Selected Research Papers in Social Change, Education, Labour Market, and Criminology Volume II

Table 1: Comparison of the main advantages and disadvantages of CMP and Wordscores approaches

CMP approach Wordscores approach

• High result reliability

• High result accuracy • Quick and easy coding

Advantages

Disadvantages • Possibility to recreate the content of the left-wing – right-wing division

• Requires a lot of effort

• Coders’ subjectivism • Possibility to extend fields of application

• Possibility to calculate estimation confidence range

• Problems with selection of referential texts

While discussing the limitations of both approaches, in the case of the CMP method the main identified problem is the subjectivism of the coders used to work on the analysis of political programs, although, as the authors of that method claim, proper training for the coders ensures high reliability and objectivism (Budge 2001). Besides, lots of effort and high work costs while coding program materials may also pose a problem. The application of the Wordsco r es   method is troublesome mainly because of the need to select referential texts and this issue is the most controversial one – why those specific texts should be used as reference points and not other ones. Apart from that, the authors of the Wordscores   approach, who criticise saliency theories and propose a more directional approach to parties’ ideological positions, admit that some of the words appear in the programs of leftwing or right-wing parties only. In the United Kingdom for example, the word “taxes” in the program of the Conservative Party in 1992 appeared 22 times and in the program of the Labour Party just once (Laver, Garry 2000: 626), which proves saliency theory and taking over some of the issues by political parties. The reality confirms that the first of the two concepts is the right one. However, it does not mean that the Wordscor es   approach is inaccurate.

 

4 Summary

Ideological profiles of political parties can be analysed in a number of ways. If we want to use documents of political parties for this purpose – which is the easiest and a very quick solution – we may use two competitive approaches: the CMP method and the Wordscores  method. Both solutions have their supporters and opponents and the importance of such analyses is stressed in Electoral Studies (2007). A voice of reason was Volkens’ opinion (2007), who suggests that both solutions should be treated complementarily (although Volkens is associated with CMP, she admits that the Wordscores   method has a better future). After presenting the advantages and disadvantages of both solutions, her statement seems reasonable. The CMP method certainly allows for deeper analyses and could be used in the selection of suitable referential texts for further analysis with quicker and more economical Wordscores   method. The more general division between the

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application fields of both approaches also seems reasonable. Because the coding key used in the CMP approach has been designed for the analysis of political programs, the use of the CMP method in this respect seems more right. In turn, easy analyses make the   method better for studying parties’ materials other than program documents.

While evaluating the usefulness of both approaches, we should also mention the rapid development of CACA techniques, especially text-mining techniques. Such analyses seem very promising and it is worth drawing the attention of this two approaches authors to the possibilities arising from the use of new text analysis techniques.

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About the Editors and Authors
Bacher, Johann, born 1959, professor of sociology and empirical research at the Johannes Kepler University (JKU) of Linz, Austria; head of the Department of Empirical Research at the JKU; scientific director of the Institute of Vocational Training and Adult Education at the JKU; main research fields: empirical research methods and applied statistics, educational inequality, sociology of childhood and deviant behaviour; more than 100 publications in the research fields; e-mail: [e-mail]

Dragovic, Anica, born 1966, professor of social demography, statistics for sociologists at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University (UKiM) of Skopje, Macedonia; main research fields: demography, population policy, fertility, reproductive behavior, family, migration, quantitative analysis, research methodology, monitoring and evaluation; e-mail: [e-mail]

Gorniak, Jaroslaw, professor of sociology and head of the Department of Sociology of Economy, Education and Social Research Methods at the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University Cracow, and the Center of Public Policy Analysis and Evaluation, Jagiellonian University Cracow; vice dean of Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University Cracow; Main research area: Research methods, economic sociology, evaluation and policy analysis; e-mail: [e-mail]

Grausgruber, Alfred, assistant professor at the Department of Empirical Social Research at the Johannes Kepler University Linz; main research fields: sociology of health and psychiatric health care systems, evaluation; numerous publications in these research fields; e-mail: [e-mail]

Haagen, Simon, born 1979, manager of the Center of Youth Education near Nuremberg (http://www.burg-hoheneck.de), received his diploma in social sciences (Dipl.-Sozialw.) at Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; main fields of interest: didactics and pedagogy especially in non-formal educational contexts; publications about elderly community living, combining theatre- and teaching-methods and contributions in those fields of the NurembergKrakow-Linz-Skopje-Research seminars; e-mail: [e-mail]

Henke, Laura, born 1987, MA student of sociology and social research at Bremen University, received her BA in socioeconomics at the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 2010; main fields of interest: didactics and pedagogy in higher education, sociological theory and metatheory, poverty and life course research; contributions in those fields to the Nuremberg-Krakow-Linz-

About the Editors and Authors 171

Skopje-Research seminars and the German student sociologists' congress in Munich; e-mail: [e-mail]

Hirtenlehner, Helmut, Assoc.-Prof. Dr. Mag., head of the Center for Criminology at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz and professor of criminology at the University of Applied Sciences in Linz; research interests: quantitative methods, fear of crime, punitiveness and victimology; several publications in those research fields; e-mail: [e-mail]

Lentner, Marlene, born 1982, research associate at the Institute for Vocational Training and Adult Education (Linz), lectureship at the Institute for Sociology at the JKU (Department of Empirical Research); main research fields: education (inequality, transitions, vocational education), youth; e-mail: [e-mail]

Kemethofer, David, Mag., research assistant at the Institute of Psychology and Pedagogy, Johannes Kepler University (JKU); main research fields: empirical research methods and applied statistics, criminology, educational research; e-mail: [e-mail]

Kocór, Marcin, PhD, assistant professor in the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland; scientific interests: methodology of social research, advanced technics of statistical analysis and political sociology. In his work he combines theoretical knowledge with practical experience from numerous research projects. His latest research activities consider labor market analysis and especially measuring human capital in Poland; e-mail: marcin.kocor @uj.edu.pl

Mladenovski, George, professor of sociology and cultural anthropology and head of the doctoral studies in sociology at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje; e-mail: [e-mail] ; [e-mail]

Niezgoda, Marian, born 1943, professor of sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland; honorary professor of philosophy at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia; head of the Department of Sociology of Social Communication at the Institute of Sociology at the Jagiellonian University; main research fields: sociology of education, sociology of mass communication, methodology of social research; more than 100 publications in the research fields; e-mail: [e-mail]

Prosch, Bernhard, Univ.-Prof., Dr., professor of social work and social policy at the University of Duisburg-Essen (temporary position) and Gestalt therapist; main research areas: economic sociology, game theory, innovative methods of university teaching; e-mail: [e-mail]
About the Editors and Authors 172

Socaciu, Nicoleta, born 1979, postgradual master degree in economic developments, scientific assistant at the Department of Sociology and Empirical Sociological Research at the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg; main research and interest fields: intercultural and comparative educational research, evaluation methods, intercultural and international cooperation; e-mail: [e-mail]

Starzer, Barbara, Dr., scientific assistant at the Institute for Criminal Law, Johannes Kepler University (JKU); research associate at the Center for Criminology, JKU; research interests: criminal law, stalking, domestic violence, corporate crime; several publications especially on stalking; e-mail: barbara. [e-mail]

Swiatkiewicz-Mosny, Maria, PhD, born 1978, assistant professor in Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków; main research fields: communication, cross-culture communication, identity; more than 30 publications in the research fields; e-mail: [e-mail]

Wagner, Aleksandra, PhD, born 1978, assistant professor in Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków; main research fields: media, trust, crisis, communication; more than 30 publications in the research fields; e-mail: [e-mail]

Weber, Christoph, Mag., doctoral student at the Institute of Sociology, Johannes Kepler University (JKU); scientific assistant at the University of Education in Upper-Austria; main research fields: research methods, structural equation modeling, sociology of childhood and deviant behavior; e-mail: christoph.weber @jku.at Wetzelhütter, Daniela, Mag. a, born 1977, member of research staff and lecturer at the Department for Empirical Social Science Research, Institute for Sociology, Johannes Kepler University (JKU); member of research staff at the University of Applied Sciences in Linz; research interests: youth unemployment and educational research; e-mail: [e-mail]

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