Improving measurements by survey infrastructures synergies: insights from the revised gender role attitudes scale in the European Values Study 2017

Survey infrastructure synergies can support the sustainability of existing European survey programmes by maximising resources and expertise. The study uses the scale of gender role attitudes (GRA) surveyed in the fifth wave of the European Values Study (EVS2017) as an example to explore how such cooperation could produce improved measurements in a context of methodological innovation. The EVS implemented tools and strategies that may affect cross-sectional comparability, such as the translation approach and the use of mixed-modes as well as the increased standardisation of the procedures, documentation and monitoring. After describing the revision of the GRA scale of EVS2017 and assessing its content validity, the study discusses its comparability. By applying multi-group confirmatory factor analysis and the recently established alignment method, measurement equivalence is reached both cross-sectionally and across modes of data collection.