Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T23:31:01.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Judgment and Measurement in Political Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2012

Andreas Schedler
Andreas Schedler
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico City, and IPSA. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Standard methodological advice in political science warns against the distortion of measurement decisions by judgmental elements. Judgment is subjective, common wisdom asserts, it produces opaque, biased, and unreliable data. This article, by contrast, argues that judgment is a critical intersubjective ingredient of political measurement that needs to be acknowledged and rationalized, rather than exorcised.

Type
Research Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 21 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

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

Adcock, Robert, and Collier, David. 2001. “Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research.” American Political Science Review 95(3): 529–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, Devleeschauwer, Arnaud, Kurlat, Sergio, and Wacziarg, Romain. 2003. “Fractionalization.” Journal of Economic Growth 8(2): 155–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banks, Arthur S. 2011. Cross-National Time-Series Data Archive, Databanks International. Jerusalem, Israel. (http://www.databanksinternational.com), accessed December 29, 2011.Google Scholar
Bevir, Mark. 2008. “Meta-Methodology: Clearing the Underbrush.” In The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology, eds. Box-Steffensmeier, Janet M., Brady, Henry E., and Collier, David. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bevir, Mark., and Kedar, Asaf. 2008. “Concept Formation in Political Science: An Anti-Naturalist Critique of Qualitative Methodology.” Perspectives on Politics 6(3): 503–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, Kenneth A., and Paxton, Pamela. 2000. “Subjective Measures of Liberal Democracy.” Comparative Political Studies 33(1): 58–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, Henry E. 2004. “Doing Good and Doing Better: How Far Does the Quantitative Template Get Us?” In Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards, eds. Brady, Henry E. and Collier, David. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Brady, Henry E., and Collier, David, eds. 2004. Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Lanham, MI: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Carmines, Edward G., and Woods, James A.. 2005. “Validity Assessment.” In Encyclopedia of Social Measurement, vol. 3, ed. Kempf-Leonard, Kimberly. Oxford: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ciuk, David, Jacoby, William G., and Pyle, Kurt. 2011. “Measurement Theory.” In The Encyclopedia of Political Science, ed. George Thomas Kurian. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Collier, Paul, and Hoeffler, Anke. 2004. “Greed and Grievance in Civil War.” Oxford Economic Papers 56(4): 563–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppedge, Michael, and Gerring, John. 2011. “Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: A New Approach.” Perspectives on Politics 9(2): 247–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elklit, Jørgen, and Reynolds, Andrew. 2005. “A Framework for the Systematic Study of Election Quality.” Democratization 12(2): 147–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, M. Steven. 2006. “Creative Constitutions: How Do Parliamentary Powers Shape the Electoral Arena?” In Electoral Authoritarianism: The Dynamics of Unfree Competition, ed. Schedler, Andreas. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Freedom House, Nations in Transit 2011. (http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/NIT-2011-Methodology.pdf), accessed July 1, 2011.Google Scholar
Gervasoni, Carlos. 2008. “Conceptualizing and Measuring Subnational Regimes: An Expert Survey Approach.” Political Concepts Working Paper #23, IPSA Committee on Concepts and Methods. (http://www.concepts-methods.org/WorkingPapers/PDF/1029), accessed November 14, 2011.Google Scholar
Goertz, Gary. 2006. Social Science Concepts: A User's Guide. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habermas, Jürgen. 1981. Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns: Handlungsrationalität und gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Hawken, Angela, and Munck, Gerardo L.. 2011. “Does the Evaluator Make a Difference? Measurement Validity in Corruption Research.” Political Concepts Working Paper #48, IPSA Committee on Concepts and Methods. (http://www.concepts-methods.org/WorkingPapers/PDF/1078), accessed November 14, 2011.Google Scholar
Jackman, Simon. 2008. “Measurement.” In The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology, eds. Box-Steffensmeier, Janet M., Brady, Henry E, and Collier, David. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, James. 2006. “Consequences of Positivism: A Pragmatist Assessment.” Comparative Political Studies 39(2): 224–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. 1943. The Critique of Judgment, trans. John Miller Dow Meiklejohn. New York: Wiley. Mobilereference e-book.Google Scholar
King, Gary, Keohane, Robert O., and Verba, Sidney. 1994. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Gary, Murray, Christopher J.L., Salomon, Joshua A., and Tandon, Ajay. 2003. “Enhancing the Validity and Cross-Cultural Comparability of Measurement in Survey Research.” American Political Science Review 94(4): 567–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurtz, Marcus, and Schrank, Andrew. 2008. “Promises and Perils of Cross-National Datasets: Perceptions, Objective Indicators, and ‘the Rule of Law.’” Paper presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, August 28–31.Google Scholar
Landman, Todd, and Häusermann, Julia. 2003. Map-Making and Analysis of the Main International Initiatives on Developing Indicators on Democracy and Good Governance. Essex, UK: University of Essex Human Rights Centre and the Statistical Office of the Commission of the European Union (Eurostat).Google Scholar
Lieberman, Evan S. 2010. “Bridging the Qualitative-Quantitative Divide: Best Practices in the Development of Historically Oriented Replication Databases.” Annual Review of Political Science 13: 35–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melton, James, Elkins, Zachary, and Ginsburg, Tom. 2010. “On the Interpretability of Law: Lessons from the Decoding of National Constitutions.” Political Concepts Working Paper #44, IPSA Committee on Concepts and Methods. (http://www.concepts-methods.org/WorkingPapers/PDF/1072), accessed November 14, 2011.Google Scholar
Michell, Joel. 2005. “Measurement Theory.” Encyclopedia of Social Measurement vol. 2, ed. Kempf-Leonard, Kimberly. Oxford: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Neuendorf, Kimberly A. 2002. The Content Analysis Guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Pemstein, Daniel, Meserve, Stephen A., and Melton, James. 2010. “Democratic Compromise: A Latent Variable Analysis of Ten Measures of Regime Type.” Political Analysis 18(4): 426–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennings, Paul, Keman, Hans, and Kleinnijenhuis, Jan. 1999. Doing Research in Political Science: An Introduction to Comparative Methods and Statistics. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Pepinsky, Thomas B. 2007. “How to Code.” Political Concepts Working Paper #18, IPSA Committee on Concepts and Methods. (http://www.concepts-methods.org/WorkingPapers/PDF/1034), accessed November 14, 2011.Google Scholar
Pettit, Philip. 2008. Made with Words: Hobbes on Language, Mind, and Politics. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. Kindle edition.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam, Alvarez, Michael E., Cheibub, José Antonio, and Limongi, Fernando. 2000. Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950–1990. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sala, Brian R., Scott, John T., and Spriggs, James F. II. 2007. “The Cold War on Ice: Constructivism and the Politics of Olympic Figure Skating Judging.” Perspectives on Politics 5(1): 17–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 2009a. “Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics.” In Concepts and Method in Social Science: The Tradition of Giovanni Sartori, eds. Collier, David and Gerring, John. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 2009b. “Guidelines for concept analysis.” In Concepts and Method in Social Science: The Tradition of Giovanni Sartori, eds. Collier, David and Gerring, John. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Schaffer, Frederic Charles, and Schedler, Andreas. 2007. “What Is Vote Buying?” In Elections for Sale: The Causes and Consequences of Vote Buying, ed. Schaffer, Frederic Charles. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schedler, Andreas. 2011. “Concept Formation.” In International Encyclopædia of Political Science, eds. Badie, Bertrand, Berg-Schlosser, Dirk, and Morlino, Leonardo. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Schedler, Andreas. 2012. “The Measurer's Dilemma: Coordination Failures in Cross-National Political Data Collection.” Comparative Political Studies 45(2): forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schedler, Andreas., and Mudde, Cas. 2010. “Data Usage in Quantitative Comparative Politics.” Political Research Quarterly 63(2): 417–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skaaning, Svend-Erik. 2010. “Measuring the Rule of Law.” Political Research Quarterly 63(2): 449–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Richard. 2006. “Beyond Electoral Authoritarianism: The Spectrum of Nondemocratic Regimes.” In Electoral Authoritarianism: The Dynamics of Unfree Competition, ed. Schedler, Andreas. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Stevens, Stanley S. 1946. “On the Theory of Scales of Measurement.” Science 103(2684): 677–680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, Andrew. 2005. Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar