Resumen

SKAANING, SVEND-ERIK. Measuring civil liberty: an assessment of standards-based data sets. Rev. cienc. polít. (Santiago) [online]. 2009, vol.29, n.3, pp.721-740. ISSN 0718-090X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-090X2009000300003.

This article offers a critical assessment often-civil liberty measures. The evaluation addresses their focus and scope, conceptualization, measurement, and aggregation. It demonstrates that the measures are marked by differences that are often not only a question of form but also of' appropriateness. In general, the justification of choices made in relation to the index constructions are inadequate and among the particular shortcomings we find severe limitations in the years covered, conceptual conflation and redundancy, restrictions on availability of disaggregate data, unsystematic and insufficient coding rules, low discriminatory power, and unfounded aggregation rules. In addition, the measures tap into two distinct types of civil liberties. The evaluation underlines that more precaution is needed in the development (and use) of civil liberty datasets.

Palabras clave : Civil Liberty; conceptualization; measurement; coding rules.

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