1. 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, 25-27.11.2011.

2. 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?

3. 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

4. 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

5. Method & Sample

6. 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

7. „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%)

8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. Thank you very much for your attention! Political Ideology Lab Ágnes SZABÓ: szabo.agnes@ppk.elte.huszabo.agnes@ppk.elte.hu Balázs FEHÉR: balkave@ppk.elte.hubalkave@ppk.elte.hu

13. Figure II. Distribution of Left-Right semantic differential scale

14. 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%

15. 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