Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you, even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support
The inclusion of non-ipsative measures of party preference (in essence ratings for each of the parties of a political system) has become established practice in mass surveys conducted for election studies. They exist in different forms, known as thermometer ratings or feeling scores, likes and disl...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Published: |
2007
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1251/ |
| _version_ | 1848790570415161344 |
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| author | van der Eijk, Cees Marsh, Michael |
| author_facet | van der Eijk, Cees Marsh, Michael |
| author_sort | van der Eijk, Cees |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The inclusion of non-ipsative measures of party preference (in essence ratings for each of the parties of a political system) has become established practice in mass surveys
conducted for election studies. They exist in different forms, known as thermometer ratings or feeling scores, likes and dislikes scores, or support propensities. Usually only one of these is included in a single survey, which makes it difficult to assess the relative merits of each. The questionnaire of the Irish National Election Study 2002 (INES2002) contained three different batteries of non-ipsative party preferences. This paper investigates some of the properties of these different indicators. We focus in particular on two phenomena. First, the relationship between non-ipsative preferences and the choices
actually made on the ballot. In Ireland this relationship is more revealing than in most other countries owing to the electoral system (STV) which allows voters to cast multiple
ordered votes for candidates from different parties. Second, we investigate the latent structure of each of the batteries of party preferences and the relationships between them.
We conclude that the three instruments are not interchangeable, that they measure different orientations, and that one –the propensity to vote for a party– is by far preferable if the purpose of the study is the explanation of voters’ actual choice behaviour. This
finding has important ramifications for the design of election study questionnaires. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:14:43Z |
| format | Conference or Workshop Item |
| id | nottingham-1251 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:14:43Z |
| publishDate | 2007 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-12512020-05-04T16:26:58Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1251/ Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you, even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support van der Eijk, Cees Marsh, Michael The inclusion of non-ipsative measures of party preference (in essence ratings for each of the parties of a political system) has become established practice in mass surveys conducted for election studies. They exist in different forms, known as thermometer ratings or feeling scores, likes and dislikes scores, or support propensities. Usually only one of these is included in a single survey, which makes it difficult to assess the relative merits of each. The questionnaire of the Irish National Election Study 2002 (INES2002) contained three different batteries of non-ipsative party preferences. This paper investigates some of the properties of these different indicators. We focus in particular on two phenomena. First, the relationship between non-ipsative preferences and the choices actually made on the ballot. In Ireland this relationship is more revealing than in most other countries owing to the electoral system (STV) which allows voters to cast multiple ordered votes for candidates from different parties. Second, we investigate the latent structure of each of the batteries of party preferences and the relationships between them. We conclude that the three instruments are not interchangeable, that they measure different orientations, and that one –the propensity to vote for a party– is by far preferable if the purpose of the study is the explanation of voters’ actual choice behaviour. This finding has important ramifications for the design of election study questionnaires. 2007-08-30 Conference or Workshop Item NonPeerReviewed van der Eijk, Cees and Marsh, Michael (2007) Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you, even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support. In: Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, 29 August - 1 September 2007, 29 August - 1 September, Chicago. (Unpublished) validation; survey measurement; party preferences; non-ipsative preferences; thermometer ratings; like-dislike preference items; propensity to vote preference items; ptv; |
| spellingShingle | validation; survey measurement; party preferences; non-ipsative preferences; thermometer ratings; like-dislike preference items; propensity to vote preference items; ptv; van der Eijk, Cees Marsh, Michael Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you, even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support |
| title | Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you,
even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support |
| title_full | Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you,
even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support |
| title_fullStr | Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you,
even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support |
| title_full_unstemmed | Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you,
even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support |
| title_short | Don’t expect me to vote for you just because I like you,
even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support |
| title_sort | don’t expect me to vote for you just because i like you,
even if you do make me feel warm inside: a comparison of the validity of non-ipsative measures of party support |
| topic | validation; survey measurement; party preferences; non-ipsative preferences; thermometer ratings; like-dislike preference items; propensity to vote preference items; ptv; |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1251/ |