Wagner Markus, Zeglovits Eva
Department of Methods in the Social Sciences, University of Vienna, Rathausstraße 19/1/9, 1010 Vienna, Austria.
Elect Stud. 2014 Jun;34:280-290. doi: 10.1016/j.electstud.2013.09.005.
Voter assessments of party competence have become a key explanation of electoral decision-making. However, there are at least three important aspects to understanding responses to questions on issue-specific party competence: comprehension difficulties; a lack of well-formed attitudes and relevant information; and the use of response heuristics. We used 20 cognitive interviews carried out in Austria in 2011 to test competence questions. The interviews show us how respondents explain their responses. We find evidence that many people (1) may hold only weak opinions and have little information on issue-specific party competence and (2) may make use of distinct but related concepts, particularly salience and position, when answering questions about competence. We provide recommendations for researchers and survey designers based on our findings.
选民对政党能力的评估已成为选举决策的关键解释因素。然而，在理解对特定议题政党能力问题的回答时，至少有三个重要方面：理解困难；缺乏成熟的态度和相关信息；以及使用回答启发法。我们利用2011年在奥地利进行的20次认知访谈来测试能力问题。这些访谈向我们展示了受访者如何解释他们的回答。我们发现证据表明，许多人（1）可能只有微弱的观点，且对特定议题政党能力了解甚少，（2）在回答有关能力的问题时，可能会使用不同但相关的概念，特别是显著性和立场。基于我们的研究结果，我们为研究人员和调查设计者提供了建议。
