Political Efficacy
Psychology: Values & BeliefsReliability: alpha 0.763 sample items
About this scale
A multi-item measure of political efficacy with two subscales: internal (perceived ability to influence government) and external (perceived responsiveness of government).
Sample item(s)
“I consider myself well-qualified to participate in politics (internal)”
“Public officials don't care much about what people like me think (external, reverse)”
“I have a pretty good understanding of important political issues (internal)”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: alpha 0.76. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Standard political-efficacy measure.
Source & citation
Niemi, R. G., Craig, S. C., & Mattei, F. (1991): Measuring internal political efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study. American Political Science Review, Vol. 85, No. 4, pp. 1407–1413.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
Use it in your research
Need to check the reliability or psychometrics of this scale in your own data? Use the free DrAIStudio research tools:
Cronbach’s alpha calculator
All statistical calculators
Search the full Scale Atlas
Academic writing humanizer