Methodological issues when interpreting changes in social phenomena over time : perceptions of relative difference, absolute difference, and time distance

Prevodnik, Katja (author), Vehovar, Vasja (author)

When comparing social science phenomena through a time perspective, absolute and relative difference (RD) are the two typical presentation formats used to communicate interpretations to the audience, while time distance (TD) is the least frequently used of such formats. This article arguesthat the chosen presentation format is extremely important because thevarious formats suggest different substantive interpretations. To elaborate upon this issue, researchers from the National Statistical Office, National Health Institute, and general academia were invited to participate in an experiment with alternative presentation formats that describe changes in certain social science phenomena over time. The results revealed a prevailing tendency of respondents to rely on interpretations related to absolute differences, which was additionally reinforced with graphical presentation formats. Therefore, whenever RD or TD is more proper for substantive interpretations, the corresponding presentation format must be designed with special attention.

• Language: English
• Keywords: manipulation, absolute difference, relative difference, time distance, perception, experiment, comparative analysis
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 803-840
• Numbering: Vol. 52, iss. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-115988
• UDC: 303
• ISSN on article: 0049-1241
• DOI: 10.1177/0049124120914948
• COBISS.SI-ID: 36686941
• Publication date in RUL: 05.05.2020

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sociological methods & research
• Shortened title: Sociol. methods res.
• Publisher: SAGE
• ISSN: 0049-1241
• COBISS.SI-ID: 26414336

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: družbena dejstva, družboslovna metodologija, primerjalna metoda