Measuring Political Knowledge in Spain: Problems and Consequences for the Gender Gap in Knowledge

• Main Author: Mónica Ferrín y Marta Fraile
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) 2014-01-01
• Series: Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (REIS)
• Subjects: Political Knowledge; Gender Gap; Surveys; Measurement; Validity
• Online Access: http://reis.cis.es/REIS/PDF/REIS_147_03_ENGLISH1404905314245.pdf

How much do Spanish citizens know about politics? Is political knowledge unequally distributed among the Spanish population? While levels of political knowledge in Spain are low, there are also important socioeconomic and gender differences in levels of knowledge. Knowledge is higher among those with higher levels of education, greater socioeconomic and cognitive resources and, in particular, among men. These differences are explained as a function of citizens? resources, capacities, and motivation. However this study also shows that part of the gender gap in political knowledge in Spain is due to the way in which surveys measure that knowledge, which reveals important problems of validity. The results suggest the importance of testing new ways of asking survey questions about citizens' political knowledge, as studies in other countries have shown.