Access. A Note on Operationalization and Measurements

Although access is one of the most central concepts in the interest group literature, researchers face different challenges when measuring interest group access. This research note reviews some common approaches to operationalize access empirically. More specifically, we compare self-reported access (usually collected through survey data) with unobtrusive measures of access (generally collected by analyzing publicly available government documents) and we provide a discussion of some methodological advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. The empirical part of the research note analyses the extent to which self-reported access reported by EU interest association can be used as a valid indicator of access, more precisely the access interest group official gain to the European Commission. One of our observations is that survey data on access can be a valid alternative measure of access, and that survey data can be complementary to public records of access. We conclude with a short reflection and some recommendations for future empirical research on access.