Abstract
Perception surveys remain an important tool to measure corruption. However, most existing perception surveys only analyze corruption at the national or international level, and do not provide information about corruption at local levels. But it is corruption in local areas that really influences the everyday life of ordinary people. In order to redress this lacuna, the authors developed an expert survey to measure corruption in 36 major Chinese cities, using a questionnaire that included 11 key questions about different aspects of urban corruption. This study, as the first of its kind in China, has demonstrated the great regional disparity in terms of corruption perception in the country. It has also pointed to the weaknesses of China’s anti-corruption system.
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Notes
For example, the India’s Sleaze Sheet poll covered 16 major state capitals and 1,743 respondents. The respondents were asked to rate the three most corrupt states and the three least corrupt states in India. They were also asked questions on corruption in the particular state administration and at the Centre. Finally, interviewees were queried on public service areas considered most conducive to corruption. For details of the poll, please see http://www.indiatoday.com/itoday/24111997/sleaze.html.
These sources include Country Performance Assessment Ratings, Country Policy and Institutional Assessments, Country Risk Service and Country Forecast, etc.
In the questionnaires, we promised that the survey was for academic purpose only and we would never forward the information collected to the government.
The four municipalities led directly by the Central Government are Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing. Hong Kong and Macao are both Special Administrative Regions and they are not included in this study.
We decided to survey a fixed number of experts in each city because there is no clear correlation in China between the size of cities (in terms of population or land area) and the total number of experts available in the cities. For some fast-growing new cities, we could not find a group of experts proportional to the cities' respective populations. Because our study covered 36 cities, and certain underdeveloped cities have very few management/economics professors, 100 was our maximum sample size that was feasible then.
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Song, X., Cheng, W. Perception of Corruption in 36 Major Chinese Cities: Based on Survey of 1,642 Experts. Soc Indic Res 109, 211–221 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9896-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9896-4