(excerpt from ICORE NEWS No. 1 (July
1993) - first chapter)
by Jacques Thomassen - University of Twente - Chairman ICORE.... ICORE stands for
International Committee for Research into Elections and Representative Democracy, and was
established at an ECPR Research Session on Electoral Studies held in Rimini in 1989. Its
membership consists of the directors of established surveys of national electorates in
Europe. The initiative to establish ICORE was taken by John Curtice, presently at the
University of Strathclyde. His effort was based on the observation of a remarkable paradox
in the field of electoral research in Europe. At first sight it seems to be one of the
best developed and best integrated subdisciplines in political science. A growing number
of countries has an established program of academically directed election studies based on
national probability samples of the electorate. Mainly because of their common
intellectual roots the "Michigan school" - the similarity of most of these
studies, both in their theoretical and methodological features is striking. This
similarity suggests a well developed program of comparative research. However, such a
program does hardly exist. Despite the common intellectual roots of most European election
studies, really comparative research is remarkably rare. One of the reasons for this
situation is that there are a number of logistical barriers to the use of the various
national election studies in cross-national research. To mention only the most obvious
one: for a number of studies written documentation, even the questionnaires, are only
available in the original language and not in English, the modern lingua franca. In order
to remove a number of these logistical barriers ICORE has decided to start its activities
by creating a European Elections Database consisting of all the national election studies
documented in English. This ambitious task requires the following steps: the translation
of questionnaires and documentation into English where studies are not already available
in that language. - the creation of an electronically searchable database of questions
asked in the national election studies. - the creation of an electronically searchable
database of study descriptions. - the collation of all of the European national election
studies in a central archive, i.e. the ZA in Cologne. - the creation of an electronically
searchable database of publications emanating from each national election study. Some
parts of this program are already in progress ... Others need additional funding.
Creation of this data set is one of the tasks that need to be done in order to further the
opportunities for comparative research into European electoral behaviour. But, of course,
it is not more than a necessary facility. Real intellectual progress demands the
communication of ideas among people. The main objective of ICORE is to promote the
exchange of ideas and to stimulate international research. (The) newsletter is a first
platform for the exchange of information. Hermann Schmitt at the University of Mannheim
has taken it upon him to edit it. However, the success or failure of the newsletter will
hardly depend on his efforts, but more on your willingness to send him all relevant
information on election studies in your country. ... |
new
Publication:
Inventory
of
National
Election Studies
in Europe
1945-1995
Description
Order |
