Measurement of income inequality re-examined: constructing experimental tests by questionnaire

Abstract

Learning ordinary people’s perception of income inequality is a relatively
new field of research, but its importance is rapidly growing. Despite the popularity
of inequality measures, the underlying assumptions concerning the most
popular of them do not fully hold, as shown in early research by Amiel and
Cowell (1992; 1999). However, results of their study contain multiple puzzling
and inconsistent answers. This paper analyses methods used by Amiel
and Cowell to elicit respondents’ views about income inequality. It presents
the results of a quantitative questionnaire repeated after Amiel and Cowell,
combined with qualitative interviews with selected respondents. The research
was conducted in Poland on 132 sociology and economy students. Qualitative
interviews and the subsequent data analysis revealed multiple problems
that caused respondents to answer inconsistently. Solutions to some of these
problems are then proposed.