Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the utility of Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) developed by Louis Guttman for the data analysis of cross-national survey using the example of the AsiaBarometer survey. The AsiaBarometer is a large scale multi-national questionnaire survey conducted at regular intervals (every year from 2003) within the Asia region. This paper analyzes the data from the 4th AsiaBarometer survey which was conducted from June to August 2006 in seven countries: China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The AsiaBarometer survey contains question items that measure the respondents' beliefs, attitudes and behaviors in various aspects of everyday life, as well as items intended to measure their values related to freedom, human rights, and democracy, and their political behaviors. In this data analysis, I deal with the following three groups of question items: (1) question items on “well-being,” (2) question items on “social trust, ” and (3) question items on “political attitudes.”
