Description

The Questionnaire Measuring Attitudes Towards Democracy, Power, Equality and Multiculturalism (QEM-61) is a multidimensional instrument designed to assess a broad range of political and social attitudes.

The questionnaire focuses on attitudes toward democracy, power, equality, and multiculturalism, while also addressing related constructs such as authoritarianism, militarism, educational orientations, attitudes toward political leaders, and political self-positioning.

The instrument consists of 61 items. According to the factor analysis reported in the source material, these items are organized into nine subscales, allowing different dimensions of political and social attitudes to be examined separately.

Objective

The primary objective of the QEM-61 is to measure attitudes toward democracy, power, equality, and multiculturalism.

Through its individual subscales, the questionnaire provides a multidimensional framework for examining different aspects of sociopolitical orientation, including authoritarian and democratic attitudes, multiculturalism, militarism, educational orientations, evaluations of different types of political leaders, and self-placement on the political right.

The instrument therefore enables researchers to examine political attitudes as a set of related but distinct dimensions rather than as a single general orientation.

Development

According to the available source, the questionnaire was developed by Meloen, Farnen, and German in the early 1990s.

The questionnaire contains 61 items, and factor analysis resulted in the identification of nine subscales.

These subscales represent different aspects of political, ideological, social, and educational attitudes and provide the structural framework for interpreting responses to the instrument.

Subscales

The QEM-61 comprises the following nine subscales:

Authoritarianism (F10): Assesses attitudes associated with authoritarianism.

Democratic Attitudes (DEMOCAR-8): Examines attitudes toward democracy and democratic principles.

Multiculturalism (MCULT-5): Assesses attitudes toward multiculturalism.

Militarism (MIL-4): Examines attitudes related to militarism.

Liberal Education (EDLIB-5): Assesses attitudes toward a liberal orientation in education.

Ethnocentric Education (EDNAT-4): Examines attitudes toward an ethnocentric orientation in education.

Sympathy toward Dictators (DICTATOR): Assesses participants’ attitudes toward dictators.

Sympathy toward Reformers (REFORMER): Examines participants’ attitudes toward reformers.

Self-Rating on the Political Right (SRIGHT-8): Assesses participants’ self-positioning on the political right.

Together, these dimensions provide a broad profile of the sociopolitical attitudes represented in the questionnaire.

Scoring

The QEM-61 uses different response formats depending on the group of items.

The first 47 items are scored using a 7-point scale, ranging from:

1 = Agreement
to
7 = Disagreement

The remaining items are rated using a 9-point scale, ranging from:

1 = Admire
to
9 = Dislike

According to the source material, items 7–16 are constructed as a 7-point bipolar scale, in which respondents select the position that best corresponds to their political beliefs.

Because different response formats are used within the questionnaire, scoring and interpretation should take into account the particular item group and subscale being analyzed.

The available source does not provide additional information concerning reverse-scored items, detailed formulas for calculating subscale scores, total-score computation, or interpretation thresholds.

Data Analysis and Use

QEM-61 data can be examined at the level of the nine individual subscales, providing a multidimensional representation of respondents’ political and social attitudes.

The subscale scores can be used to examine specific orientations such as authoritarianism, democratic attitudes, multiculturalism, militarism, educational attitudes, evaluations of political leaders, and political self-positioning.

The factor structure reported in the source provides the basis for organizing the questionnaire into these distinct dimensions.

Where appropriate to the research design, the individual dimensions may also be examined in relation to other variables included in a study. However, the available source does not specify particular statistical models or procedures beyond the factor analysis and reliability assessment used in the original evaluation.

Reliability

Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha (α).

The following coefficients are reported in the source:

Authoritarianism (F): α = 0.79

Democratic Attitudes (DEMOCAR): α = 0.63

Multiculturalism (MCULT): α = 0.56

Militarism (MIL): α = 0.56

Liberal Education (EDLIB): α = 0.52

Ethnocentric Education (EDNAT): α = 0.59

DICTATOR: α = 0.65

REFORMER: α = 0.69

Self-Rating on the Political Right (SRIGHT): α = 0.70

The reported coefficients therefore range from α = 0.52 to α = 0.79, indicating variation in internal consistency across the nine dimensions.

Accordingly, reliability should be considered separately for each subscale rather than assuming a uniform level of internal consistency across the entire questionnaire.

Psychometric Considerations

The nine-subscale structure of the QEM-61 was derived through factor analysis, according to the available source.

The reported Cronbach’s alpha coefficients demonstrate that the level of internal consistency differs across subscales. Authoritarianism shows the highest reported coefficient (α = 0.79), followed by political self-rating on the right (α = 0.70) and attitudes toward reformers (α = 0.69).

Other dimensions show lower internal-consistency coefficients, including Liberal Education (α = 0.52), Multiculturalism (α = 0.56), and Militarism (α = 0.56).

The available document does not report additional psychometric evidence such as test-retest reliability, criterion validity, convergent or discriminant validity, or confirmatory factor analysis. Therefore, conclusions regarding these properties cannot be drawn from the available source.

Research Applications

The QEM-61 provides a structured approach for examining a range of political and social attitudes within a multidimensional framework.

Its nine subscales make it possible to distinguish between authoritarianism, democratic attitudes, multiculturalism, militarism, educational orientations, attitudes toward different types of political leaders, and political self-positioning.

The questionnaire may therefore be particularly relevant to research examining the organization and relationships of different sociopolitical attitudes.

Because the available source describes an instrument developed in the early 1990s, applications in different historical, linguistic, or cultural contexts should take into account the original conceptual and measurement framework of the questionnaire.

Reference

Meloen JD, Farnen R, German D. Authoritarianism, democracy and symbolic political leadership in the new world order: Evidence from twelve countries worldwide. Paper prepared for the 6th Annual Scientific Meeting of the ISPP; Cambridge, Massachusetts.