scholarly journals Experimental Research Design in the Study of Electoral Systems

2017 ◽  
pp. 424-444
Author(s):  
Joshua A. Tucker ◽  
Dominik Duell
Keyword(s):  
Causal Inference ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
National Level ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
System P

Understanding the effects of electoral systems is of great importance to both scholars and practitioners, and experimental research can be a valuable tool in pursuit of this goal. However, scholars need to think carefully about how to utilize experimental research, especially because the variation in electoral systems in which we are most interested—at the national level—is often impossible or unethical to manipulate. To inform how experiments and related methods of causal inference are then still able to facilitate investigations into the roots and consequences of electoral systems, we situate experimental research within a broader account of research design in the study of electoral systems, summarize existing experimental work, and discuss future avenues. We call for carefully crafting experimental tests in the laboratory and for using “naturally” occurring variation in existing institutions at lower levels of the electoral system.

Perfect timing: Leveraging the timing of defection to assess the effect of electoral rules on party switching

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882199372
Author(s):  
Marius Radean
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Time Horizon ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Party Switching ◽  
Do So

When legislators switch parties between elections this may be viewed as undemocratic since, bypassing voters, they are changing the outcomes of elections. Do electoral institutions affect the likelihood of party switching? I argue that legislators are less likely to switch in candidate-centered electoral systems where, because of personal voting, parties cannot insulate defectors from voter retribution. When they switch though, legislators do so early in the term to exploit voters’ short retrospective time horizon. These expectations are tested using a quasi experimental research design that estimates the effect of the 2008 Romanian electoral reform on party switching. In 2008 Romania changed its electoral system from a closed-list PR to a candidate-centered electoral system, where all candidates compete in single-member districts. Both hypotheses are supported by empirics. This helps weed out competing explanations which now have to account for both the decrease in and the different timing of party switching.

7. Elections and voting

UK Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 145-169
Author(s):  
Andrew Blick
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
National Level ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Different Types ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This chapter looks at how voting helps people to take a direct role in politics. The chapter discusses the rules by which the electoral system operates. It discusses the different types of electoral systems used in the UK. It connects General Elections and the formation of government at the national level. The chapter then offers a number of theoretical perspectives from which to consider voting in terms of fairness, mandates, and effectiveness. The chapter looks at the impact of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 and how the integrity of elections is maintained. Finally, it looks at the plan to equalize the size and reduce the number of UK parliamentary constituencies.

The Spanish Electoral System

2020 ◽  
pp. 388-409
Author(s):  
Agustí Bosch
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The Other ◽  
Regional Parties ◽  
Lower House ◽  
System P ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One

This chapter examines the Spanish electoral system, meaning—first and foremost—the one used to elect the lower house (Congreso de los Diputados). After a brief description of its components, the chapter assesses how its scarce proportionality has traditionally led Spanish politics towards a two-party system. The chapter also assesses some other of its alleged outcomes (such as the malapportionment, the weight of the regional parties, or the robustness of democracy) and its prospects for the future. Finally, the chapter also examines the ‘other’ Spanish electoral systems—that is, the ones used to elect the Senate, the local councils, the regional parliaments, and the Spanish seats in the European Parliament.

7. The Electoral System

2021 ◽  
pp. 168-196
Author(s):  
Ian Loveland
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Recent Survey ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Large Group ◽  
System P ◽  
Electoral Laws ◽  
Significant Mechanism ◽  
Governmental System

A country’s electoral systems are perhaps the most significant mechanism within its constitutional order to ensure that the country’s laws and governmental system attract what Jefferson termed ‘the consent of the governed’. A recent survey of electoral laws in modern democratic societies identified six fundamental characteristics of democratic electoral systems: (i) that virtually all adults may vote; (ii) that elections are held regularly; (iii) that no large group of citizens is prohibited from fielding candidates; (iv) that all legislative seats are contested; (v) that election campaigns are conducted fairly; and (vi) that votes are secretly cast and accurately counted. This chapter examines how well Britain’s electoral system satisfies these tests, first tracing the evolution of the democratic electoral system, followed by a review of the contemporary electoral process.

Independents and the electoral system

2017 ◽  
pp. 172-204
Author(s):  
Liam Weeks
Keyword(s):  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Contributory Factor ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
System P ◽  
Quantitative Manner ◽  
Australian Experience ◽  
Electoral Data

This chapter focuses on electoral systems, rules and regulations, and how they impact on independents in Ireland and elsewhere. There is a particular emphasis on the electoral system, PR-STV, because it is frequently referred to as a contributory factor behind the significant presence of independents in Ireland. The electoral experience of independents under STV in Ireland is compared with their fate in Australia, the only other country where both independents and STV are present. After establishing the causal relationship between STV and independents’ electoral success in Ireland, the validity of these hypotheses is tested on the Australian experience, more specifically, its seven parliaments currently elected by STV. This is put to the test in a quantitative manner using constituency-level electoral data from Ireland and Australia.

Electoral Systems in Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 762-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian McAllister ◽  
Toni Makkai
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Secret Ballot ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Lower House ◽  
System P ◽  
The World ◽  
2016 Election

Australia is often characterized as “a democratic laboratory,” where a wide variety of electoral systems have been designed and implemented. Australia gave the world “the Australian ballot” (or secret ballot), and it is one of the few countries to operate an enforced system of compulsory voting. This chapter examines the evolution of the electoral systems in the lower House of Representatives and in the upper house, the Senate. Particular attention is given to the design of the Senate electoral system, and to the changes that were implemented at the 2016 election to eliminate the proliferation of “micro parties.” The development of compulsory voting is also outlined, and its consequences for the party system evaluated. Finally, the chapter discusses the major challenges to reform of the electoral system.

scholarly journals Increasingly ‘Irrational’ Party Systems: Evidence that There Are Increasingly More Than Two Parties at the District Level

2013 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Raymond
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
National Level ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
District Level ◽  
Number Of Parties

Recent work has noted an increase in the number of parties at the national level in both proportional and majoritarian electoral systems. While the conventional wisdom maintains that the incentives provided by the electoral system will prevent the number of parties at the district level from exceeding two in majoritarian systems, the evidence presented here demonstrates otherwise. I argue that this has occurred because the number of cleavages articulated by parties has increased as several third parties have begun articulating cleavages that are not well represented by the two larger parties.

Electoral Systems in Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 580-600
Author(s):  
Reuven Y. Hazan ◽  
Reut Itzkovitch-Malka ◽  
Gideon Rahat
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Reform Initiatives ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
System P ◽  
Election Results

This chapter, which focuses on the Israeli electoral system as a prototype of an extreme PR system, has five main sections. First, it uses the 2015 election results to analyze the properties of the electoral system and the nature of its outputs. Second, it reviews the three prominent features of the Israeli electoral system and their origins: its PR electoral formula, its nationwide electoral district, and its closed party lists. Third, it examines the developments that led to the consideration and implementation of reform initiatives. Fourth, it assesses the political consequences of the system for parties and the party system, for government formation and durability, and for the legislature and legislative behavior. Fifth, it addresses the puzzle of increased personalization despite the absence of a personalized electoral system.

THE EFFECT OF SMALL GROUP WORK STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’S ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING PROCEDURE TEXT

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asrina Sari Siregar ◽  
Sumarsih Sumarsih ◽  
Masitowarni Siregar
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
Null Hypothesis ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Small Group Work ◽  
Procedure Text ◽  
Experimental Group

This study attempts to discover the effect of applying Small Group Work Strategy on students’ achievement in writing procedure text. It was conducted by using experimental research design. The population of this research was the nineth (IX) grade students of SMP N 1 Padang Bolak Julu which consists of 3 parallel classes with the total number of students is 90. The samples of this research were taken by random sampling through lottery technique. The result was class IX1 consisted of 30 students became the experimental group and class IX3 consisted of 30 students became the control group. The experimental group was taught by Small Group Work Strategy while the control group was taught by using individual work strategy. The instrument was used to collect the data was writing procedure text. After the data were analyzed, it was found that the value of t-observed was 3.37 with the degree of freedom (df) = 58 at the level significance 0.05. it means that t-observed was higher than t-table (3.37 > 2.00. Therefore, the null hypothesis (Ho) is reected and the hypothesis alternative (Ha) is accepted.Key words : Small Group Work Strategy, Writing Procedure Text.

THE EFFECT OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCES STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING NARRATIVE TEXTS

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anisya Hardiant Daulay ◽  
Sumarsih Sumarsih ◽  
Masitowarni Siregar
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
Narrative Text ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Experimental Group

This study attempts to discover the effect of applying Personal Experiences Strategy on students’ achievement in writing narrative text. It was conducted by using experimental research design. The population of this research was the tenth (X) grade students of SMA N 6 Padangsidimpuan  which consists of 10 parallel classes with the total number of students is 64. The samples of this research were taken by random sampling through lottery technique. The result was class X1 consisted of 32 students became the experimental group and class X2 consisted of 32 students became the control group. The experimental group was taught by Personal Experiences Strategy while the control group was taught by using Big group work strategy. The instrument was used to collect the data was writing narrative text. After the data were analyzed, it was found that the value of t-observed was 4.25 with the degree of freedom (df) = 62 at the level significance 0.05. it means that t-observed was higher than t-table (4.25 > 1.997. The result of this study showed that teaching narrative text by using personal experiences strategy was higher than that by big group work. Keywords : Using Personal Experiences Strategy. Writing Narrative Text.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document