Replication data for: The Origins and Implications of Language Effects in Multilingual Surveys

However, extant research generally relies on statistical methods that cannot distinguish between two related yet distinct types of language effects in Latino surveys: 1) differences in attitude, and 2) differences in measures of attitude. The former reflects varied levels of a latent attitude between English and Spanish interviewees.

The latter--formally known as Differential Item Functioning (DIF)--refers to linguistic differences in the interpretation of survey items, which lead Latino respondents to misreport their level of attitude. This paper proposes Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) models to decouple these two types of language effects. Using this modeling framework, I examine language differences in measures of subjective and factual political attitudes from the Latino National Survey (2006).