Conceptualizing and measuring democracy: evaluating alternative indices.
By: Munck, Gerardo L.
Contributor(s): Verkuilen, Jay.
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 2002Description: p.5-34.Subject(s): Democracy
In:
Comparative Political StudiesSummary: A comprehensive and integrated framework for the analysis of data is offered and used to assess data sets on democracy. The framework first distinguishes among three challenges that are sequentially addressed: conceptualization, measurement, and aggregation. In turn, it specifies distinct tasks asociated with these challenges and the standards of assessment that pertain to each task. This framework is applied to the data sets on democracy most frequently used in current statistical research, generating a systematic evaluation of these data sets. The authors' conclusion is that constructors of democracy indices lend to be quite self-conscious about methodological issues but that even the best indices suffer fr om important weaknesses. More constructively, the article's assessment of existing data sets on democracy identifies distinct areas in which attempts to improve the quality of data on democracy might fruitfully be focused. -Reproduced.
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | Volume no: 35, Issue no: 1 | Available | AR51615 |
A comprehensive and integrated framework for the analysis of data is offered and used to assess data sets on democracy. The framework first distinguishes among three challenges that are sequentially addressed: conceptualization, measurement, and aggregation. In turn, it specifies distinct tasks asociated with these challenges and the standards of assessment that pertain to each task. This framework is applied to the data sets on democracy most frequently used in current statistical research, generating a systematic evaluation of these data sets. The authors' conclusion is that constructors of democracy indices lend to be quite self-conscious about methodological issues but that even the best indices suffer fr om important weaknesses. More constructively, the article's assessment of existing data sets on democracy identifies distinct areas in which attempts to improve the quality of data on democracy might fruitfully be focused. -Reproduced.
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