4.3 Changes in Ideology Quiz

Question 1

Nora grew up in a household that distrusted city government. As an adult, she volunteers in a successful flood-response effort and becomes more confident that organized residents can influence local officials, although her party identification does not change. Which interpretation is strongest?

Accepted Answer

Early trust orientations can persist while later experience changes external efficacy. Nora's household may have shaped an early orientation toward trust, while successful collective action later increased her external efficacy-the belief that officials can respond to organized citizens. Stable party identification does not rule out change in another political outcome, and volunteering can involve both prior interest and later learning.

Question 2

Repeated panels show that adults who attended secondary school during a sustained student-led environmental campaign remain more supportive of environmental regulation than other cohorts observed at comparable ages. Separately, within each cohort, attendance at municipal meetings rises after respondents become responsible for managing a small business's local permits. The two patterns are best classified, respectively, as

Accepted Answer

a cohort effect and a life-cycle effect. The first difference remains attached to people who shared a formative educational era even when cohorts are compared at similar ages, supporting a cohort effect. The second change recurs within different cohorts after the same kind of adult-role transition, supporting a life-cycle effect. A period effect would instead move several cohorts during one historical interval.

Question 3

One survey asks about “police surveillance cameras” and reports 41 percent support. Six months later, a new sample is asked about “public-safety cameras” and reports 53 percent support. What is the most responsible interpretation?

Accepted Answer

Changed wording prevents the two percentages alone from establishing genuine opinion change. The wording changes from “surveillance” to “public safety,” so the difference may reflect measurement rather than real movement. Independent samples also cannot reveal whether the same individuals changed, even if the target population and sampling design remained constant.

Question 4

A representative city survey finds that 63 percent of residents want the city to “do more to reduce homelessness.” Officials cite the result as a mandate to approve a particular shelter site and zoning plan that the survey never described. Which inference is most defensible?

Accepted Answer

The result supports a broad goal but not the unasked site and zoning proposal. The survey measures direction toward a broad goal. It does not ask about the proposed location, zoning change, neighborhood effects, or tradeoffs, so officials cannot treat the percentage as a mandate for that implementation. Representative selection strengthens the population estimate but cannot add an unasked policy object.

Nora grew up in a household that distrusted city government. As an adult, she volunteers in a successful flood-response effort and becomes more confident that organized residents can influence local officials, although her party identification does not change. Which interpretation is strongest?

One survey asks about “police surveillance cameras” and reports 41 percent support. Six months later, a new sample is asked about “public-safety cameras” and reports 53 percent support. What is the most responsible interpretation?

A representative city survey finds that 63 percent of residents want the city to “do more to reduce homelessness.” Officials cite the result as a mandate to approve a particular shelter site and zoning plan that the survey never described. Which inference is most defensible?

Quiz complete