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Can We Trust Measures of Political Trust? Assessing Measurement Equivalence in Diverse Regime Types

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  • Irena Schneider

    (King’s College London)

Abstract

Do standard “trust in government” survey questions deliver measures which are reliable and equivalent in meaning across diverse regime types? I test for the measurement equivalence of political trust in a sample of 35 former Soviet and European countries using the 2010 Life in Transition Survey II conducted by the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Employing multiple group confirmatory factor analysis, I find that trust perceptions in central political institutions differ from (1) trust in regional and local political institutions, (2) trust in protective institutions like the armed forces and police and (3) trust in order institutions like the courts and police. Four measurement models achieve partial metric invariance and two reach partial scalar invariance in most countries, allowing for comparisons of correlates using latent factors from each model. I also found some clustering of measurement error and variation in the dimensionality of political trust between democratic and autocratic portions of the sample. On some measurement parameters, therefore, respondents in diverse cultures and regime types do not have equivalent understandings of political trust. The findings offer both optimism and a note of caution for researchers using political trust measures in cross-regime contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Irena Schneider, 2017. "Can We Trust Measures of Political Trust? Assessing Measurement Equivalence in Diverse Regime Types," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 963-984, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:133:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1400-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1400-8
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    1. T. W. G. Meer & E. Ouattara, 2019. "Putting ‘political’ back in political trust: an IRT test of the unidimensionality and cross-national equivalence of political trust measures," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(6), pages 2983-3002, November.
    2. Claire Durand & Luis Patricio Peña Ibarra & Nadia Rezgui & David Wutchiett, 2022. "How to combine and analyze all the data from diverse sources: a multilevel analysis of institutional trust in the world," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1755-1797, June.
    3. Fabrice Murtin & Lara Fleischer & Vincent Siegerink & Arnstein Aassve & Yann Algan & Romina Boarini & Santiago Gonzalez & Zsuzsanna Lonti & Ulrich Schmidt & Gianluca Grimalda & Rafael Hortala Vallve &, 2018. "Trust and its determinants," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03596480, HAL.
      • Fabrice Murtin & Lara Fleischer & Vincent Siegerink & Arnstein Aassve & Yann Algan & Romina Boarini & Santiago Gonzalez & Zsuzsanna Lonti & Ulrich Schmidt & Gianluca Grimalda & Rafael Hortala Vallve &, 2018. "Trust and its determinants," Working Papers hal-03596480, HAL.
    4. Immacolata Di Napoli & Pasquale Dolce & Caterina Arcidiacono, 2019. "Community Trust: A Social Indicator Related to Community Engagement," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 551-579, September.
    5. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp1934 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Bakaki, Zorzeta & Dorussen, Han, 2023. "Trust in peacebuilding organizations: A survey experiment in Haiti," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    7. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/h44c7ona088fb5o9b5dq3nt9u is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/h44c7ona088fb5o9b5dq3nt9u is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Irene Daskalopoulou, 2019. "Individual-Level Evidence on the Causal Relationship Between Social Trust and Institutional Trust," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 275-298, July.
    10. Fabrice Murtin & Lara Fleischer & Vincent Siegerink & Arnstein Aassve & Yann Algan & Romina Boarini & Santiago Gonzalez & Zsuzsanna Lonti & Ulrich Schmidt & Gianluca Grimalda & Rafael Hortala Vallve &, 2018. "Trust and its determinants," Sciences Po publications 89, Sciences Po.
      • Fabrice Murtin & Lara Fleischer & Vincent Siegerink & Arnstein Aassve & Yann Algan & Romina Boarini & Santiago Gonzalez & Zsuzsanna Lonti & Ulrich Schmidt & Gianluca Grimalda & Rafael Hortala Vallve &, 2018. "Trust and its determinants," SciencePo Working papers hal-03596480, HAL.
      • Fabrice Murtin & Lara Fleischer & Vincent Siegerink & Arnstein Aassve & Yann Algan & Romina Boarini & Santiago Gonzalez & Zsuzsanna Lonti & Ulrich Schmidt & Gianluca Grimalda & Rafael Hortala Vallve &, 2018. "Trust and its determinants," Working Papers hal-03596480, HAL.
    11. George-Cristian GAVRILOAIA, 2021. "The impact of the brain drain process on Romania - possible solutions in order to increase resilience," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 12(4), pages 267-281, February.
    12. Arnstein Aassve & Letizia Mencarini & Francesco Chiocchio & Francesco Gandolfi & Arianna Gatta & Francesco Mattioli, 2018. "Trustlab Italy: a New Dataset for the study of Trust, Family Demography and Personality," Working Papers 115, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.

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