Introduction to The Comparative Study of

Electoral Systems

Jessica FortinGESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

jessica.fortin@gesis.org

David HowellUniversity of Michigandahowell@umich.edu

APSA Short Course “New Opportunities, New Challenges: The CSES & EES Data Sets”Toronto, Canada - September 2, 2009

Project Overview

The CSES Project in Brief

• CSES is designed to study variations in electoralsystems (and other political institutions)

• A CSES Module is a 10-15 minute respondent questionnaire with a specific substantive theme

• The CSES Module is included in national post-election surveys around the world

• Each Module last approximately five years

Process

1. A Planning Committee, comprised of, selected by, and informed by collaborators, designs and oversees each Module

Module 3 Planning Committee

Ian McAllister (chair)

Australia Marta Lagos Chile

Bernt Aardal Norway Radoslaw Markowski

Poland

Kees Aarts Netherlands Ekkehard Mochmann

Germany

John Aldrich USA Hans Rattinger Germany

Ulises Beltrán Mexico Hermann Schmitt Germany

André Blais Canada Michal Shamir Israel

Yun-Han Chu Taiwan Sandeep Shastri India

Juan Díez-Nicolás Spain Gábor Tóka Hungary

David A. Howell USA Jack Vowles Great Britain

Ken’ichi Ikeda Japan Bernhard Weßels Germany

Process

2. After the Planning Committee selects a theme for a Module, a stimulus paper is written

3. The full Planning Committee uses the stimulus paper to guide development of a questionnaire for the Module

4. After the questionnaire is finalized, collaborators raise funds locally and run the questionnaire in their country in a post-election survey

Coverage: Module 1

Coverage: Modules 1 and 2

Module 3 Collaborators

Process

4. Collaborators deposit data, documentation and reports with the CSES Secretariat

5. The Secretariat processes and merges the items into a single data file for comparative study

—Survey data is merged with administrative, demographic, district, and macro variables

—Micro-macro comparisons (individual behavior within institutional context) make CSES especially unique

Data Availability

— Free, public access without embargo

— Available from CSES website:

www.cses.org

— Can be read into SAS, SPSS, STATA, etc.

— Also archived at GESIS, ICPSR, and many other locations (for example, university libraries)

Website (www.cses.org)

• Our primary method of communication with our user community

• Receives 6,000 page requests monthly• Over 7,500 registrations from 134 countries

to download data since September 2002

• Many resources in addition to data: announcements, governance, workshop papers, bibliography

Election Study Quality

Election Study Quality

Included election studies must meet Aspired to Standards for Data Quality and Comparability (CSES Planning Committee, 1996)

Mode of Interviewing

...face-to-face preferred

...other methods only if quality warrants it

Module 1

Module 2

Face-to-face 70% 71%

Mail/self-completion

15% 7%

Telephone 10% 10%

Mixed 5% 12%

Timing of Interviewing

…as soon as possible after the election

Module 1:• 82% of data collections completed within

three months after election dayModule 2:• 71% of data collections completed within

three months after election day

Placement of Module

…CSES Module must be entirely in post-election…single, uninterrupted block of questions…collaborator chooses appropriate location (in

post-election study)

Module 1:• 24 of 34 election studies (for which such

information is available) administered CSES Module 1 as an uninterrupted block of questions

Sampling Procedures

…national sample from all age-eligible citizens—With adequate coverage

…random sampling procedures at all stages

…detailed documentation of sampling procedures

Sample Size

…recommend no fewer than 1,000 interviews

Module 1:• Average of 1,600 interviews per election

studyModule 2:• Average of 1,567 interviews per election

study

Field Practices

…collaborators should pre-test their instrument

…interviewers should be trained in its administration

…make every effort to achieve high response rate

…practice refusal conversion…provide data on contacts, attempts, etc.

Translation

…should back-translate and compare…collaborate on translation with others

Module 3 Design Report (borrowed from the ISSP):

• Who translated the questionnaire?• Was the translation checked or evaluated?• Was the translated questionnaire pre-tested?• What problems were there in doing the

translation?

Dataset and Documentation Quality

Dataset Quality

Quality doesn’t end after the data is collected…• Collaborators clean to their national standard• Secretariat —reviews and cleans it anew—reconciles against other data sources—does cross-national comparisons—replicates known analytical models—monitors uses of data and acts on issues

reported by users

Documentation Quality

• CSES philosophy (like the ESS): the imperfections of a study should not be hidden, but highlighted—Enhances credibility of project—Improves the quality of resulting analyses—Allows proper comparisons using the data

• Codebook notes anything we know of that has a possible impact on quality, comparability, or analytical outcomes

Documentation Quality

• Original collaborator documents are also made available for public download:—Original language questionnaires—English language questionnaire

translations—Macro report—Sample design and data collection

(methodology) report

Substantive Themes

Current Data Releases

• Module 1 (1996-2001)—July 2002 Full Release:

39 election studies, 33 countries

• Module 2 (2001-2006)—June 2007 Full Release:

41 election studies, 38 countries

• Module 3 (2006-2011)—Advance Release is forthcoming

Module 1: Performance of the System

Module 1: Performance of the System

1) The impact of constitutional and electoral systems on democratic performance:

• Parliamentary versus presidential systems

• Electoral rules

• Political parties

• 2) The importance of social cleavages

Module 1: Performance of the System, continued

3) Attitudes toward parties, political institutions, and the democratic process generally:

• Institutional variation and dimensions of democratic support

• Performance of democratic institutions and support for democracy

Module 1: Performance of the System, continued

Two sets of questions at the micro level address the substantive theme

• 3 questions evaluate the electoral process.

• 5 questions target the evaluations of the responsiveness of representatives, the performance of political parties and democracy in general.

Module 2: Accountability, Representation

Module 2: Accountability, Representation

1) Elections as accountability versus elections as representation

• which is more desirable in a democracy?

• what makes voter feel more integrated: proportionality or disproportionality?

2) voter engagement and electoral participation

• Under which conditions are citizens more engaged in their systems?

Module 2: Accountability, Representation , continued

3) The relationship between institutional context and voter choice

• Broader coverage

• electoral institutional and socio-political-economic context on one side and public opinion, voter choice and behavior on the other in new democracies

Module 2: Accountability, Representation , continued

A sets of questions at the micro level address the substantive theme

• 5 questions on political participation• 2 questions on campaign involvement• Additional questions about

democracy/corruption/fairness• Questions if voter’s views are represented• Important issues/ Performance• Previous vote choice

Module 3: Electoral Choices

Module 3: Electoral Choices

1) The Electoral Choice Set

• How do choices affect electoral decisions?

• How do supply patterns influence choice?

2) Dimensions of Choice

• Retrospective, prospective

• Ideology

• Performance evaluations

Module 3: Electoral Choices, continued

3) What happens if choices are not meaningful?

• Decline in electoral participation

• New parties might alter the choice set

• Public support may decline

Module 3: Electoral Choices, continued

A sets of questions at the micro level address the substantive theme

• Egocentric and Sociotropic issues/performance

• Like/dislike leaders• Difference choice options• Consideration voting for others / or parties

respondents would never vote for

Module 4: Proposal Titles

The list of proposal titles is:

•The micro-political foundations of social protest in democracies •Election interpretation•The political economy of electoral systems•The behavioral foundations of social politics•Voter mobilization and the professionalization of campaigns Elections and the formation of governments •Political knowledge

CSES as a Research Resource

...Most common dependent variables across modules

• Economic voting

• Voter turnout

• Citizen Engagement/ Efficacy

• Satisfaction with Democracy

• Government accountability

• Party Systems/ Cleavages

• Choice parameters

Introduction to The Comparative Study of

Electoral Systems

Jessica FortinGESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

jessica.fortin@gesis.org

David HowellUniversity of Michigandahowell@umich.edu

APSA Short Course “New Opportunities, New Challenges: The CSES & EES Data Sets”Toronto, Canada - September 2, 2009