This book gives an up to date reference on the state of the art in this highly important methodological area, which is central both to theoretical models of party competition and to empirical accounts, whether these are case studies or comparative analyses. It looks at subjects including tracking estimates of public opinion and party policy intentions in Britain and the USA; the policy space of party manifestos; and party platforms and voters' perceptions. Its panel of respected contributors reviews the refinements which have been made to established techniques as well as considering the potential and early successes of computer coding.
Author(s): Michael Laver
Edition: 1
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 272
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
List of figures......Page 11
List of tables......Page 13
List of contributors......Page 16
Series Editor's preface......Page 19
Overview......Page 22
Why should we estimate the policy positions of political actors?......Page 24
Searching for the positions of political actors: a review of approaches and a critical evaluation of expert surveys......Page 31
Expert coded text analysis......Page 52
Manifesto research since 1979: from reliability to validity......Page 54
Validating the Manifesto Research Group approach: theoretical assumptions and empirical confirmations......Page 71
Position and salience in the policies of political actors......Page 87
A framework for analysing local party policy emphases in Scotland......Page 97
The policy space of party manifestos......Page 111
Analysing party dynamics by taking partially overlapping snapshots......Page 136
Estimating interparty policy distances from election programmes in Quebec, 1970 89......Page 154
Computer coded text analysis......Page 168
A natural sentences approach to the computer coding of party manifestos......Page 170
Measurement of party positions on the basis of party programmes, media coverage and voter perceptions......Page 183
The computer coding of political texts: results from Britain, Germany, Ireland and Norway......Page 204
Estimating policy positions from the computer coding of political texts: results from Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland......Page 214
Tracking estimates of public opinion and party policy intentions in Britain and the USA......Page 238
Conclusion......Page 258
How should we estimate the policy positions of political actors?......Page 260
Index......Page 266
