Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T14:10:18.469Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Influence over State Agency Activities: A Test of Two Survey-Based Measures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Michael Baranowski
Affiliation:
Northern Kentucky University
Donald A. Gross
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky

Abstract

The valid and reliable measurement of perceived influence over executive agencies is vital to understanding bureaucratic behavior. Using a survey of 540 state agency heads in 15 states, we evaluate two such measures—a standard free-standing measure and a paired-comparison measure—in terms of conceptual clarity, theoretical utility, and susceptibility to systematic measurement error. Our results indicate that while a paired-comparison measure may be theoretically superior to a free-standing measure, missing responses, intransitivities, and respondent fatigue make the paired-comparison method less practical.

Type
The Practical Researcher
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abney, Glenn, and Lauth, Thomas P.. 1983. “The Governor as Chief Administrator.” Public Administration Review 43:40–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, Mary, and Yen, Wendy. 2001. Introduction to Measurement Theory. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.Google Scholar
Baranowski, Michael. 2001. “Legislative Professionalism and Influence on State Agencies.” Politics & Policy 29:147–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrilleaux, Charles. 1999. “Governors, Bureaus, and State Policymaking.” State and Local Government Review 31:53–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bendor, John, Taylor, Serge, and Gaalen, Roland Van. 1987. “Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Asymmetric Information.” American Journal of Political Science 31:796828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyle, Thad. 1999. “The Governors.” In Politics in the American States, eds. Gray, Virginia, Hanson, Russell L., and Jacob, Herbert. 7th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Brudney, Jeffrey L., and Ted Hebert, F.. 1987. “State Agencies and Their Environments: Examining the Influence of Important External Actors.” Journal of Politics 49:186206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmines, Edward, and Zeller, Richard. 1979. Reliability and Validity Assessment. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeVellis, Robert. 2003. Scale Development. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Dometrius, Nelson C. 1979. “Measuring Gubernatorial Power.” Journal of Politics 41:589610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dometrius, Nelson C. 2002. “Gubernatorial Approval and Administrative Influence.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 2:251–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1967. Inside Bureaucracy. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elling, Richard C. 1992. Public Management in the States. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Freeman, J.L. 1965. The Political Process. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Hamm, Keith. 1983. “Patterns of Influence among Committees, Agencies, and Interest Groups.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 8:379426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hebert, F. Ted, Brudney, Jeffrey L., and Wright, Deil S.. 1983. “Gubernatorial Influence and State Bureaucracy.” American Politics Quarterly 11:243–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 1952. “The Marasmus of the ICC: The Commission, the Railroads, and the Public Interest.” Yale Law Journal 61:467509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacoby, William. 1991. Data Theory and Dimensional Analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, James D. 2000. “Changes in Professionalism in U.S. State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 25:327–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIver, John, and Carmines, Edward 1981. Unidimensional Scaling. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moe, Terry. 1984. “The New Economics of Organization.” American Journal of Political Science 28:739–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunnally, Jum C., and Berstein, Ira. 1994. Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Potoski, Matthew, and Woods, Neal D.. 2001. “Designing State Clean Air Agencies: Administrative Procedures and Bureaucratic Autonomy.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 11:203–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, Alan. 1990. Governors and Legislatures: Contending Powers. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Sigelman, Lee, and Dometrius, Nelson C.. 1988. “Governors as Chief Administrators: The Linkage between Formal Powers and Informal Influence.” American Politics Quarterly 16:157–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 1992. “Legislative Professionalism and Membership Diversity in State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 17:6979.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thurstone, L.L. 1927. “A Method of Paired-comparisons for Social Values.” Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology 21:384400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thurstone, L.L. 1929. “Theory of Attitude Measurement.” Psychological Review 36:222–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torgerson, Warren. 1958. Theory and Methods of Scaling. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Waterman, Richard W., Rouse, Amelia, and Wright, Robert. 1998. “The Venues of Influence: A New Theory of Political Control of the Bureaucracy.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 8:1338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterman, Richard W., Rouse, Amelia, and Wright, Robert. 1999. “The Determinants of Political Control of the Bureaucracy and the Venues of Influence.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 9:527–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Dan B., and Waterman, Richard W.. 1991. “The Dynamics of Political Control of the Bureaucracy.” American Political Science Review 85:801–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, Deil S., and Cho, Chung-Lae. 2001. American State Administrators Project (ASAP) Overview: Major Features of the ASAP Surveys 1964-1998. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Odom Institute for Research in Social Science.Google Scholar