IEA Civic Education Study, 1999: Civic Knowledge and Engagement Among 14-Year-Olds in 23 European Countries, 2 Latin American Countries, Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States

The IEA Civic Education Study (known as CIVED) is an
international assessment of the civic knowledge and skills of
14-year-olds (8th and 9th graders) in 28 countries. Data were
collected in 1999 under the auspices of the International Association
for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) headquartered in
Amsterdam. Begun in 1958, IEA is a consortium of educational and
social science research institutes in more than 50 countries. The
IEA's International Steering Committee (University of Maryland,
College Park) and an international Technical Advisory Group guided the
research. The International Coordinating Center (Humboldt University
of Berlin) coordinated the day-to-day operations and the IEA Data
Processing Center (Hamburg, Germany) processed the data. The Study's
National Research Coordinators developed an octagon model that guided
the two phases of the study, the first phase a more qualitative set of
case studies in 24 countries and the second phase a test and survey of
students in 29 countries. This model gave special attention to
macrosystem elements such as the country's history of democracy,
transnational position, economy, and media. It also delineated ways in
which civic education goals are carried into practice, especially the
role of the formal community, informal community, school, peer group,
and family. Publications from the study have addressed each of these
theories and approaches and have been authored by educational
researchers, civic education specialists, comparative scholars,
political scientists, and psychologists. The following countries took
part: Australia, Belgium (French-speaking), Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia,
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany,
Greece, Hong Kong (SAR), Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic,
Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The sizes of the
nationally-representative samples ranged from 2,076 students tested in
Belgium (French-speaking) to 5,688 students tested in Chile. Civic
achievement was measured by a total civic knowledge scale composed of
two subscales: civic content and skills. Civic content refers to
knowledge of civic concepts such as the characteristics of
democracies, and civic skills refer to the interpretative skills
needed to understand civic-related communication (e.g., to make sense
of a political cartoon or an election leaflet). In addition, survey
items measured students' concepts of democracy, citizenship, and
government, attitudes toward civic issues such as immigrants' or
women's rights, trust in governmental institutions, and several types
of expected political and community participation. Students also
answered questions pertaining to their background characteristics,
their organizational participation, and the climate of their school
and classroom. Item responses gathered from approximately 95,000
students in total and 22 scale scores developed with confirmatory
factor analysis and item response theory are included on the file.
Questionnaires also solicited background information from school
principals and teachers.

IEA公民教育研究（下称CIVED）是一项针对28个国家14岁中学生（八年级与九年级学生）的公民知识与技能国际评估项目。该项目于1999年由总部位于阿姆斯特丹的国际教育成就评价协会（International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 简称IEA）牵头开展。IEA成立于1958年，是由全球50余个国家的教育与社会科学研究机构组成的学术联盟。本次研究由IEA国际指导委员会（设于马里兰大学帕克分校）与国际技术咨询小组共同指导；国际协调中心（柏林洪堡大学）负责日常运营协调，IEA数据处理中心（德国汉堡）承担数据处理工作。本次研究的各国研究协调员构建了八角模型（octagon model），以此指导研究的两个实施阶段：第一阶段为在24个国家开展的质性案例研究，第二阶段为在29个国家实施的学生测试与问卷调查。该模型重点关注宏观系统要素，包括一国的民主发展历史、跨国地位、经济状况与媒体环境；同时明确了公民教育目标的落地路径，尤其聚焦正式社区、非正式社区、学校、同伴群体与家庭所发挥的作用。本研究的相关成果由教育研究者、公民教育专家、比较研究学者、政治科学家与心理学家共同撰写，涵盖了上述所有理论框架与实践路径的相关探讨。本次研究的参与方包括：澳大利亚、比利时（法语区）、保加利亚、智利、哥伦比亚、塞浦路斯、捷克共和国、丹麦、英格兰、爱沙尼亚、芬兰、德国、希腊、中国香港特别行政区、匈牙利、意大利、拉脱维亚、立陶宛、挪威、波兰、葡萄牙、罗马尼亚、俄罗斯联邦、斯洛伐克共和国、斯洛文尼亚、瑞典、瑞士与美国。各国的全国代表性样本量跨度较大，从比利时（法语区）的2076名被测学生，至智利的5688名被测学生，总样本量约为95000名学生。公民素养表现通过由两个子量表构成的公民知识总量表进行衡量：公民内容知识与公民技能。其中，公民内容知识指对民主特征等公民概念的掌握程度；公民技能则指理解公民相关传播内容所需的阐释能力，例如解读政治漫画或选举传单。此外，问卷还通过题目测量了学生对民主、公民身份与政府的认知，对移民权利、女性权利等公民议题的态度，对政府机构的信任程度，以及多种预期的政治与社区参与行为。学生还需回答有关自身背景特征、组织参与情况，以及所在学校与课堂氛围的相关问题。本次数据集包含约95000名学生的作答数据，以及通过验证性因子分析（confirmatory factor analysis）与项目反应理论（item response theory）开发得到的22个量表得分。此外，问卷还收集了学校校长与教师的背景信息。