Abstract
Low-dimensional spatial representations of political preferences are a widespread feature of voting advice applications (VAAs). Currently, VAA spatial maps tend to be defined on the basis of a priori reasoning. This article argues that VAA spatial maps should be empirically validated to safeguard fundamental psychometric properties – in particular, unidimensionality and reliability. We suggest dynamic scale validation as a pragmatic method for improving measurement quality in VAA spatial maps. The basic logic of dynamic scale validation is to exploit early user data as a benchmark against which ex-ante defined maps can be evaluated. We draw on data from one of the most institutionalised VAA settings, Switzerland, to illustrate this dynamic approach to scale validation.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 214-238 |
Number of pages | 25 |
Journal | Acta Politica |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 28 Feb 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2015 |
Keywords
- voting advice applications
- ideological space
- dynamic scale validation
- unidemnsionality
- reliability