A mixed-method approach to studying popular support for democracy and authoritarianism in post-Soviet countries /
This case study describes a multi-country and multi-method research project studying public support for democracy and authoritarianism in four post-Soviet countries: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Latvia. By combining principles of case selection based on national and subnational variation among stat...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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London :
SAGE Publications Ltd,
2019.
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| Series: | SAGE Research Methods. Cases.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | This case study describes a multi-country and multi-method research project studying public support for democracy and authoritarianism in four post-Soviet countries: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Latvia. By combining principles of case selection based on national and subnational variation among states and their populations, the project seeks to understand the historical and contemporary cultural and economic forces that have led many post-Soviet citizens to be highly skeptical of democracy and somewhat supportive of authoritarian rule. Qualitative field interviews across each country with ordinary citizens allowed me to develop, refine, and pre-test questions that would eventually be used in nationally representative large-n surveys. Furthermore, this qualitative data provided crucial context, depth, and texture to quantitative survey results. Representative surveyśdesigned, administered, and analyzed with current survey methodśallowed for generalization of findings across the cases under study and beyond. However, several practical challenges to funding and fielding major surveys make it difficult to carry out survey research in foreign countries, necessitating a good dose of patience and persistence. Similarly, qualitative field interviewśwhile less expensive than surveyśnonetheless come with their own logistical challenges, several of which are addressed throughout the case study. Nonetheless, when these challenges can be overcome, the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods yield far richeŕand arguably more robust́findings on mass political beliefs and preferences. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781526465320 1526465329 |