Mircea Comsa

The adaptation of the Raven Standard Plus Progressive Matrices on the Romanian population

Psihologia resurselor umane, Apr 15, 2004

Intelligence assessment is one of the traditional fields in individual differences. When it is re... more Intelligence assessment is one of the traditional fields in individual differences. When it is realized based on scientific methods, its results are useful. Raven Progressive Matrices resisted in time as an intelligence assessment tool and it fully demonstrated its utility. Based on Spearman theory of intelligence RPM were validated on many cultures. The present paper presents the Romanian adaptation of RPM, standard form, the sample construction, and the norms built on a representative sample of the Romanian population; the paper also discusses some exploratory results based on the relation between intelligence, socioeconomic and demographical variables. We used as test Standard Raven Progressive Matrices. The study includes 3,000 subjects, aged between 6 and 80, from all Romanian counties.

Standardizarea pe populaţia României a Testului Matrici Progresive Raven Standard Plus

Psihologia resurselor umane, 2004

Intelligence assessment is one of the traditional fields in individual differences. When it is re... more Intelligence assessment is one of the traditional fields in individual differences. When it is realized based on scientific methods, its results are useful. Raven Progressive Matrices resisted in time as an intelligence assessment tool and it fully demonstrated its utility. Based on Spearman theory of intelligence RPM were validated on many cultures. The present paper presents the Romanian adaptation of RPM, standard form, the sample construction, and the norms built on a representative sample of the Romanian population; the paper also discusses some exploratory results based on the relation between intelligence, socioeconomic and demographical variables. We used as test Standard Raven Progressive Matrices. The study includes 3,000 subjects, aged between 6 and 80, from all Romanian counties.

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Romania in times of crisis: economic conditions and support for democracy

Turnout Decline in Romanian National Elections: Is it that Big?

Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Dec 1, 2015

According to official data, Romanian voter turnout decreased by half for the period 1990-2012. Ga... more According to official data, Romanian voter turnout decreased by half for the period 1990-2012. Gaps between official and self-reported turnout are larger than those from similar countries. Starting with these findings, this paper questions the official data regarding turnout and brings evidence that turnout in Romanian elections is increasingly underestimated. Three factors are responsible for this: the quality of the electoral registers, ineligible voters and emigration. The effect of these factors grew over time inducing the idea that turnout is sharply decreasing. In fact, the decrease is less pronounced, and most of it took place between 1990 and 2000. In the last part, I discuss the implications of the findings in three domains: theoretical debates, methodological and practical issues.

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All Rise for the Leaders? Leader Characteristics and the Personalisation of Electoral Politics in Central and Eastern European Democracies

Europe-Asia Studies

CSES Module 3 Full Release

Das Modul wurde als Nachwahl-Befragung durchgeführt. Die daraus resultierenden Daten werden mit D... more Das Modul wurde als Nachwahl-Befragung durchgeführt. Die daraus resultierenden Daten werden mit Daten über das Abstimmungsverhalten, demographischen Daten, und Variablen auf Wahlkreis- und Länderebene in einem einzelnen Datensatz bereitgestellt. CSES Variable List Eine Liste aller Variablen wird auf der Webseite des CSES bereitgestellt. Sie verdeutlicht, welche Inhalte über das CSES verfügbar sind und erlaubt es die Inhalte über verschiedene Module des CSES zu vergleichen. Themen: INDIVIDUALDATEN: Technische Variablen: Gewichtungsvariablen; Art der Wahl; Datum der Wahl 1. und 2. Wahlgang; Zeitpunkt der Studie (Nachwahlbefragung, Vorwahlbefragung und Nachwahlbefragung, Zwischen Wahlgängen in Mehrheitswahlsystemen); Erhebungsmodus; Geschlecht des Interviewers; Datum der Datenerhebung; Wahlkreis des Befragten; Anzahl der Tage zwischen Wahltag und Interview. Demographie: Alter; Geschlecht; Bildung; Familienstand; Gewerkschaftsmitgliedschaft; Gewerkschaftsmitgliedschaft anderer Haushalts...

Immigrants' Participation in Voting: Exposure, Resilience, and Transferability

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2014

Resilience, exposure and transferability are the most common explanations of immigrant political ... more Resilience, exposure and transferability are the most common explanations of immigrant political mobilisation in the context of the host society. They are based on assumptions about socialisation and institutionalisation, which are common to native-born groups as well. They lead to hypotheses about the impact of ‘cultures of voting turnout.’ This paper tests these hypotheses through cross-classified multilevel logistic regression analysis of immigrants' voting intentions. The method is new to the analysis of voting behaviour, and allows the comparison of immigrants of multiple origin groups in multiple host countries. This paper provides support for exposure effects: living in a society where most people cast ballots in national elections increases the odds that immigrants are willing to vote. Transferability is not evident, as coming from a culture of high turnout actually lowers the probability of voting. Such impact is not mediated by the length of stay or by the political opportunity structure specific to immigrants, but is stronger in systems of compulsory voting.

Embedding Attitudes Toward Immigrants in Solidarity Contexts: A Cross-European Study

International Migration Review

This article aims to retrospectively investigate the embeddedness of attitudes toward immigrants ... more This article aims to retrospectively investigate the embeddedness of attitudes toward immigrants (ATI) in cultures of solidarity seen as general orientations toward solidarity measured at a country level. We predict individual-level ATI with country-level aggregated indicators of solidarity that were observed decades earlier. The latter measure local, social, and global solidarity and are explained by a general, overall orientation toward solidarity. For computing the indicators, we combine aggregate data from the European Values Study (EVS) 1999 and 2008 and individual-level data from the spring 2015 Eurobarometer to show that the effect of country-level solidarity on individual-level ATI is strong and stable. The findings reveal that cultures of solidarity have a long-term effect and are the strongest contextual determinant for individual-level ATI. Both 1999 and 2008 data proved to be related to 2015 individual-level attitudes, having a positive effect. In particular, local solid...

‘Many’, ‘Half’ or ‘One out of Two’?: Assessing the Effectiveness of Counter-Biasing Techniques in Reducing Self-Reported Turnout

Revista De Cercetare Si Interventie Sociala, 2016

When asked in surveys about their voting record, many respondents tend to report having gone to t... more When asked in surveys about their voting record, many respondents tend to report having gone to the polls, although they have not. The consequence is a large and significant turnout overreporting, with negative consequences upon the validity of many investigations in the field of voting behaviour. An individual’s tendency to exaggerate his/her voting record is usually the combined effect of several factors: social desirability bias, limitations of human memory, and acquiescence response bias. This article assesses the effectiveness of counter-biasing techniques in compensating for the social desirability bias and, consequently, reducing self-reported turnout. It compares the effects of three alternatives of ‘loaded’ turnout questions, providing variable information on the occurrence of non-voting behaviour (many people/around half of the people/one out of two people did not vote) and invariant face-saving response options. Self-reported turnout is compared against externally validat...

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Mircea Comşa, Andrei Gheorghiţă, Claudiu D. Tufiş (coordonatori) Alegerile pentru Parlamentul European: România 2009

Revista Inovaţia Socială, 2011

Revista Inovația Socială este o revistă online creată în cadrul proiectului Inovația Socială-Fac... more Revista Inovația Socială este o revistă online creată în cadrul proiectului Inovația Socială-Factor al dezvoltării socio-economice", proiect coordonat de Prof. dr. Cătălin Zamfir în cadrul Institutului de Cercetare a Calității Vieții. Această revistă utilizează politica liberului ...

Alegerile prezidențiale din România, 2009

This is an editied volume containing analyses of the 2009 presidential elections in Romania.

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How to compare means of latent variables across countries and waves: Testing for invariance measurement. An application using Eastern European societies

How to Compare Means of Latent Variables across Countries and Waves: Testing for Invariance Measu... more How to Compare Means of Latent Variables across Countries and Waves: Testing for Invariance Measurement. An Application Using Eastern European Societies. Comparative social survey research is exponentially growing, more and more data being available at longitudinal and cross-national levels. When unobservable concepts are involved, the analysis of this kind of data poses the issue of measurement invariance (Are the concepts equivalent across countries and longitudinally?). The aim of this paper is to draw a clear picture of measurement invariance (MI) test via multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) using AMOS 16 software. According to the literature this is a necessary step before latent mean comparison. First, I discuss the concept of measurement invariance, and then we present the most important features and issues related to the MGCFA. The main part of the paper is dedicated to presenting a step by step procedure to test for MI using AMOS VB.NET. In order to facilitate understanding, all steps are logically described; also, data and syntaxes are provided. To illustrate the procedure, I analyze the "sexual permissiveness", as it measured in two large-scale surveys (EVS and WVS). I focus on the case of those 19 former communist countries included in these surveys, for which the available measurement covers at least three points in time, during the 1990-2009 period. To measure the "sexual permissiveness", four items are used: how justifiable are homosexuality, prostitution, abortion, and divorce. Scalar invariance of "sexual permissiveness" scale is proved for most countries, so means and relationships involving this value can be meaningfully interpreted. Finally, we discuss some alternatives for presenting the means of latent variables.

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How to Compare Means of Latent Variables across Countries and Waves : Testing for Invariance Measurement . An Application Using Eastern European Societies

How to Compare Means of Latent Variables across Countries and Waves: Testing for Invariance Measu... more How to Compare Means of Latent Variables across Countries and Waves: Testing for Invariance Measurement. An Application Using Eastern European Societies. Comparative social survey research is exponentially growing, more and more data being available at longitudinal and cross-national levels. When unobservable concepts are involved, the analysis of this kind of data poses the issue of measurement invariance (Are the concepts equivalent across countries and longitudinally?). The aim of this paper is to draw a clear picture of measurement invariance (MI) test via multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) using AMOS 16 software. According to the literature this is a necessary step before latent mean comparison. First, I discuss the concept of measurement invariance, and then we present the most important features and issues related to the MGCFA. The main part of the paper is dedicated to presenting a step by step procedure to test for MI using AMOS VB.NET. In order to facilita...

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How to Compare Means of Latent Variables Between Countries and 'Research Waves': Testing for Invariance Measurement. An Application Using Eastern European Societies

Stiluri de viaţă în România după 1989

O analiză a ratei de răspuns în anchetele de opinie naţionale,

Sociologie Românească

Page 1. Sociologie Românească, 3-4/ 2002, p. 1-32 O ANALIZĂ A RATEI DE RĂSPUNS ÎN ANCHETELE DE OP... more

COVID-19 and orientations towards solidarity: the cases of Spain, Hungary, and Romania

European Societies

Solidarity is core to Europe's societal organisation and was intensively addressed in recent rese... more Solidarity is core to Europe's societal organisation and was intensively addressed in recent research. Using data collected before and during the lockdown in spring 2020, we examine whether value orientations towards solidarity changed in three countries (Spain, Hungary, and Romania). Before the pandemic, people in Spain expressed higher solidarity than people in Hungary and Romania. Our argument claims that when facing uncertainty, people react negatively, and turn to egocentric values. However, successful state intervention decreases uncertainty and boosts solidarity. Personal experience of a crisis increases caring for others, at least in the short term. Our findings reveal increasing solidarity in Hungary and Romania and stagnant levels in Spain, thus decreasing the distance between these societies. Direct exposure to the virus and the negative experiences associated with it are related to higher solidarity but in different ways across countries. In Spain and Romania, personally knowing someone who is infected corresponds to higher levels of solidarity, while in Hungary being in confinement is associated with increased solidarity. The duration of the lockdown matters. In Romania and in Hungary, high levels of solidarity at the beginning of the lockdown decreased over time but started to increase again after several weeks into the lockdown.

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Explaining Turnout Decline in Post-Communist Countries: The Impact of Migration

Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Sociologia, Dec 1, 2017

Turnout decline in former communist countries has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention. ... more Turnout decline in former communist countries has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention. In this paper, I re-test some of the previous hypotheses on new data and I propose a new hypothesis that considers the impact of external migration. Using multivariate regression models on a dataset of 272 presidential and parliamentary elections held in 30 post-communist countries between 1989 and 2012, I have found strong support for the "migration hypothesis": other things being equal, an increase of migration rate by 1 percentage point reduces voter turnout by around 0.4 percentage points. Most of the previous hypotheses related to causes of turnout decline are supported too.

format_quoteInternal Romanian turnout rates surpass external rates by a factor of 13, illustrating the significant voting gap for migrants.format_quote

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Measuring Social Desirability Effects on Self-Reported Turnout Using the Item Count Technique

International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 2013

Atitudini față de muncă în România: Opinii, realități, așteptări

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