International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2013/2014 (English Version)

a.) I would rather be a citizen of Germany than of any other country in the world.

[Ich möchte lieber ein Bürger/eine Bürgerin Deutschlands als irgendeines anderen Landes auf der Welt sein.]

No changes recommended.

Three test persons stated that they could not answer item a) ("Don't know"). One respondent (TP 05) justifies his answer by saying that he would rather be a European citizen, but that citizenship is a national category. Another respondent (TP 10) argues that he/she has no comparison with other countries and therefore cannot say whether he/she would have liked to become a citizen of another country. Similarly, subject 13 explains her response behavior: "There are advantages and disadvantages in every country. I am German, but I would never say that I would rather live in Germany than in anoth- er country. This is my home country, but if it turns out to be, I'll live abroad, too."

Religion & culture/ Cultural identity

National pride

c.) The world would be a better place if people in other countries were more like the Germans.

[Die Welt wäre besser, wenn die Menschen in anderen Ländern eher so wären wie die Deutschen.]

Possibly reformulate in:
"The world would be a better place if people in other countries were more like the Germans."
[„Die Welt wäre eine bessere, wenn die Menschen in anderen Ländern eher so wären wie die Deutschen.“]

Two test persons (TP 06, TP 07) state that they cannot say whether the world would be a better place if everyone had "German virtues" (TP 06).

Three other test persons decide on an answer category, but criticize that it is unclear to them what the question is aimed at: "Is it the people or the system in Germany?" (TP 09). Test person 10 also addresses this ambiguity: "I am of the opinion that many things that are going quite well here institutionally, I would grant other countries and thus other people somewhere, that it is the same there [...] But I don't know whether this is really the achievement of the people or whether one doesn't have to say that it is the whole country that is developing in a certain direction. That's why I have 'Neither' [stated], but I could have also ticked 'I cannot say'. “

Test subject 19 ("disagree") vacillates between agreement and disagreement, depending on the intention of the item: "If I understood that people in the world were better off, I would say I agree, but that people themselves were better off, I disagree. “

In total, a quarter of the test subjects make it clear that the item is formulated too imprecisely for them. This is mainly due to the formulation "The world would be better", which is not understood by some test subjects in the intended sense or whose meaning is unclear to some test subjects (What would be better? Would the people themselves be better? Do "German virtues" have an influence on the welfare of the world? - see also findings on item h).

Religion & culture/ Cultural identity

National pride

f.) If my country has success in international sports, I am proud to be a German.

[Wenn mein Land Erfolg im internationalen Sport hat, macht mich das stolz, ein Deutscher/eine Deutsche zu sein.]

As previous pretests have already shown, the formulation "proud to be German" is problematic due to German history and is met with rejection on the part of the test persons. In this pretest, too, the test persons in the extreme case state that they are "proud of Germany" but not "proud to be German".

We therefore propose the following reformulation:
"I am proud of Germany when my country is successful in international sports."
[ „Ich bin stolz auf Deutschland, wenn mein Land Erfolg im internationalen Sport hat.“ ]

Four test persons (TP 01, TP 05, TP 07, TP 10) state that they cannot answer the question ("Don't know"). The main reason given for this is that the phrase "proud to be a German" is not correct. They are happy when German athletes perform well, but see these successes independent of the fact of being German: "I am a great sports patriot and am always happy when a German athlete wins or wins the national team, but that does not make me proud to be German." (TP 07).

Test person 09 also finds the phrase "proud to be a German" problematic and therefore uses the "neither nor" category as a hidden "don't know" option: "It makes you proud because you see the effort behind it, you are happy with the team, you see the success, you can be happy with the team. But to be a German right away? It's too national for me."

This shows that at least five of the 20 test persons are annoyed by the phrase "proud to be a German" and therefore do not (want to) answer the question.

Religion & culture/ Cultural identity

National pride

h.) The world would be a better place if the Germans would admit that not everything is for the best in Germany.

[Die Welt wäre besser, wenn die Deutschen zugeben würden, dass in Deutschland nicht alles zum Besten steht.]

Reformulate in:
"The world would be a better place if Germany were to admit that not everything is for the best in this country.”
[„Die Welt wäre eine bessere, wenn Deutschland einräumen würde, dass hierzulande auch nicht alles zum Besten steht.“]

Eleven test persons do not agree or do not agree at all with the statement, two test persons choose the answer category "neither nor" and four agree with the statement. The answer "Fully agree" is not given. A total of five respondents choose the answer category "Don't know."

When asked how easy or difficult they found the answer to the question, nine respondents state that they found it "rather difficult" (n=6) or "very difficult" (n=3). The reason for this is due to an insufficient understanding of the question. Test person 04, for example, says that at first, he or she does not know what the question is supposed to lead to. Three other test persons cite similar reasons:

• „Because I just had to read it 1,000 more times to understand the sentence." (TP 02)
• „The question is challenging.“ (TP 03)
• "You have to think a little bit more about the question. "You mustn't be too hasty to check your box.“ (TP 15)

All test subjects understood the negation "that not everything is in the best condition in Germany". However, not all test subjects take into account the postulated causal relationship between "admitting that not everything is fine in Germany" and the consequence that the world would be a better place.

Only three test persons (TP 12, TP 15, TP 20) are of the opinion that not everything is fine in Germany, that this should be admitted and that this is related to a better state of the world.

Twelve test persons cannot see a connection between admitting the state of affairs in Germany and the welfare of the world:

• „If the Germans would admit that not everything is good, for me this has nothing to do with world events.“ (TP 02)
• „It is certainly the case that not everything is perfect in Germany, but what do the other countries get out of it?“ (TP 04)
• „I can't think of anything that would change if Germany were now to say that not everything is fine here.“ (TP 06)
• „The world would not become a better place if we said that we are also bad.“ (TP 10)

The remaining five test persons (TP 01, TP 03, TP 05, TP 08, TP 14) only consider the second part of the statement "if the Germans would admit that not everything is for the best in Germany" and do not make a connection with the effects, i.e. whether the world would be a better place:

• „Germany is not doing well and Germany should admit it.“ (TP 01)
• „We have to admit that not everything is for the best with us.“(TP 05)
• „With our unemployment and the Hartz IV, you can certainly do a little something about it. We don't have all the glittering gold.“ (TP 14)

These five test persons thus completely hide a central aspect of the statement and therefore answer only a part of the item.

In addition, four test persons doubt the underlying assumption of the item that not everything is at its best in Germany. There is also the view that everything is fine in Germany:

• „The whole picture in Germany is great and outstanding, seen in this light everything is al- ready 'at its best ‘.“ (TP 03)
• „People in Germany are much better off than in other countries. That's a sign that we have made it far in our country.“ (TP 19)

The formulation of the item does not allow the test persons to express that, by and large, everything is fine in Germany.

In summary, the item should be modified in several places to ensure that the underlying construct (negative facet of national pride) is actually measured. Firstly, it is important to make it clear that this item is not about concrete effects on the welfare of the world, but rather about an abstract improvement of the overall situation. On the other hand, it must be made clear that respondents should not state for themselves whether they admit this or not, but that they should take Germany as a whole into account in their response. Finally, it should be made clear that the point of this item is that Germany concedes to other countries that not everything is for the best in this country either.

Religion & culture/ Cultural identity

National pride