Correlation Analysis between Conservative and Liberal Indexes

1.    Summaries of Previous Analysis

In COVID-19 data analysis 4 series, we have observed whether global citizens prefer conservative values or liberal ideas amid COVID-19 pandemic. There are seven different groups of indexes, which are divided by conservative and liberal perspectives. Generally speaking, a conservative ideology puts an emphasis on rules, order, and social stability; contrarily, liberal values stress on individual rights and liberties. Accordingly, in this data analysis series, conservative indexes consist of Disaster Weathering Priority Index (DWPI), Health Priority Index (HPI), Government Decisions Index (GDI), Rule by Order Index (ROI), Leadership-centered Disinfection Index (LDI), Government-centered Quarantine Index (GQI), and Data Transparency Index (DTI). Correspondingly, indexes which hold liberal values include Civil Liberties Priority Index (CLPI), Economy Priority Index (EPI), Citizens Requests Index (CRI), Rule of Law Index (RLI), Cooperation-centered Disinfection Index (CDI), Citizen-centered Quarantine Index (CQI), and Data Privacy Index (DPI).

The data analyses demonstrate that there is a general trend in the world in the course of COVID-19 crisis. Except for a small number of cities, most cities are in line with the same position in different questions in the questionnaire. For example, the survey result shows that all 30 cities believe that weathering the disaster should be prioritized instead of civil liberties during the COVID-19. Also, without Moscow, all cities tend to put a priority on public health rather than economic recovery. Moreover, most cities were inclined to follow the government’s decisions than listen to public opinion. In sum, overall global citizens are likely to hold conservative values to mitigate the surge of the COVID-19. The grey parts in Table 1 indicate that the corresponding values are underlined by global citizens and those cities which are not for those ideas are listed below the indexes.

However, global citizens also highlight liberal values simultaneously. For instance, people believe that the value of rule of law should not be diminished even during an urgent situation. Besides, most of the global citizens conceive that slowing the transmission of the disease requires citizens’ cooperation, as explained in “data analysis 4.5” and “data analysis 4.6”. In conclusion, global citizens put importance on government decisions to secure public health, but they hold that citizens’ cooperation and participation are of great significance, and the government’s efforts may be useless without people’s collaboration in containing COVID-19 epidemics. Meanwhile, there are contradicting views on data transparency and data privacy, implying that the privacy issue is highly controversial in international society.

2.    Methodology and Hypothesis

In this section, we cross-checked different indexes for identifying if there is a correlation between the items related to conservative and liberal values. The independent variable is the Citizen Requests Index (CRI) that varies from 1 to 10, where 1 is sharing the least liberal identity and 10 is having the most liberal ideas. The dependent variables are the other six indexes, including Civil Liberties Priority Index (CLPI), Economy Priority Index (EPI), Rule of Law Index (RLI), Cooperation-centered Disinfection Index (CDI), Citizen-centered Quarantine Index (CQI), and Data Privacy Index (DPI). All of these indexes’ scaling is the same as the independent variable.

We hypothesize that people who have higher requirements on citizens’ requests, they prioritize liberal values, such as civil liberties, economic recovery, rule of law, citizen-centered quarantine, cooperation among citizens, and data privacy. Because of the clear directionality of the hypotheses in this analysis, we perform one-tailed hypothesis tests.

3.    Major Outcomes

The table indicates the relationship between requirements for citizens’ requests and other liberal values. Consistent with the argument that people with higher requirements for citizens’ requests share more individual and liberal ideas.

Figure 1: Correlation Between Citizen Requests Index (CRI) and Civil Liberties Priority Index (CLPI)

Figure 1 shows the relationship between Citizen Requests Index and Civil Liberties Priority Index. The positive slope indicates that the two indexes are positively related, which means that people who ask for citizens’ requests than government decisions prioritize civil liberties than overcoming the disaster.

Figure 2: Correlation Between Citizen Requests Index (CRI) and Economy Priority Index (EPI)

Figure 2 shows the relationship between Citizen Requests Index and Economy Priority Index. The positive slope indicates that the two indexes are positively related, which means that people who ask for citizens’ requests than government decisions prioritize economic recovery than public health protection.

Figure 3: Correlation Between Citizen Requests Index (CRI) and Rule of Law Index (RLI)

Figure 3 shows the relationship between Citizen Requests Index and Rule of Law Index. The positive slope indicates that the two indexes are positively related, which means that people who ask for citizens’ requests than government decisions put more emphasis on rule of law. 

 

Figure 4 shows the relationship between Citizen Requests Index and Civil Liberties Priority Index. The positive slope indicates that the two indexes are positively related, which means that people who ask for citizens’ requests than government decisions stress on cooperation in society than the government’s leadership. 

Figure 5 shows the relationship between Citizen Requests Index and Civil Liberties Priority Index. The positive slope indicates that the two indexes are positively related, which means that people who ask for citizens’ requests than government decisions believe that the citizens are the main actor in the prevention of an epidemic.

Figure 6: Correlation Between Citizen Requests Index (CRI) and Data Privacy Index (DPI)

Figure 6 shows the relationship between Citizen Requests Index and Civil Liberties Priority Index. The positive slope indicates that the two indexes are positively related, which means that people who ask for citizens’ requests than government decisions advocate data privacy and individual rights.

These are the general trends in global cities amid COVID-19; however, more specific data analysis is demanded to further understand the phenomena in different cities and countries.