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Multi-Item Scale:

How important is it for you... <br> <i>[Wie wichtig ist es für Sie,...]</i>

Item Text:

f.) that people convicted of serious crimes lose their citizen rights [dass Menschen, die wegen schwerer Verbrechen verurteilt wurden, ihre Bürgerrechte verlieren]

Different Answer Format Tested:

Nein

Findings:

Four subjects (TP 05, TP 07, TP 10, TP 13) indicate that they have difficulty finding the correct scale value to express that they do not want "people to lose their civil rights“:
  • „How important is it to me that they lose? It's not important to me. You know, it's a little weird to ask. You somehow have the feeling that you have to do it the other way [on the scale], but I understand it now, every citizen has civil rights, even if he has committed crimes, so I don't want him to lose them.“ (TP 07)
  • „There I have a little problem with the scale, so 'not important at all'. I don't think it's important that people say stop, that they lose it, or I think it's very important that they lose it. [...] I also think it is important that they don't lose them. I have a problem to find the right answer immediately, because for me it is very important that they don't lose them. For me, there is an unrecognizable negation built into this. So then it's actually not important at all, because they shouldn't lose it." (TP 10)
Four other test persons (TP 03, TP 08, TP 09, TP 17), three of whom replied "I can't tell", make the spontaneous comment that they do not know whether this statement corresponds to reality or not. Furthermore, they claim that they are not clear which rights are meant by "civil rights”:
  • "I think that if you have committed serious crimes, you should be convicted, but I am not sure that you should lose civil rights as a result. I can't find - There might be an example to be given.“ (TP 08)
  • „Do I understand correctly that people convicted of serious crimes lose their civil rights? I'm not really that informed. Do they lose all their rights? I can't tell you that, I don't have enough information. I think he will certainly retain some of his rights. But here it says 'lose their civil rights' and that sounds like everyone. But he doesn't lose them all. I don't know, I can't say.“ (TP 17)

Recommendations:

The term "civil rights" should be specified by using several items each dealing with one civil right, for example:
1. "that people convicted of serious crimes lose the right to vote." [„dass Menschen, die wegen schwerer Verbrechen verurteilt wurden, das Wahlrecht verlieren.“]
2. "that people convicted of serious crimes lose the right to petition." [„dass Menschen, die wegen schwerer Verbrechen verurteilt wurden, das Petitionsrecht verlieren.“]
3. "..." etc.

Question tested:

true