Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T05:31:59.044Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Much Ado About Very Little: Reply to Herron

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2017

Lawrence S. Rothenberg  and
Mitchell S. Sanders
Lawrence S. Rothenberg
Affiliation:
Department of Management and Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. e-mail: [email protected]
Mitchell S. Sanders
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While Herron (2004, Political Analysis 12:182–190) is correct that sensitivity to changes in underlying scale and how they affect estimates and inferences is generally important, our assumption in Rothenberg and Sanders (2000, American Journal of Political Science 44:310–319) that W-NOMINATE scales can be directly compared from one Congress to another to study legislative shirking is quite defensible because scale variability is not a substantial problem. Not only are the assumptions in our original analysis regarding variability very reasonable, because any variability is quite small, but effects on consistency are marginal and, to the degree that they are relevant, indicate that our test of the shirking hypothesis is conservative. Furthermore, even generous estimates of variability in W-NOMINATE between one immediate Congress and another have little impact on results. In addition, Herron's analysis includes an unaddressed censoring problem that again, while unlikely to have much substantive relevance, indicates that Rothenberg and Sanders have worked against themselves in trying to find shirking. In conclusion, the issues that Herron highlights are of marginal consequence for the original analysis and, to the extent they matter, only buttress the findings generated and the inferences drawn.

Type
Replications and Extensions
Information
Political Analysis , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , Spring 2004 , pp. 191 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Political Methodology 2004 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chiou, Fang-Yi, and Rothenberg, Lawrence S. 2003. “When Pivotal Politics Meets Partisan Politics.” American Journal of Political Science 47: 503–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groseclose, Tim, Levitt, Steven D., and Snyder, James M. Jr. 1999. “Comparing Interest Group Scores across Time and Chambers: Adjusted ADA Scores for the U.S. Congress.” American Political Science Review 93: 33–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herron, Michael C. 2004. “Studying Dynamics in Legislator Ideal Points: Scale Matters.” Political Analysis 12: 182–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, Keith T., and Rosenthal, Howard. 1998. “The Dynamics of Interest Group Evaluations in Congress.” Public Choice 97: 323–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothenberg, Lawrence S., and Sanders, Mitchell. 2000. “Severing the Electoral Connection: Shirking in the Contemporary Congress.” American Journal of Political Science 44: 310–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar