Measuring a whole concept with only one item? A criticism toward the Left-Right semantic differential scale Ágnes Szabó, Balázs Fehér, Nóra Miklós, Ádám Szabó, Judit Fodor Political Ideology Lab, ELTE Political Networking Conference for the Post-Communist Region,

Foci of the presentation How can Left-Right orientation be measured? How can Left-Right orientation be measured? Limitations of Left-Right semantic differential scale Limitations of Left-Right semantic differential scale Exploring the nature of the measurement Exploring the nature of the measurement What comes to mind during self-placement on the semantic differential scale? What comes to mind during self-placement on the semantic differential scale?

Measuring Left-Right orientation Left-Right semantic differential scale Kroh (2007): –Length of the scale –Middle point Yuca (2004): international comparison –Developing vs. developed countries Enyedi (2004): party preference

Frequency of answer refusal Frequency of answer refusal Fejlesztendő készségek jellemzői Three questions arise Problems surrounding the middle Problems surrounding the middle Extreme responses Extreme responses

Method & Sample

Category-system 1. Complex, can not be formulated7. Societal issues 8. Classic Left-Right related values 9. Against Left-Right related values 10. Radical-moderate dimension 11. No answer 12. Space and time 2. Not a relevant dimension 3. Party-preference 4. Affective attitude 5. Ideologies, theoretical contents 6. Economical issues

„1” „7” N=7 (6) N=12 (6) Results # 1 Classical values related to the Left (43%) Other (societal and economical issues, time and space …) Classical values related to the Right (33%) Ideological and theoretical contents (25%) Other (not relevant, complex …) „2” „6” N=39 (20) N=24 (13) Classical Left-Right related values mixed! (22%) Against Right (17%) Space and time, affective attitude (13%) Classical Left-Right related values mixed! (31%) Not radical! (13%) Party preference, ideological contents (15%)

Results #2 „3” „5” N=45 (23) N=54 (32) Classical Left-Right related values mixed! (18%) Against Right (14%) Not a relevant dimension (18%) Economical issues (12%) Classical Left-Right related values mixed! (33%) Not a relevant dimension (24%) Affective attitude (10%) Societal issues (10%) „4” Not a relevant dimension! (46%, N=33) + Complex (7%, N=5) Classical Classic Left-Right related values mixed! (14%) Radical-moderate dimension (9%, N=6) N=77 (44)

Results1 The only existing measurement  validation? What do they have in mind? (ideological content, personal liking, general values, …) Party preferences = real ideological views? Comparability? Mixed with R-M and C-L dimensions Respondents of one certain value: not a coherent group! Limitation and (minor) conclusion: – Representativeness of our respondent pool – Only one accepted measurement: limits Political Science! Summary of criticism

Results1 Key - two main levels of ideological content: institutional and personal! – what voters believe regarding political parties and the makers of politics; – what they individually think of the content and the meaning of ideologies (such as: state intervention, religion, for/against the previous system, equality). The nature of their relationship: overlapping, cross-influencing Capture – self-placement scale: institutional level of ideological thinking – personal level: ? General conclusions

Results1 Keep the self-placement scale, but with extra caution New measurements in order to – provide an alternative – capture the individual level – improve validity – be used more as dependent variables More qualitative analysis! Our own scale (Fehér et al 2011): 45 items Future of criticism: – debate – improvement: more valid results + interpretation! Solutions and suggestions for future research

Thank you very much for your attention! Political Ideology Lab Ágnes SZABÓ: Balázs FEHÉR:

Figure II. Distribution of Left-Right semantic differential scale

Table II. Frequency of main categories Main CategoryN% % without no answer 1. Complex144%5% 2. Not a relevant dimension5718%19% 3. Party preference134% 4. Affective attitude165% 5. Ideology and other theoretical content 196% 6. Economical issues144%5% 7. Societal issues114% 8. Classical Left-Right-related Values5819% 8/A Classical Left186% 8/B Classical Right268%9% 9. Against Left-Right144%5% 9/A Against Left00% 9/B Against Right93% 10. Radical-moderate dimension227% 11. No answer144% 12. Time and space dimension83%

Left-Right is not a simple dimension - Clusters Characteristics of Clusters related to the Factors 0,09 -0,08 -0,05 -0,69 1,30 -0,34 0,97 -0,80 0,64 -0,42 0,64 -0,85 -0,9 -0,6 -0,3 0,0 0,3 0,6 0,9 1,2 Classic Right- Orientation AmbivalentIntolerant-not religious Classic Left- Orientation Z-value Religion Economic Policy Tolerance