The public's social policy preferences: Structure and antecedents

A theoretical and empirical investigation of the structure and antecedents of the American mass publics' opinions about federal social policy. The concept of "facet-based" policy evaluations is proposed as a conceptual framework for measuring and analyzing policy preference structures. Some of the central methodological issues addressed in the research include the problem of sample heterogeneity and strategies for estimating and comparing structure and groups using latent variable (covariance structure) models. Results based on simulated and empirical data demonstrate how the analysis of heterogeneous samples can result in incorrect or otherwise misleading statistical and substantive inferences about the existence, extent and form of structure among the publics' opinions and policy preferences.