State Politics & Policy Quarterly | Vol. 6 No. 2 | Influence over State Agency Activities: A Test of Two Survey-Based Measures

Abstract

Volume 6 • Number 2

Summer 2006

The Practical Researcher

MICHAEL BARANOWSKI
Northern Kentucky University
DONALD A. GROSS
University of Kentucky
Influence over State Agency Activities: A Test of Two Survey-Based Measures

The valid and reliable measurement of perceived influence over executive agencies is vital to understanding bureaucratic behavior. Using a survey of 540 state agency heads in 15 states, we evaluate two such measures—a standard free-standing measure and a paired-comparison measure—in terms of conceptual clarity, theoretical utility, and susceptibility to systematic measurement error. Our results indicate that while a paired-comparison measure may be theoretically superior to a free-standing measure, missing responses, intransitivities, and respondent fatigue make the paired-comparison method less practical..

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