Source Themes

Boundless but Bundled: Modelling Quasi-infinite Dimensions in Ideological Space

Ideological scales derived from policy position items are prevalent in political psychology and behavioral research. However, the underlying spatial assumptions of these scales are rarely scrutinized. This study investigates how assumptions about the …

What Explains Country-level Differences in Belief System Coherence?

Public opinion research has made tremendous progress in identifying the conditions under which individual- and group-level factors induce citizens to form coherent political attitudes, yet comparatively little attention has been given to the role of …

The Hidden Problem in Big Data: Even Infinite Information does not Guarantee Consistent Measurement

The social sciences heavily depend on the measurement of abstract constructs for quantifying effects, identifying association between variables, and testing hypotheses. In data science, constructs are also often used for forecasting, and, thanks to …

Using Particle Physics to Estimate Non-linear Expressions of Latent Constructs

Political scientists often use survey instruments to indirectly infer latent constructs such as social trust, political efficacy, and ideology. However, traditional techniques used to reconstruct latent quantities from survey data, such as principal …

What is a career politician? Theories, concepts, and measures

This paper examines the concept career politician. It seeks to clarify, systematize, and measure this ambiguous multidimensional concept in order to facilitate testing theories and hypotheses associated with it. We argue that career politicians are …