The study adopted a causal- comparative survey research design. The respondents were students and lecturers in the eight purposely selected universities in Kenya. A sample of 399 respondents consisting of 361 students, 22 lecturers and 16 heads of Department from four public and four private universities in Kenya were selected for the study through simple random sampling technique. The inferential statistics used in the study was chi-square. The hypothesis of the study was stated as “there is no statistical significant difference on the impact of massification on resource adequacy between public and private universities in Kenya. The study found that there is no significant statistical difference on the impact of massification on resource adequacy between public and private universities. From the study it was concluded that there was no statistical significance difference on the impact of massification on resource adequacy between public and private universities in Kenya. The study recommends that university management in public universities should provide adequate learning, welfare services, computing services and human resources to improve the quality of education and training in the universities in Kenya.

Cross-National Trends in Religious Service Attendance.

The nature of religious change and the future of religion have been central questions of social science since its inception. But empirical research on this question has been quite American-centric, encouraged by the conventional wisdom that the United States is an outlier of religiosity in the developed world, and, more pragmatically, by the availability of survey data. The dramatic growth in the number and reach of cross-national surveys over the past two decades has offered a corrective. These data have allowed research on religious trends in the United States, Canada, and Europe, putting American trends into comparative relief. This research synthesis reviews the past quarter century of cross-national comparative survey research on religious behavior, focusing on religious service attendance as a commonly measured behavior that is arguably more equivalent across societies and cultures than other measures of religiosity. The lack of evidence for religious revival is highlighted, noting instead declining rates of attendance in the United States and Canada, and either declining rates or low "bottomed-out" stability in Western Europe, most of Eastern Europe, and Australia and New Zealand. Finally, countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia are discussed to the extent that research allows, before a call for future research-in these places in particular-is made in order to correct for the Western and Christian focus of much of the research on cross-national religious trends.

Can Patriots Be Critical after a Nationalist War? The Struggle Between Recognition and Marginalization of Dissenting Voices

Previous research suggests that the relationship between ingroup identification and reactions to moral violations perpetrated by ingroup members depends on the mode of identification: while glorification lowers group‐based guilt, critical attachment enhances it. In our first study, based on comparative survey research, this pattern was replicated in Serbia, but not in Croatia. In Croatia, highly attached respondents tended to reject criticism of the past war irrespective of their mode of identification. In a second study, we sought to explain the Croatian results by examining how critical attachment is denied legitimacy. We analyzed the rhetorical structure of a parliamentary debate around regime‐critical media coverage. The analyses show how the marginalization of critics is anchored in (1) a monolithic construction of the nation, which sacralizes particular elements and places them beyond discussion, and (2) a construction of the international context as too threatening to permit any dissent. Overall, the results of this mixed‐method study highlight that the opportunity to be recognized as a critical patriot depends on a nation's sociopolitical climate.

Het veranderende medialandschap en jobtevredenheid bij Vlaamse beroepsjournalisten

Job satisfaction of journalists in the changing media landscape Job satisfaction of journalists in the changing media landscape This study focuses on the job satisfaction of Flemish professional journalists. On the basis of a comparative survey research conducted in 2003 (N = 1026), 2008 (N = 682) and 2013 (N = 751), we identified shifts in job satisfaction and differences between subgroups in terms of gender, age, type of contract and job function. The concept of job satisfaction is operationalized using fourteen job intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are rated on a five point Likert scale. The results show that Flemish journalists adopt a fairly satisfied attitude towards their job. Journalists are concerned about job security, workload and promotion particularly after 2008, when the financial and economic crisis has also affected the Flemish media market (layoffs, concentration, etc.). The level of job satisfaction is related to the type of contract and the job function of journalists. There is also a clear gender component in the discussion: female journalists are not less satisfied with their job, but find it more difficult to combine it with a social and family life.

A Comparative Study on Power Point Presentation and Traditional Lecture Method in Material Understandability, Effectiveness and Attitude.

The aim of this study was to compare PPT and traditional lecture method in material understandability, effectiveness and attitude among university students. Comparative descriptive survey research design was employed to answer the research questions raised. Four hundred and twenty nine participants were selected randomly using stratified sampling followed by lottery method. Questionnaire was used to get data from the study participants. Descriptive statistics like percentage, frequencies, means and t-test were used to analyze data. The study revealed that, lecture method was more helpful than power point presentation in material understandability and effective in teaching/learning process, and it was statistical significant. Students have more positive attitude towards lecture method than PPT, which implies it was more entertaining/engaging. Students perceived the instructor using power point as putting less effort in the class, and the difference was statistically significant. That means, those instructors who use PPT put less effort than lecture method. Even though it is not safe to conclude and generalize, for quantitative and qualitative courses students were preferred to be taught by lecture method regardless of their department and faculty. In effectiveness, lecture practice was more effective than PPT method. In general, the result of this study is discouraging, given the high level of investment in and the spread of power point teaching technology. So, an intelligent use of teaching technologies and methods is very crucial in increasing students’ achievement. Key words: Power point presentation, traditional lecture method, material understandability, effectiveness and attitude.

Macroeconomics, economic crisis and electoral outcomes: A national European pool

An abundance of comparative survey research argues the presence of economic voting as an individual force in European elections, thereby refuting a possible ecological fallacy. But the hypothesis of economic voting at the aggregate level, with macroeconomics influencing overall electoral outcomes, seems less sure. Indeed, there might be a micrological fallacy at work, with the supposed individual economic vote effect not adding up to a national electoral effect after all. Certainly that would account for the spotty evidence linking macroeconomics and national election outcomes. We examine the possibility of a micrological fallacy through rigorous analysis of a large time-series-cross-sectional data set of European nations. From these results, it becomes clear that the macroeconomy strongly moves national election outcomes, with hard times punishing governing parties, and good times rewarding them. Further, this economy–election connection appears asymmetric, altering under economic crisis. Indeed, we show that economic crisis, defined as negative growth, has much greater electoral effects than positive economic growth. Hard times clearly make governments more accountable to their electorates.

Assessing Multinational Interest in STEM: Implementing a Comparative Survey Research Study in China

This paper introduces the design and implementation of a comparative survey research project, amistem [Assessing Multinational Interest in stem (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)] in China, the U.S., and Australia that is being conducted by researchers at Indiana University. We begin with an overview of how survey research has developed in China during the past two decades, especially in the field of higher education. This analysis provides the backdrop for considering the challenges we faced in “internationalizing” the stem survey research project. Part two of the paper illuminates the difficulties of implementing the study in multiple contexts, including China. Part three of the paper examines challenges related to the translation and cultural adaptation of the u.s.-based survey for the Chinese context. Our conclusions shed light on the contexts, processes, challenges and possibilities of conducting multi-national survey research in China, as well as on ways to insure that multi-national surveys are culturally appropriate and comparable.

Relating news analysis and public opinion: Applying a communications method as a ‘tool’ to aid interpretation of survey results

This article documents the methodological steps taken to use news analysis as a ‘tool’ for retrieving systematic information on political events to be used in the interpretation of findings from surveys on public opinion. The approach uses the selection function of mass media in producing ‘news’ as a proxy to identify the ‘political climate’ of a specific country at a specific time. This information on ‘political climate’ can be used to control whether ‘exceptional’ political events occurred during the period of fieldwork for surveys on public opinion that may have unduly biased the findings. Such a tool is especially useful for cross-national comparative survey research that is also longitudinal and the project described here was conducted within the framework of the European Social Survey (ESS). The specific news analysis method used to develop the tool draws inspiration from ‘claims-making analysis’.1

After Babel: Language and the Fundamental Challenges of Comparative Aging Research

The rapid growth in comparative survey research carried out in multiple countries, or among different language communities within a single nation, has given rise to a renewed concern with problems of translation. The fundamental problem facing the comparative survey researcher relates to the complexity and subjectivity of language, and the fact that complete equivalence of concepts in different linguistic, cultural, and social class contexts may be in principle impossible to achieve. Yet language remains the only medium through which information concerning subjective states, values, and beliefs can be collected. That language and the subjective constructs to which it refers are influenced by a wide range of cultural and social factors. This fact has particular relevance for comparative aging research since older individuals are often monolingual in their native languages and more tied to traditional cultures than younger individuals. This paper consists of a review of basic issues related to the nature of language and communication, and discusses the possibility of a truly scientific translation process. It outlines current best practices, and also raises questions related to the common practice of using information collected with translated survey instruments in ways that assume it reflects a comparable and quantifiable latent construct.

Opportunities and challenges in the expansion of cross-national survey research

Past decades have witnessed significant expansion in the reach of public opinion surveys. While the need for comparable data from increasingly heterogeneous countries has led some to infer that survey practices must be centralized and identical, the explicit inclusion of variation between countries may well improve the enterprise of cross-national research. This paper examines some of the challenges endemic to the continued global spread of cross-national research, both at the level of cross-national survey bodies and the analyst using second-hand data. With regard to the former, we examine recent changes in the ‘product’ of comparative survey research, and the increasing recognition that improvements in both survey quality and equivalence of meaning may come from localized understandings and specifications. We also explore how individual analysts might provide important substantive and methodological insights into the broader enterprise of comparative work, further advancing decolonized methodologies by devolving methodological innovation from survey developers located in prosperous countries to analysts with second-hand data spread across a broader geography.

A Life in Political Science

Political science has been a central part of my life for over half a century. This essay records thoughts about the discipline, what it has given me, and what I hope I have given it. It records my entrance into the field and the direction of my work, and offers a personal view of the nature of political science. Using my own work as the examples, it traces the evolution of comparative survey research as a method. And it outlines a list of works on citizen voice and political equality. It focuses as well on the openness and breadth of the discipline, two of its finest virtues.

Il modello ISSP di ricerca multinazionale per sondaggio

As the methodology of population surveys establishes itself in a growing number of countries, multinational comparative surveys are becoming the primary mode of comparative research. This paper presents to the reader the ISSP which is an ongoing international collaboration currently encompassing institutions from 46 countries, all committed to comparative survey research. The ISSP collaboration is rather unique in adopting a very democratic and participatory model for its development of survey topics and questionnaire design. Following a description of the ISSP and its model of operation the advantages as well as shortcomings of this model and discussed. The second part of the paper illustrates the working of the ISSP while focusing on a module on health and health policy which will be fielded by the ISSP for the first time in 2011. The development of the module is used as illustration of ISSP procedures and introduces the potential user to ISSP data that will be made public in a couple of years.

The ISSP Model of Multinational Survey Research

As the methodology of population surveys establishes itself in a growing number of countries, multinational comparative surveys are becoming the primary mode of comparative research. This paper presents to the reader the ISSP which is an ongoing international collaboration currently encompassing institutions from 46 countries, all committed to comparative survey research. The ISSP collaboration is rather unique in adopting a very democratic and participatory model for its development of survey topics and questionnaire design. Following a description of the ISSP and its model of operation the advantages as well as shortcomings of this model and discussed. The second part of the paper illustrates the working of the ISSP while focusing on a module on health and health policy which will be fielded by the ISSP for the first time in 2011. The development of the module is used as illustration of ISSP procedures and introduces the potential user to ISSP data that will be made public in a couple of years.