Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) Module 5 (English Version)
Allgemeine Informationen:*Note: The items were tested in German. These are English translations of the original German wordings. The translations do not correspond exactly to the formulations in the English CSES source questionnaire.*
Fragetext (Befund/Empfehlungen):Now thinking about ethnic minorities. Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, neither
agree or disagree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statements: [Und wenn Sie nun an ethnische Minderheiten denken: Inwieweit stimmen Sie den folgenden
Aussagen zu?]
Befund zum Fragetext:Two respondents report problems with the question text. Respondent 01 does not understand the term
“ethnic” and is therefore incapable of answering Item a) (answer: “don’t know”). Respondent 06 is
confused by the difference between the question text and the item text in Item a), as the question
refers to “ethnic minorities”, while the item is just about “minorities” (“So now it is only about ethnic
minorities and not for example socially marginalized groups?”, ID 06).
Empfehlungen zum Fragetext:The terminology in the question text should be consistent with the terminology
used in the items. Therefore, we recommend to replace the (rather
complex) term “ethnische Minderheiten” (“ethnic minorities”) with the term
“Einwanderer” (“immigrants”). The question text could be worded as follows:
"Now thinking about immigrants. To what extent do you agree with the
following statements?" [„Und wenn Sie nun an Einwanderer denken: Inwieweit stimmen Sie den
folgenden Aussagen zu?“]
Itemtext:a) Minorities should adapt to German customs. [Minderheiten sollten sich den deutschen Gepflogenheiten anpassen.]
Empfehlungen:For the sake of consistency, the term „Minderheiten“ (“minorities”) should
be replaced with the term „Einwanderer“ (“immigrants”):
"Immigrants should conform to German customs." ["Einwanderer sollten sich den deutschen Gepflogenheiten anpassen.“]
Befund zum Item:Three respondents are troubled by the term “Gepflogenheiten” (”customs”, ID 03, 07, 13):
“Customs? Are they supposed to wash their car on Saturdays? What even are German customs?
I do not like this term at all. It makes me think of old people, who monitor foreigners
and moan about.” (ID 03, strongly disagree)
“‘Gepflogenheiten’ meaning customs and traditions?” Then I would somewhat disagree. If
‘Gepflogenheiten’ refers to social norms and values, then I would strongly agree.” (ID 07,
refused)
"What are German customs? Punctuality? Otherwise everyone should live as they please.”
(ID 13, somewhat agree).
Thema der Frage:Gesellschaft & Soziales/ Einstellungen zu sozialen Gruppen
Konstrukt:Attitudes towards immigrants
Ja
b) Immigrants are generally good for Germany’s economy. [Einwanderer sind im Allgemeinen gut für die deutsche Wirtschaft.]
Nein
c) Germany's culture is generally threatened by immigrants. [Die deutsche Kultur wird durch Einwanderer bedroht.]
Itemtext:c) Germany's culture is generally threatened by immigrants. [Die deutsche Kultur wird durch Einwanderer bedroht.]
Empfehlungen:Due to the finding that the term „bedrohen“ („threatens“) is sometimes
perceived as too strong in this context, it could be replaced with a term
such as „untergraben“ (“undermined”). This (or rather a very similar) wording
was tested in an earlier pretest (ISSP 2013/2014,
dx.doi.org/10.17173/pretest10) and found to be comprehensible:
"Germany’s culture is undermined by immigrants." ["Die deutsche Kultur wird von Einwanderern untergraben.“]
Befund zum Item:Two respondents (ID 12, 15) “agree somewhat“ with this item, whereas seven “somewhat disagree” (ID
01, 02, 04, 10, 13, 14, 16) and five “strongly disagree” (ID 03, 05, 06, 07, 08). Two respondents (ID 09,
11) cannot answer this item as they perceive the term “threatened” as too strong in this context:
“Threatened sounds like blood and thunder. That’s too extreme.“ (ID 09).
“Threatened? That doesn’t quite fit the bill, it sounds so dumb. You’re threatened when there
is an outbreak of war. If they threaten us with guns, then the term fits, but in this sense it is
not a threat.” (ID 11).
The respondents (ID 12, 15) who „agree somewhat“ explain their answers as follows:
“That’s a major issue. When I look at all those Islamic countries where the men are princes
and the women are seen as worthless. If that spills over to us and is adopted, or if a large part
of the population thinks like that, I don’t consider that to be good. I don’t want my daughters
to be forced to wear a headscarf.” (ID 12)
“Here is an example: It is a German custom not to hang out laundry on a Sunday. Since Albanians
live alongside us, no one cares about that anymore. But because so many live here now,
it can’t be changed. I don’t think it’s right.” (ID 15)
Those respondents who „somewhat disagree“ or „strongly disagree“ argue that they perceive immigrants
as an enrichment (6 respondents), that it is the Germans themselves who are responsible for the
continued existence of their culture (2 respondents) or that the number of immigrants is yet too small
to be considered a threat (4 respondents):
„There are still too few immigrants for it to be considered a threat to the culture.“ (ID 04)
„It’s always up to oneself, up to the German people, whether they let this happen or not. We
are ourselves responsible for our traditions.“ (ID 08)
„No, first and foremost it is enriched.“ (ID 16) (TP 16)
Upon request, five respondents (ID 03, 07, 08, 13, 14) could not imagine a scenario where the German
culture could be threatened by immigrants. All other respondents named Islamic influences. In particular,
a different perception of gender relations (“I don’t want my daughters to be forced to wear a
headscarf.”, ID 12), the marginalization of the majority religion of Christianity (“I’m thinking of debates
about the implementation of Islam lessons at school”, ID 04) as well as extremists were classified
as (potentially) threatening.
Thema der Frage:Gesellschaft & Soziales/ Einstellungen zu sozialen Gruppen
General Probing, Specific Probing