Measuring Meanings of Democracy Through Surveys: A Discussion of Instruments Used in the Arab Barometer 2006-2019

There a several opportunities to measure meanings of democracy (MoD) based on surveys. First you can choose an open question format that enables the researcher not only to know, what people mean by democracy, but also how many of the respondents can answer the question overall. Second, you can choose a closed question format, in which you can present different characteristics of democracy (and also non-democracy) and give the respondents the chance to rate the answers equally (rating format) or to bring them in an order by choosing for example one or two most important characteristics (ranking format). The Arab Barometer has chosen the latter possibility, but changed its survey instrument throughout the five waves conducted between 2006 and 2019 in several ways. Therefore, this paper first presents the various instruments used in the AB waves to measure MoD. Second, it explains the theoretical considerations for constructing these instruments. Third, it discusses the implications of these different instruments concerning the measurement of MoD in the MENA region.