Dataset instruments

We are developing comprehensive datasets including information from the late seventies to present, a period long enough to obtain reliable data and results about the functioning of the Spanish democracy. The construction of these databases provide a new tool for the study of the dynamics of agenda setting and issue framing in Spain; and for developing a systematic comparative analysis about agenda dynamics among countries and policy subsystems. These databases are a point of departure that seeks to increase our understanding about the impact of politics upon agenda dynamics.

At present, we have developped the following datasets:

• Central Government
• Speeches of the Prime Minister
• Executive Bills
• Decree-Laws
• Legislative Decrees
• Parliament:
• Oral Questions
• Parliamentary Groups Bills
• Laws
• Comunidades Autónomas
• Laws
• Most Important Problem facing the Nation, based on the Barómetro de Opinión del Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas, from 1994 to present
• Mass Media
• Frontpages El País (1996-2009)
• Frontpages El Mundo (1996-2009)

These databases provide of essential indicators to measure policy decisions (passed laws); the direction of political and legislative priorities of the executive and parliamentary groups (bills, annual speeches); symbolic discussions about policy issues (oral questions, parliamentary bills); and the correspondence between them and public opinion and the media.

All these indicators (laws, bills, etc) have been coded according to the system developed by Baumgartner and Jones in the United States. This coding scheme includes 19 major topic categories and 247 subtopics. This coding system has been already adapted to the Spanish political system introducing some revisions in order to adjust the USA coding system to the Spanish context. The result is a codebook with the following 19 cathegories:

Policy Agendas 19 Major Topic Codes

• Macroeconomics
• Civil Rights
• Health
• Agriculture
• Labor
• Education
• Environment
• Energy
• Transportation
• Internal Affairs and Justice
• Social Policy

• Housing
• Commerce and Industrial Policy
• Defense
• Science and Technology
• Foreign Trade
• International Affairs
• Government and Public Administration
• Public Lands and Water Management

Apart from these 19 major topic codes, we are using four other topics to specifically code the media. These are the following:

• Arts, Humanities and Culture Events
• Weather and Natural Disasters
• Sport Events
• Death Notices

By the same token, we have created categorical and dummy variables in order to measure crucial aspects of the Spanish political system like Europeanization (for example identification of those laws which are transposing EU directives, oral questions related to EU decisions, etc); political decentralization (for example laws related to the process of delegation of political power to the Comunidades Autónomas); and general transformations of the political system like changes in the government, type of governments (minority of majority), etc.

At present we are developing the following databases

• Mass Media:
• Front pages of the third most important newspaper in Spain: La Vanguardia (1996-2009).
• Party Manifestos for national general elections.
• In the future we are planning to develop databases about Constitutional Court decisions and budgets.