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Enhancing the Validity and Cross-Cultural Comparability of Measurement in Survey Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2004

GARY KING ,
CHRISTOPHER J. L. MURRAY ,
JOSHUA A. SALOMON  and
AJAY TANDON
GARY KING
Affiliation:
Harvard University
CHRISTOPHER J. L. MURRAY
Affiliation:
World Health Organization
JOSHUA A. SALOMON
Affiliation:
Harvard University
AJAY TANDON
Affiliation:
World Health Organization
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Abstract

We address two long-standing survey research problems: measuring complicated concepts, such as political freedom and efficacy, that researchers define best with reference to examples; and what to do when respondents interpret identical questions in different ways. Scholars have long addressed these problems with approaches to reduce incomparability, such as writing more concrete questions—with uneven success. Our alternative is to measure directly response category incomparability and to correct for it. We measure incomparability via respondents' assessments, on the same scale as the self-assessments to be corrected, of hypothetical individuals described in short vignettes. Because the actual (but not necessarily reported) levels of the vignettes are invariant over respondents, variability in vignette answers reveals incomparability. Our corrections require either simple recodes or a statistical model designed to save survey administration costs. With analysis, simulations, and cross-national surveys, we show how response incomparability can drastically mislead survey researchers and how our approach can alleviate this problem.

Type
CORRECTION
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 98 , Issue 1 , February 2004 , pp. 191 - 207
Copyright
© 2004 by the American Political Science Association

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