Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
2-2011
Abstract
Scholars estimating policy positions from political texts typically code words or sentences and then build left-right policy scales based on the relative frequencies of text units coded into different categories. Here we reexamine such scales and propose a theoretically and linguistically superior alternative based on the logarithm of odds-ratios. We contrast this scale with the current approach of the Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP), showing that our proposed logit scale avoids widely acknowledged flaws in previous approaches. We validate the new scale using independent expert surveys. Using existing CMP data, we show how to estimate more distinct policy dimensions, for more years, than has been possible before, and make this dataset publicly available. Finally, we draw some conclusions about the future design of coding schemes for political texts.
Discipline
Models and Methods | Political Science
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Legislative Studies Quarterly
Volume
36
Issue
1
First Page
123
Last Page
155
ISSN
0362-9805
Identifier
10.1111/j.1939-9162.2010.00006.x
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
LOWE, Will, BENOIT, Kenneth, MIKHAYLOV, Slava, & LAVER, Michael.(2011). Scaling policy preferences from coded political texts. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 36(1), 123-155.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3973
Copyright Owner and License
Authors-CC-BY-NC
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-9162.2010.00006.x