Expert Survey
An expert survey measures latent political quantities — most often parties' positions on policy dimensions — by asking a panel of country and subject-matter experts to place the objects of interest on structured numerical scales. Averaging many experts' judgments yields position estimates, while the spread across experts provides a built-in measure of uncertainty and reliability. The Chapel Hill Expert Survey is the leading example, producing comparable measures of European parties' positions on ideology, European integration, and many specific issues over time.
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Sources
- Bakker, R., de Vries, C., Edwards, E., Hooghe, L., Jolly, S., Marks, G., Polk, J., Rovny, J., Steenbergen, M., & Vachudova, M. A. (2015). Measuring Party Positions in Europe: The Chapel Hill Expert Survey Trend File, 1999–2010. Party Politics, 21(1), 143–152. DOI: 10.1177/1354068812462931 ↗
- Steenbergen, M. R., & Marks, G. (2007). Evaluating Expert Judgments. European Journal of Political Research, 46(3), 347–366. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2006.00694.x ↗
- Hooghe, L., Bakker, R., Brigevich, A., de Vries, C., Edwards, E., Marks, G., Rovny, J., Steenbergen, M., & Vachudova, M. (2010). Reliability and Validity of the 2002 and 2006 Chapel Hill Expert Surveys on Party Positioning. European Journal of Political Research, 49(5), 687–703. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2009.01912.x ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Expert Survey for Measuring Party and Policy Positions. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/political-science/expert-survey
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
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