Measuring Metaphor∗

Unstructured interviews and open ended questions allow investigators to learn from experts without first being experts themselves. Structured surveys demand that researchers understand the theory, model and measures of all the variables of interest before interviewing the respondent. Unstructured interviews allow for a rich amount of information to be collected, but in a form that is very hard to compare across subjects, quantify, or rectangularize for statistical methods that rely on completely observed data. We study a two wave survey construction that allows the expository benefits of open ended questions to be coupled with the intercomparability of structured survey research. We show the power of this measurement technique by investigating a measure for an increasingly studied, but pragmatically qualitative concept, the use of metaphor in political discourse. The application of this technique will be the investigation of “metaphors” in the cognitive science meaning where a metaphor is a mental model of a well known activity that allows a person to understand and define an activity they have not thought about. We will use unstructured interviews from different activities to allow respondents to explain how they conceive of an ∗Appreciative thanks for comments and discussions are due to Ryan Enos, James Lo, Erin Tavano. †Department of Political Science (Bunche Hall, Box 951472 Los Angeles, CA 900951472; http://tercer.bol.ucla.edu,[email protected]).