WordStat

WordStat
Content Analysis and Text Mining

LAVER & GARRY DICTIONARY OF POLICY POSITION – (FREE)

Download and Installation Instruction

  1. Click here to download the dictionary
  2. Extract the content of the zip file into the WordStat Dictionary folder (by default: My Documents\My Provalis Research Projects\Dict).

To obtain information on WordStat content analysis software or download a trial version, click here.

Dictionary Information

Description - The Laver & Garry dictionary has been developed to estimates the policy positions of political actors in the United Kingdom by comparing their speeches and written documents to key words found in the British conservative and Labour manifestos of 1992. Words have been selected semantically based on how they were related to specific content categories as well as empirically based on how specific they were to a specific political party (a word should be used by one party at least twice as often as by the other party). The dictionary contains 415 words and word patterns stored in 19 categories.

Note: Please remember that this dictionary was customized to reflect the policy positions of UK political parties. It has limited utility to assess political documents from other countries. The procedure outline in Laver & Gary (2000) could however be used to adapt the dictionary to a different political context.

Main reference: (to be cited in all publications which make use of it)

Laver. M. & Garry, J. (2000). Estimating Policy Positions from Political Texts. American Journal of Political Science, 44 (3), 619-634.

Laver & Garry Dictionary
Categories and Sample Words

CATEGORY

SAMPLE WORDS OR WORD PATTERNS

 ECONOMY

More State assist, benefit, care, disabilities, educat*, invest, pension
Equal State accounting, bank*, bargaining, customer*, econ*, import
Less State autonomy, bidders, choice*, controls, franchise*, market

INSTITUTION

Radical abolition, accountable, monitor*, reform*, scrap, voice*
Neutral assembly, council*, commission*, office, parliament*
Conservative authority, inspect*, jurisdiction*, legitimate, strike*

VALUES

Liberal cruel*, discriminat*, human, injustice*, rights, sex*
Conservative defend, discipline, glorious, honour, immigra*, marriage

LAW AND ORDER

Liberal harassment, non-custodial
Conservative assaults, burglar*, court, disorder, drug*, hooligan*, police

 ENVIRONMENT

Pro-environment car, chemical*, ecolog*, emission*, green, planet
Con-environment product*

 CULTURE

High art, artistic, dance, galler*, museum, music*, opera
Popular media
Sport angler*

 GROUPS

Women girls, woman, women
Ethnic asian*, buddhist*, ethnic*, race, raci*
Rural agricultur*, bird*, faram*, fish*, forest*, livestock,, wildlife
Urban town*

About KCS

Kovach Computing Services (KCS) was founded in 1993 by Dr. Warren Kovach. The company specializes in the development and marketing of inexpensive and easy-to-use statistical software for scientists, as well as in data analysis consulting.

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