When measuring (complex) attitudes within a social survey, researchers often use balanced lists of positive and negative items. The purpose of the present research is to investigate: (a) whether a specific order of measurement scale items can lead to the bipolar (single-dimensional) concept (attitude) being recognised as a dual (bi-dimensional) concept and vice-versa; and (b) whether item order can affect the consistency (metric characteristics) of a measurement scale. An experiment on a group of social science students was conducted: students were randomly split into three subgroups and three different version of a questionnaire (with three differing item orders) were applied. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (ŽCFAŽ) and a single group CFA for each item order separately were applied. The final conclusion of the experiment is that there is no general rule about how and when respondents form separate (dual) or unidimensional (continuous) representations of measured concepts. Item-order effects are possible, but they are not as important as one would expect. The results of the experiment also suggest that other factors should be taken into account: the content of the measured concept and the cognitive sophistication of the respondents.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30583645
This volume compiles a series of jointly produced articles by the two authors which are partly new and partly already published. Three general themes can be specified which lie at the heart of this book. The first major theme focuses on an ongoing phase transition in the overall science landscapes from a traditional configuration under the name of Science I to an emergent ensemble under the heading of Science II. The second large topic discusses the impact of the transition from Science I to Science II for empirical social research, especially for survey research. The impact of Science II for survey research is being discussed especially with the help of data from the European Social Survey (ESS). The third focus of the book introduces the notion of RISC societies (Rare Incidents, Strong Consequences) as a general evolutionary framework for societal analyses and the wider implications for empirical social research
COBISS.SI-ID: 31766365
Background: Historically speaking, public health systems were established to guarantee every citizen equal access to health care and to separate the issue of an individual's health from issues of material welbeing. Using social science methodology, the study set out to explore how successful the welfare system in Slovenia was in achieving this goal during the last three decades, i.e. to what extent social inequalities in Slovenia are being reproduced as health inequalities. Methods: The study is based on six waves of Slovenian Public Opinion surveys carried out between 1981 and 2011 on representative samples of the adult Slovenian population. The main dependent variable is the respondent's selfassessed health and the main independent variable is his or her socio-economic status. The relationship between them was examined using Chi-square tests and regression analysis. Results: The thirty year trend shows persisting inequalities in health as throughout the entire period, self-assessed health is significantly lower at the bottom of the educational and income scale. The largest differences between social strata are observed in the 30 to 60 age group when labour market pressures are most pronounced. Conclusions: The results indicate that inequalities in health are almost impossible to eliminate as long as their deeper causes lie in social inequality. An additional factor that decreases self-assessed health in Slovenia compared to Western Europe is the low level of trust in people and social institutions, which is the likely reason why the relatively favourable statistical picture of social inequalities is not translated into an equally favourable picture of subjective health.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30994525
The article offers an analysis of the determinants of the success of transitions to democracy based on a combination of qualitative comparative analysis of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro andMacedonia; and hierarchical clustering. The key finding is that one can reveal configurations of several factors which jointly determine either continuous or disrupted transitions to democracy.
COBISS.SI-ID: 28574813
Apart from extensive theoretical discussion on the role of medicine in the context of the so called medicalization of society, the book offers comprehensive empirical analysis of public attitudes towards personal health, health system, doctors, prescribed and alternative medications, as well as toward social inequalities in health. The analysis is based largely on the Slovenian public opinion survey and the European social survey. At the theoretical level it discusses the boundaries of the role of medical knowledge which are increasingly being set by politics and capital, and not by inherent logic of the medical profession and science, a process which may ultimately undermine medical knowledge itself. Some experts have observed that the development of the field of medicine is going in the direction of a greater possibility of routinisation and even concluded that medicine is being proletarised. The more technical medical practice becomes, the more its exclusiveness and prestige are reduced. The authors conclude that focusing health policy measures on individuals’ attitudes to health and on the doctor patient relationship would be an erroneous strategy. The key factor in reducing the insecurity of individuals in such an important field as health is equal access to health services. Equality can be achieved by providing more support to the most vulnerable social categories, and not with the simple provision of formal equality and even less so with the liberalisation of the health care system.
COBISS.SI-ID: 32797277
The article contributes to the literature on the changing concept of citizenship in the process of globalisation. It sets out from the thesis that the classic concepts of citizenship, which are linked to the nation state, are slowlybut steadily losing their monopoly on explaining the relationship between individuals, the political community and government. Based on a theoretical discussion of the new models of citizenship, the authors seek to identify the elements of post-national citizenship. The main research goal of the analysis is to discover the conditions in which elements of post-national citizenship are most likely to occur. The analysis is based on aggregated individual (survey) data (from the ESS 2008 and the EVS 2008) and macro contextual data on European Union countries. On the macro (country) level, the authors conduct a hierarchical cluster analysis and crisp set QCA and make the following findings. First, two groups of countries are formed: (a) a fairly homogeneous group of six post-national citizenship countries; and (b) a more heterogeneous group of classic citizenship countries. Second, post-national citizenshipis to be expected in countries in which the following conditions are combined: on the one hand, secularised and post-industrial societies with less emphasis on a knowledge society, and on the other hand, societies with a stable national status where knowledge is important.
COBISS.SI-ID: 32483165
The volume is the result of a combination of two unrelated types of research domains which, so far, were not linked in any significant way. The first field lies within the well-established world of comparative survey research which over the last two decades saw a massive expansion through the European Social Survey (ESS) which can be qualified as an international best practice example for data production in comparative surveys and as a huge success story in terms of resource mobilization, international participation and scientific productivity of journal articles based on ESS-data. The second area is based on recent explorations into second-order cybernetics in particular and into second-order science in general which to a very large extent are the result of big changes in the overall re-organization of the science system as a whole. Part I as relevant theoretical background presents a short summary of major changes in the evolution of science and science landscapes and on the scope and dimensions of second-order science. Additionally, the first part poses three grand challenges for the European Social Survey (ESS) in the years to come. Part II leads into the core of second-order analyses, with an initial section on second-order investigations for surveys, with a central part on empirical results of second-order ESS-analyses and with a final chapter on possible second-order explorations of the ESS. Part III addresses the issue of meeting the grand challenges and of accommodating the results of the second-order ESS-analyses so far. The volume offers a series of new perspectives and insights which are unique for European survey research. It can be expected that the wider resonance of this volume will be unusually strong and far-reaching.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33715549
Based on a social constructivist framing, this article seeks to address the gap in the literature on the impact of Europeanisation on the national interest group political culture in general and in the post-communist context in particular. The impacts of Europeanisation on interest group domestic policy behaviour, in terms of national interest groups networking with their European counterparts, their contacts with EU-level decision makers, and their access to EU funds, are tested based on the panel surveys that were conducted in 1996 and 2012 of the most influential interest groups in eleven policy fields in Slovenia. Our key findings are that Europeanisation does support changes in the national interest group political culture in the direction of a more proactive approach in influencing national policy processes. However, Europeanisation explains only a small portion of the variability among the domestic policy behaviour of interest groups.
COBISS.SI-ID: 32724829
Background: This article explores gender trends in self-rated health in Slovenia over the period of thirty years. The main research goals are to examine the associations between gender, social class and health, establish the extent that the patterns of subjective health converge with those in other countries and identify the most vulnerable health groups. Methods: The study is based on six waves of the Slovenian Public Opinion survey carried out between 1981 and 2012 on representative samples of the adult Slovenian population. The main dependent variables are the respondent's self-assessed health and three indicators of psychosomatic health - experiences of insomnia,irregular heartbeat and anxiety. The main independent variables are gender and socio-economic status. The relationship between them was examined using Chi-square tests. Results: The 30 year trend is consistent with prior studies, which found that women report poorer self-assessed health than men. In Slovenia, this gender gap was observed in both social classes, but was more pronounced for women in the lower educated category. The higher prevalence of stress symptoms among women supports the theory of chronic exhaustion resulting from the dual-role strain. Conclusions: In Slovenia the welfare state was able to buffer the adverse effects of increased economic stresses to a significant extent after 1991, resulting in favourable health outcomes for both genders. Dismantling these arrangements may result in short-term financial gains but is likely to trigger long-lasting negative consequences for public health, especially in the case of vulnerable groups such as women.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2859237
This article investigates the extent to which European Union (EU) accession and EU funding contribute to the professionalization of interest groups in Slovenia. Have EU accession and funding had a more profound impact on the professionalization of interest groups in Slovenia than the shift from socialism to capitalism? Our novel empirical evidence is drawn from two surveys of interest groups in Slovenia - the first in 1996 eight years prior to Slovenia's membership of the EU (in 2004) and the second in 2012 eight years after its accession. Our findings show that EU accession and funding accentuate the professionalization of interest groups. However, these processes are intertwined with the partitocratic role of national political parties and parties mediate the shape and structure of interest group professionalization via their decisions on the allocation of EU funding to groups.
COBISS.SI-ID: 35525469