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A New Method for Measuring Legislative Content and Change

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  • Paul Burstein

    (Yale University)

Abstract

This article has four purposes: (1) to show that it is important to develop a satisfactory way to conceptualize and measure legislative content and change; (2) to propose criteria for evaluating measurement procedures, show that past approaches are inadequate, and propose an improved approach; (3) to apply the approach to voting by the U.S. Senate on Vietnam-related roll calls, 1964-1973; (4) to assess the validity of the approach. The proposed approach involves defining the relevant universe of content more narrowly than in most previous work and using Smallest Space Analysis to derive dimensions and locate items on them. A substantively interpretable three-dimensional solution is found, and the scores given legislative items behave statistically in ways that would be expected of valid measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Burstein, 1978. "A New Method for Measuring Legislative Content and Change," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 6(3), pages 337-364, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:6:y:1978:i:3:p:337-364
    DOI: 10.1177/004912417800600304
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Weisberg, Herbert F., 1972. "Scaling Models for Legislative Roll-Call Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(4), pages 1306-1315, December.
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    3. Kramer, Gerald H., 1971. "Short-Term Fluctuations in U.S. Voting Behavior, 1896–1964," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(1), pages 131-143, March.
    4. Sullivan, John L. & O'Connor, Robert E., 1972. "Electoral Choice and Popular Control of Public Policy: The Case of the 1966 House Elections," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(4), pages 1256-1268, December.
    5. Louis Guttman, 1968. "A general nonmetric technique for finding the smallest coordinate space for a configuration of points," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 33(4), pages 469-506, December.
    6. Fry, Brian R. & Winters, Richard F., 1970. "The Politics of Redistribution," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 508-522, June.
    7. Ginsberg, Benjamin, 1976. "Elections and Public Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 41-49, March.
    8. Kramer, Gerald H., 1971. "Short-Term Fluctuations in U.S. Voting Behavior, 1896–1964," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(1), pages 131-143, March.
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