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One of the most problematic aspect of p‐values is the tendency to dichotomize, whereby statistical significance is equated with scientifically worthwhile and insignificance with worthless findings. This article outlines two approaches that move beyond such dichotomies: minimum Bayes factors and the analysis of credibility. Their use is illustrated through a simple example. The examples show that significant findings may not always be as telling as statistical significance would suggest, whereas non‐significant findings may contain considerable evidence about effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Swiss Political Science Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article organizes the diversity in deliberative democracy theory. Two ideal-types are distinguished. Type one deliberation is founded upon the Habermasian logic of communicative action and focuses upon rationality and deliberative intent, distinguishes communicative and strategic action, and has a procedural component. Type one deliberation seeks to obtain understanding or consensus. Type two deliberation focuses on flexibility in discourse, emphasizes outcomes versus process, and focuses on eliminating constraints on normative ideals.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Simon Niemeyer and John Dryzek on deliberative democracy in Australia and another by Judith Bara, Albert Weale and Aude Biquelet on the use of computer-assisted textual analysis (CATA) to assess positions of Members of Parliament on abortion in Great Britain.

Copyright of Swiss Political Science Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although expert surveys have gained a prominent place in comparative studies of party positions on issues, their validity has been called into question. In this article, some of the validity concerns are evaluated in the context of the authors' own expert survey on national party positions vis-à-vis European integration. One goal of the article is to demonstrate that this expert survey produces valid measures of party positions. An equally important goal, however, is to suggest some methods that can help in assessing the quality of expert survey data. These methods, which are rooted in psychometric theory, are applicable in a variety of contexts and are easily implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the American public's increasingly cynical views about human nature have drawn considerable attention from scholars, existing research says little about how interpersonal trust shapes mass foreign policy opinions. This study analyzes survey data to test the claim that citizens use their beliefs about human nature to reason about international affairs. The results indicate that cynical citizens are more likely than trusting citizens to endorse the principle of isolationism and to oppose cooperative forms of intervention in other nations' problems. Citizens' use of interpersonal trust as an information shortcut helps them to make inferences regarding a topic about which they typically know little, but such inferences are not necessarily realistic ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the modeling multilevel data structures use by political scientists in the U.S. Association of statistical modeling with the analysis of multilevel data; Discussion on the educational statistics and sociology for multilevel analysis;Importance of statistical motivation for explicit accounting for multilevel data structures.

Explores the impact of prosocial orientation on a domain of public opinion in the United States. Attitudes toward social welfare policies; Orientation of humanitarianism; Importance of humanitarianism to the American sociopolitical ethos; Contrast between humanitarianism and egalitarianism; Sets of policies that constitute different types of welfare state.