Standardized questionnaires are the general empirical approach to measure legitimacy and civic culture. But frequent critics highlight their deficits for political culture research and raise the question, whether research on legitimacy should be understand as “measuring” or as “evaluating”.
Patberg (2013) initiated this controversy by criticizing that standardized interviews only measure if people believe in the legitimacy of the political order and don’t evaluate whether the rule is in accordance with the beliefs, values and expectations of the people. The paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of different empirical research models. Based on the Repertory Grid-method, the author develops an alternative approach to compare the respondents’ perception and alignment between an observable phenomenon (structure of rule) and their own normative values (what is legitimate). Finally, Repertory Gridding, which combines the qualitative and the quantitative approach in a quasi experimental setting, is illustrated and tested in an exemplary survey.
