This makes me think of a paper we never got published- poli sci journals hated it-- with a lot of methodology you'd fine useful, since the math problem is exactly the same as finding the best short IQ test for measuring g. In our case, we wanted to find the best N questions for measuring conservative-liberal, for N= 1,...10. At minimum, you should discover the best ONE-ITEM IQ test, which would be a very fun result.
Voter Ideology: Regression Measurement of Position on the
Left-Right Spectrum
June 28, 2016
J. Mark Ramseyer and Eric B. Rasmusen
Abstract
For scholars who need a measure of political preferences, a person’s position on the ideological
spectrum provides a good start. Typically, scholars identify that position through factor analysis on
survey questions. In effect, they assume that the calculated synthetic variable marks the person’s location
on the liberal-conservative spectrum. They then use that ideology variable either as the focus of a study
on ideology, or as a control variable in other regressions. The leading attitudinal surveys— the GSS, the
CCES, and the ANES— include a variable giving a respondent’s self-identified ideology. Factor analysis
assigns this variable no special prominence. To treat this self-identification appropriately, we urge
scholars to instead measure ideology using the fitted value from a regression of self-identified ideology on
other survey responses. In contrast to factor analysis, the regression approach assigns proper priority to
self-identification; it lets us test whether voters identify their own ideology through identity-group
variables; it avoids the bias introduced in choosing the issue variables to include in the factor analysis;
"There is another aspect to measuring intelligence, which is that to measure intelligence well, you need to use multiple different kinds of items. This is because every item (or test of items) measures intelligence in addition to one or more other abilities."
Yes, some finer aspects of intelligence are missed when an intelligence test is shortened.
"Universities are these days obsessed with keeping everybody enrolled (🤑), this might make the correlation weaker."
True, as with most aspects of our society, avariciousness reigns supreme.
This makes me think of a paper we never got published- poli sci journals hated it-- with a lot of methodology you'd fine useful, since the math problem is exactly the same as finding the best short IQ test for measuring g. In our case, we wanted to find the best N questions for measuring conservative-liberal, for N= 1,...10. At minimum, you should discover the best ONE-ITEM IQ test, which would be a very fun result.
Voter Ideology: Regression Measurement of Position on the
Left-Right Spectrum
June 28, 2016
J. Mark Ramseyer and Eric B. Rasmusen
Abstract
For scholars who need a measure of political preferences, a person’s position on the ideological
spectrum provides a good start. Typically, scholars identify that position through factor analysis on
survey questions. In effect, they assume that the calculated synthetic variable marks the person’s location
on the liberal-conservative spectrum. They then use that ideology variable either as the focus of a study
on ideology, or as a control variable in other regressions. The leading attitudinal surveys— the GSS, the
CCES, and the ANES— include a variable giving a respondent’s self-identified ideology. Factor analysis
assigns this variable no special prominence. To treat this self-identification appropriately, we urge
scholars to instead measure ideology using the fitted value from a regression of self-identified ideology on
other survey responses. In contrast to factor analysis, the regression approach assigns proper priority to
self-identification; it lets us test whether voters identify their own ideology through identity-group
variables; it avoids the bias introduced in choosing the issue variables to include in the factor analysis;
and it identifies the issues that the average voter thinks best define “liberal” and “conservative.” http://rasmusen.org/papers/spectrum-ramseyer-rasmusen.pdf.
Black people are now regretting that they invented testing.
American University's researched this highly at the turn of the 20th century and nothing has changed.
Blacks are substantially less intelligent...... we all know this it's a law of science essentially now.
Could somebody do #9 for me?
"Dividing the profits equally means each person gets 1/3 of them...$1600.
I wonder what the r is/would be with longer IQ tests of more established validity?
"There is another aspect to measuring intelligence, which is that to measure intelligence well, you need to use multiple different kinds of items. This is because every item (or test of items) measures intelligence in addition to one or more other abilities."
Yes, some finer aspects of intelligence are missed when an intelligence test is shortened.
"Universities are these days obsessed with keeping everybody enrolled (🤑), this might make the correlation weaker."
True, as with most aspects of our society, avariciousness reigns supreme.
Thanks for the analysis.