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Testing the Effects of Paired Issue Statements on the Seven-Point Issue Scales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2017

William G. Jacoby
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Abstract

Many recent empirical analyses of citizens' issue attitudes rely on the seven-point issue scales, which have been included in all of the biennial National Election Studies (NES) since 1968. The question format used to create these scales requires people to respond to two different issue statements simultaneously. While this approach has a number of practical advantages, it may also distort the measurement of issue attitudes in several ways. In order to examine this possibility, a 1990 South Carolina public-opinion survey had people respond to the separate issue statements. The empirical results lead to an optimistic assessment of the seven-point scales. People do seem to regard the paired issue statements in any of the seven-point questions as the opposite sides of a political controversy. This general conclusion has some important caveats: there are several distinct dimensions underlying citizens' issue judgments, and the degree of psychological distance between conflicting issue positions varies somewhat across issues. These findings have important implications for our understanding and measurement of citizens' issue attitudes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Political Analysis , Volume 5 , 1993 , pp. 61 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Political Methodology 

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