German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) 2021 (English Version)

General Information:

*Note: The items were tested in German. These are English translations of the original German wordings.

Question Text:

Now various statements follow that some people agree with, but others disagree with. What about you? For each statement, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with it.
[Nun folgen verschiedene Aussagen, denen manche Leute zustimmen, die andere aber auch ablehnen. Wie ist das bei Ihnen? Geben Sie bitte zu jeder Aussage an, inwieweit Sie ihr zustimmen oder nicht.]

Answer Categories:

Completely disagree [stimme überhaupt nicht zu]
Rather disagree [stimme eher nicht zu]
Neither agree nor disagree [teils/teils]
Rather agree [stimme eher zu]
Completely agree [stimme voll und ganz zu]

One respondent commented on the direction of the answer scale, which she initially read and an-swered the wrong way around, as she had expected it to be the other way around:
"I noticed that when answering the first line I wanted to take 'rather agree', but strangely enough I now put a dot there at 'rather disagree' and corrected that afterwards. I then noticed this with the second question, because I wanted to give the same answer and saw that I had put a wrong dot. [...] I would have expected the scale to be the other way around." (TP 03)

Cognitive Techniques:

Comprehension Probing
Item Text Actively tested

Item Text:

a. Troublemakers should be shown clearly that they are unwanted in society.
[Unruhestifter sollten deutlich zu spüren bekommen, dass sie in der Gesellschaft unerwünscht sind.]

Recommendations:

Since the test persons understood the term "troublemakers" to mean both people who move outside the democratic rules and those who move within the democratic rules, we recommend specifying the term.
Yes

Item Text:

b. A strong leader is good for Germany, even if he doesn't always play by the rules to move things forward.
[Ein starker Führer ist gut für Deutschland, auch wenn er sich nicht immer an die Regeln hält, um die Dinge voranzubringen.]

Recommendations:

We suggest the following rewording:

"Having a strong leading force in government is good for Germany, even if he or she occasionally decides things on his or her own to move it forward."
Yes

Item Text:

c. The values of people like me are becoming less and less important in society.
[Die Wertvorstellungen von Leuten wie mir werden in der Gesellschaft immer unwichtiger.]

Recommendations:

No changes recommended.
Yes

Item Text:

d. Ordinary citizens share the same values and interests.
[Gewöhnliche Bürger teilen dieselben Werte und Interessen.]

Recommendations:

We propose the following rewording:

"The majority of society shares the same values and interests in Germany."
Yes