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Multi-Item Scale:

Now follow various statements 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. <br> <i>[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.]</i>

Item Text:

b. Germany is so small that it cannot make an effective contribution to protecting the global climate. [Deutschland ist so klein, dass es keinen effektiven Beitrag zum Schutz des weltweiten Klimas leisten kann.]

Different Answer Format Tested:

Nein

Findings:

What do respondents think of when answering this item?
The majority of persons “completely” (n = 4) or "rather disagreed" (n = 3) with the statement, two persons chose the middle answer category, and one subject “ completely agreed” with the statement.
Most (n = 8) test persons stated that every country and every person could contribute to climate protection:
  • "For me it was clear that every contribution one can make is a contribution and can just be a role model and [one can also] indirectly exert influence [on the] climate." (TP 03)
  • "The area of Germany is small, but the number of inhabitants is not small. Whether now many people make dirt in a small area or in a large area [...] is [...] irrelevant." (TP 05)
  • "Every country can make a contribution, whether large or small, in my opinion, it doesn't matter." (TP 07)
Only two respondents commented that Germany could not make a contribution, which suggests that they believe that nothing needs to be done (in Germany) either:
  • "Because I read that somewhere once. Germany is so small in relation to the world, I think we have a 1% share of CO2. You don't have to make such a big deal out of it and think that we can save the world. Therefore, I have to say ' completely agree' that we cannot make an effec-tive contribution." (TP 06, response: completely agree)
  • "I once thought about the number of people in Germany and the number of people in India or China. There we would be at the ratio 1:20, 1:15. Then you think about whether 1:15 or 1:20 has a real meaning. I think we overestimate ourselves with our actions in Germany, where we have made relatively good progress on this issue." (TP 09, answer: rather disagree; the direc-tion of the scale was probably misinterpreted).
The chosen answer of respondent 09 did not match the given reason, which may be due to the nega-ion in the question text. That the "double negative" (i.e., the need to select the "disagree" option when agreeing with the negated statement) was not optimal was also expressed by another respondent:

"Oh, double negation. That's where I get the crisis anyway. A positive formulation might be better. For example, 'Germany is big enough to make an effective contribution to protecting the global climate'." (TP 04)

One respondent also criticized the wording of the item itself:

"'Germany is so small' - I thought about that, that there could be a better formulation, so small in relation to what, so, what do you compare yourself to. Or does it actually refer more to the size of the coun-try or what exactly is meant by that? That was a little bit unclear. It's more of a colloquial thing for me." (TP 03)

Recommendations:

We recommend that the item be reworded to avoid the negative:

"Germany is too small to make an effective contribution to protecting the global climate."

Question tested:

false