The Stability of Congressional Roll-Call Indexes

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Abstract
This study builds on previous work that has shown congressional roll-call indexes to be both reliable and valid indicators of House members' ideolo gy. Using a longitudinal set of data comprised of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) ratings, Americans for Conservative Action (ACA) scores, Congressional Quarterly's Conservative Coalition (CC) ratings and Nation al Journal's (NJ) scores, we examine the stability of the indexes using a con firmatory factor model. The results confirm the high level of validity and reliability found previously and provide evidence of an equally high level of stability. Congressional roll-call indexes, though based on a sampling of votes taken in the House of Representatives, perform quite well with regard to these three measurement characteristics.

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