This project is the result of interdisciplinary collaboration to re-examine and evaluate the external political efficacy constructs used in the American National Election Survey. These measures of how people perceive government responsiveness have gone largely unchanged since their conception in the 1950s despite having reliability and validity issues. We argue for an overhaul of the current measures and propose robust, viable alternatives. Using qualitative and quantitative research, we present a new external efficacy construct. Pre-tests have found our new measure to be robust to theoretical expectations and consistent across subgroups.
Project Team:
- Katherine Haenschen, Principal Investigator; Faculty, Criminology and Criminal Justice
- Kevin Drakulich, Principal Investigator; Faculty, Political Science and Communication
- Anna Zhang, Graduate Research Assistant; PhD Candidate, Sociology
Publications:
This project was presented as “Introducing a New External Efficacy” at the American Political Science Association 2024 Annual Meeting as part of the “Contemporary Issues in Public Opinion Research Methods” at the American Political Science Association 2024 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/apsa/apsa24/index.php?cmd=Online+Program+View+Session&selected_session_id=2156418&PHPSESSID=g7p4egpt68pigt5vvgraovhgee
