Research I did back in grad school suggests that in the US and elsewhere, the meaning of Democracy varies considerably - see
Popular Definitions of Democracy from Uganda, Madagascar, and Florida, U.S.A.
If we were right, then general questions about democracy can lead to less than reliable and/or valid results
If you'd like to chat about this after the holidays, please let me know. I first discovered this problem when I did the research I mentioned earlier and also when examining Afrobarometer survey data. I feel it is really a major problem with a lot of the research done on success and satisfaction of democracy everywhere.
I think that the project has to include the original definition of democracy plus a limited number of other definitions that were shaped, later on, in various countries.
You know that intellectuals may propose a social theory but the practice may/may not be in exact line to what have been advised. So the practice of democracy has to be analyzed & evaluated.
Sometimes, the democratic process may allow tyrants & extremists to reach high positions in a given country. Therefore, the end product has to be looked at in terms of separating fact from fiction or truth from falsehood.
Praising democracy globally by the mass media through an enormous propaganda ought to have no effect on scientific research. Through proper scientific investigation, a researcher may find out that democracy is a big game that has been connived by devious masterminds to deceive peoples by portraying it as contrary to dictatorship.
Your targeting of reliability & validity is a good approach to this important topic.
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