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Influence over State Agency Activities: A Test of Two Survey-Based Measures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Michael Baranowski  and
Donald A. Gross
Michael Baranowski
Affiliation:
Northern Kentucky University
Donald A. Gross
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
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Abstract

The valid and reliable measurement of perceived influence over executive agencies is vital to understanding bureaucratic behavior. Using a survey of 540 state agency heads in 15 states, we evaluate two such measures—a standard free-standing measure and a paired-comparison measure—in terms of conceptual clarity, theoretical utility, and susceptibility to systematic measurement error. Our results indicate that while a paired-comparison measure may be theoretically superior to a free-standing measure, missing responses, intransitivities, and respondent fatigue make the paired-comparison method less practical.

Type
The Practical Researcher
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Summer 2006 , pp. 220 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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