On June 11th Prof. Kazimierz M. Slomczynski, Dr. Joshua K. Dubrow, and Marta Kolczynska presented: ‘Data Harmonization: General Issues and Examples’.
Abstract:
The Seminar is divided into three parts. In the first part Kazimierz M. Słomczyński will discuss general issues of standardizing variables in survey research. He will also present the general issues of data harmonization implied by the Harmonia grant “Democratic Values and Protest Behavior: Data Harmonization, Measurement, Comparability, and Multi-Level Modeling in Cross-National Perspective”. In particular he will stress the need for controlling the quality of survey data and using this information in substantive analyses.
In the second part Marta Kołczyńska will describe her project of data harmonization and constructing indicators of survey data quality. These indicators take into account: non-response, sample documentation and description, quality of questionnaire translation, pretest and fieldwork control, as well as the presence of education and occupation coded in international classifications, and income in comparable metric.
The third part, presented by Joshua K. Dubrow, will be devoted to harmonization of data on parliamentarian candidates in Poland, Hungary and Ukraine. He will discuss the issue of data harmonization within countries through time (e.g. adjusting aggregate data for changes of voting districts), and between countries (e.g. classification of parties on the left-right scale).
Participants of the Seminar are encouraged to read the attached project descriptions: “Democratic Values and Protest Behavior: Data Harmonization, Measurement, Comparability, and Multi-Level Modeling in Cross-National Perspective” and “Who Wins and Who Loses in Parliamentary Elections: From Formal Theory to Empirical Analyses”.