Question Design, Response Set and the Measurement of Left/Right Thinking in Survey Research
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7269802 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ronald D Lambert (University of Waterloo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 135-144 |
| Publication date | 1983-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0008423900028043 |
| OpenAlex | W2316864338 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
| References cited | 17 |
This note considers the possibility that the format of the interview schedules in the 1965 and 1968 national election surveys may have influenced respondents' ratings of the major political parties on the seven-point left-wing/right-wing scale. It argues that the use of 12 additional scales, defined by more widely understood adjectives such as good/bad and powerful/weak, reduced the willingness of respondents to admit their ignorance and increased their use of the midpoint on this scale. The instructions in 1968 also urged respondents to use the scales even if they were unsure of their meanings. Some idea of the magnitude of these effects is provided by the 1979 survey in which only the left/right scale was employed. Eliminating these artifacts in 1979 contributed to a picture of a party system that was more clearly differentiated and polarized along the left/right continuum
Cartography · Geography · Geometry · Ignorance · Left and right · Left-wing politics · Point (geometry · Political science · Politics · Right wing · Scale (ratio · Set (abstract data type · Survey research · Applied Psychology · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Engineering · Law · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Psychology
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Moving beyond the urban/rural cleavage
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How adaptive is ideological reasoning? Evidence from acculturation of left–right ideology among immigrants in Western Europe
Do Canadians Distinguish Between Parties? Perceptions of Party Competence
The Social Sources of Political Knowledge
Left or Centre? The Canadian Jewish Electorate, 1953–1983
In Search of Left/Right Beliefs in the Canadian Electorate
Canadian Political Ideology
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Voting Behaviour among the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Electorate
Political tolerance and American democracy
Political choice in Canada
Political Change in Britain
Political Change in Britain
Working Papers on Canadian Politics
Working Papers on Canadian Politics
Social stratification, voting behaviour, and the images of Canadian federal political parties
Mass‐elite linkages and class issues in Canada
Social Stratification
Social Stratification
Note On the Use of the Left-Right Dimension
A Note on the Ambiguous Meanings of Survey Research Measures Which Use the Words “Left” and “Right
In Search of the Stable Elements of the Left-Right Landscape
A National Sample Design
An Examination of Class and Left-Right Party Images in Canadian Voting
Semantic Differential Measures of British Party Images
| Unique citing works | 15 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,37 |
| Citation span | 1985 - 2025 (41) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 14 |