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Don't Know Much about Democracy: Reporting Survey Data with Nonsubstantive Responses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

Jonathan Reilly  and
L. J Zigerell
Jonathan Reilly
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
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Abstract

Large majorities in nearly every country support democracy, according to studies of cross-national surveys. But many of these reports have treated as missing data persons who did not provide a substantive response when asked to offer an opinion about the suitability of democracy as a regime type for their country, which has led to substantial overestimates of expressed support for democracy in some countries. This article discusses the consequences of excluding such nonsubstantive responses and offers suggestions to improve the study of popular support for democracy.

Type
Features
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , July 2012 , pp. 462 - 467
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

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