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The Global Integrity Approach

Global Integrity's Integrity Indicators provide the underpinning for our core reporting and analysis of governance and corruption. The Indicators represent one of the world's most comprehensive data sets providing quantitative data and analysis of anti-corruption mechanism, rule-of-law, and government accountability in diverse countries around the globe. Utilizing our network of several hundred on-the-ground analysts and our unique scoring system, Global Integrity generates actionable, and action-worthy, data and qualitative analysis drawn from more than 300 indicators that assess a country's anti-corruption safeguards and potential for corruption.

The Integrity Indicators are based on a simple yet revolutionary concept. Rather than trying to measure actual corruption, considered virtually impossible by experts (e.g., Medard 2001; Sik 2002; Arndt and Oman 2006), Global Integrity quantitatively assesses the opposite of corruption, that is, the access that citizens and businesses have to a country's government, their ability to monitor its behavior, and their ability to seek redress and advocate for improved governance. The Integrity Indicators break down that "access" into a number of categories and questions, ranging from inquiries into electoral practices and media freedom to budget transparency and conflicts of interests regulations. We unpack these concepts by looking not only at what laws or institutions are "on the books" but by assessing their staffing levels, budget levels, political independence, and citizen access to the most important anticorruption mechanisms. Combined with vivid narration prepared by our team of leading journalists in the form of accompanying Reporter's Notebooks, the extensive data provided by the Integrity Indicators informs and empowers citizens, activists, donors, businesses, and governments in each country.

Global Integrity provides detailed data and comparative country assessments of the mechanisms in place to prevent abuses of power and promote public integrity. Using a blend of social science and journalism, in-country teams of independent social scientists and journalists report on the de jure as well as de facto reality of corruption and anti-corruption mechanisms. While the Reporter's Notebook on the culture of corruption often paints a depressing picture (how corruption looks, tastes, feels and smells to the average citizen), the Integrity Indicators identify strengths and weaknesses in the national anti-corruption architecture and serve as a road map for possible reforms. Transparency, both in terms of our methodology and findings, is what characterizes the Global Integrity approach and enhances the robustness and credibility of our findings. As we continue to improve our methodology and learn from our fieldwork experiences, we welcome and value critical feedback.

The Washington Team

Global Integrity staff in Washington both identifies and manages our teams of local, in-country reporters and researchers who are responsible for collecting the raw reporting and data that ultimately generates the Global Integrity country assessments and Global Integrity Index. Headquarters staff recruits, contracts, and pays in-country team members; develops and shares the methodology with in-country experts; reviews all data and reporting for completeness and accuracy; manages the peer review process (see below for details); and produces cross-country analysis of the resultant qualitative and quantitative information. An obvious but notable point is that Global Integrity qua Global Integrity does not "assign" countries scores in any category, sub-category, or Integrity Indicator. Instead, of all our data and reporting is home-grown, bottom-up information generated and peer reviewed by in-country local experts. Global Integrity staff simply manages the fieldwork process and provides overarching guidance and logistical support. Lastly, Washington staff is responsible for ongoing fundraising, communications and outreach activities.

Fieldwork and Country Selection

From June to December 2007, Global Integrity conducted field research (assessing the period June 2006 to June 2007) in the following 55 countries or territories:

Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Malawi, Mexico, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Zambia

Our 2007 sample is by no means representative but provides interesting country coverage across several key variables.

While our ambition remains to cover all countries and regions of the world, at least on a bi-annual rotating basis, the final set of countries for 2007 was chosen according to the following criteria:

Balance: Global Integrity seeks to ensure a basic geographic balance in its annual rounds of country assessments. For 2007, the breakdown is as follows:

Sub-Saharan Africa: 12 (Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia)

East and Southeast Asia: 4 (China, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand)

Pacific: 3 (Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu)

Europe: 13 (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom)

Latin America: 6 (Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru)

Middle East and North Africa: 4 (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon)

South and Central Asia: 11 (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan)

North America: 2 (Canada, United States of America)

In selecting countries we referred to Freedom House's annual Freedom in the World survey to ensure balanced coverage with regard to basic freedoms and civil liberties. Of this year's countries, 19 were ranked by Freedom House in 2007 as "Free," 26 were "Partly Free," and 10 were "Not Free."

Budget: The total number of countries covered in 2007, 55, was the maximum number of countries we could afford to assess thanks to the generous support of our current donors. Our goal remains to expand our coverage to true global coverage, at least on an alternating year basis.

Availability of experts: Perhaps the most important criterion that affects whether a country is selected is whether Global Integrity is able to recruit a sufficiently qualified research team in the country. We cannot, and do not, carry out country assessments where we lack confidence in our team. See additional details below on how country teams are recruited and selected.

Country Teams

Global Integrity combines the skills of leading journalists with expert social scientists and researchers to produce its comprehensive country assessments. In each country, Global Integrity retains a team of at least four or five researchers, working independently, to compile the material for the country assessments. A Global Integrity country team typically consists of:

• A lead reporter who reports and writes the Reporter's Notebook.
• A lead social scientist who compiles the initial scores for the Integrity Indicators.
• At least three to five country readers or "peer reviewers" (a mix of other in-country experts and out-of-country experts) who blindly review the raw data and reporting to provide unvarnished corrections, comments, and criticisms. Peer review comments on all data and reporting are published transparently alongside the original data and reporting, offering readers an alternative perspective and context.

The teams are coordinated from Washington via the Internet and phone. Until the public release of the country assessments, the social scientists, journalists, and peer reviewers are unaware of the identities of other members of the country team. This is done to maintain the independence of the individual responses and avoid a peer-influenced consensus. All work is carried out by field teams via Global Integrity's custom-built Web-based data entry platform.

Global Integrity's country assessments are produced through a coordinated effort of a large number of researchers and journalists, the vast majority of them located in-country. To identify appropriate social scientists, journalists, and peer reviewers in each country, Global Integrity actively recruits potential team members through informal partnerships with several well-placed international NGOs that work in the anti-corruption and good governance field; those partners assist in publicizing our annual "Call for Experts." We also participate in international conferences and seek referrals from colleagues with whom we already work in various countries. Global Integrity then independently verifies the expertise and independence of prospective team members. For 2007, we received around 550 CVs from individuals who expressed interest in serving on a country team in one of our three distinct capacities (journalist, lead researcher, or country reader/peer reviewer). After a competitive internal selection process, the most qualified and available social scientists and journalists in each country are identified, invited, and sent a contract with specific instructions on the scope of the work. The total number of country team members for 2007 was roughly 300 individuals.

The Country Reports

For each country Global Integrity produces an online Country Report that includes:

• Country Facts: Prepared by Global Integrity staff, these are drawn from a variety of publicly-available sources — such as the World Bank Development Indicators, UNDP Human Development Index, and Legatum Prosperity Index — and provide basic political and economic background information on every country assessed.

• Corruption Timelines: Compiled by Global Integrity researchers in Washington, these are a unique political/historical timeline of significant corruption-related events at the national level. Designed as a quick reference resource, each timeline summarizes the main corruption-related events in the country from the early 1990s through present-day. Based largely on reliable English-language international and national media sources (e.g., the BBC and Freedom House), the Corruption Timeline pulls together in an easy-to-read, chronological fashion what is essentially in the public domain about corruption in a particular country.

• The Reporter's Notebooks: Prepared by the lead in-country journalist, these are 1,250-word original essays analyzing the culture of corruption and state of governance in a particular country. This hard-hitting, impressionistic essay provides a snapshot of corruption in day-to-day life as well as the recent history and context regarding the most high-profile corruption cases dominating that country's media. Reporter's Notebooks are reviewed by the country's respective peer reviewers.

• The Integrity Scorecard: prepared by the lead in-country social scientist/researchers. Each country's Integrity Indicators are aggregated to generate a single country score and the Global Integrity Index (see additional details below). Integrity Scorecards are reviewed by the country's respective peer reviewers.

Details on the Integrity Scorecard

The Integrity Scorecard for each country examines three things:

1. The existence of public integrity mechanisms, including laws and institutions, which promote public accountability and limit corruption.
2. The effectiveness of those mechanisms.
3. The access that citizens have to those mechanisms.

More specifically, indicators of existence assess the laws, regulations, and agencies/entities or equivalently functioning mechanisms that are in place in a particular country. Indicators of effectiveness assess such aspects of public integrity as protection from political interference; appointments that support the independence of an agency; professional, full-time staff and funding; independently initiated investigations; and imposition of penalties. Indicators of citizen access assess the ready availability of public reports to citizens, or publicly available information, within a reasonable time period and at a reasonable cost.

The Integrity Indicators are a unique instrument designed to provide a quantitative assessment of anti-corruption safeguards in a particular country. Carefully selected from a comprehensive review of the anti-corruption literature and other democratic governance sources, including Transparency International's National Integrity Systems framework, the Integrity Indicators are used to "score" the institutional framework that exists at the national level to promote public integrity and accountability and prevent abuses of power. For 2007, the Integrity Indicators are organized into six main governance categories and 23 sub-categories. They are:

1 Civil Society, Public Information and Media

1.1 Civil Society Organizations 1.2 Media 1.3 Public Access to Information

2 Elections

2.1 Voting & Citizen Participation 2.2 Election Integrity 2.3 Political Financing

3 Government Accountability

3.1 Executive Accountability 3.2 Legislative Accountability 3.3 Judicial Accountability 3.4 Budget Processes

4 Administration and Civil Service

4.1 Civil Service Regulations 4.2 Whistle-blowing Measures 4.3 Procurement 4.4 Privatization

5 Oversight and Regulation

5.1 National Ombudsman 5.2 Supreme Audit Institution 5.3 Taxes and Customs 5.4 State-Owned Enterprises 5.5 Business Licensing and Regulation

6 Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law

6.1 Anti-Corruption Law 6.2 Anti-Corruption Agency 6.3 Rule of Law 6.4 Law Enforcement

Generating an Integrity Scorecard

Each Integrity Indicator is scored directly by the lead social scientist and substantiated as far as possible with relevant references and additional comments. The data is relayed from the field to HQ via the internet using a password-protected web site. There are two general types of indicators: "in law" and "in practice." All indicators, regardless of type, are scored on the same ordinal scale of 0 to 100 with zero being the worst possible score and 100 perfect.

"In law" indicators provide an objective assessment of whether certain legal codes, fundamental rights, government institutions, and regulations exist. These "de jure" indicators are scored with a simple "yes" or "no" with "yes" receiving a 100 score and "no" receiving a zero.

"In practice" indicators address "de facto" issues such as implementation, effectiveness enforcement, and citizen access. As these usually require a more nuanced assessment, these "in practice" indicators are scored along an ordinal scale of zero to 100 with possible scores at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100.

Lead researchers are required to provide a reference to substantiate each of their scores. This may be an interview conducted with a knowledgeable individual, a website link to a relevant report, or the name of a specific law or institution, depending on the particular indicator. Lead researchers are also offered the opportunity to include additional comments to support their score and reference for a particular indicator. These are particularly useful in capturing the nuances of a particular situation, namely the "Yes, but…" phenomenon which is often the reality in undertaking this type of research.

Personality, language, and culture can all affect the interpretation of a particular indicator and the score assigned to it. To minimize this effect and maximize inter-coder reliability, Global Integrity deploys a master codebook for scoring the 2007 Integrity Indicators. The Codebook anchors every single indicator and sub-indicator to a predefined set of criteria. In essence, the scoring criteria guide the lead researcher by suggesting, "If you see X on the ground, score this indicator in the following way." For binary yes/no "in law" indicators, scoring criteria are provided for both "yes (100)" and "no (0)" responses. For "in practice" indicators, scoring criteria are defined for each of the 100, 50, and 0 scores with 25 and 75 deliberately left undefined to serve as in between scoring options. Scoring coding for each indicator can be accessed via any of our online Integrity Scorecards by "hovering" your mouse over a given indicator's scoring scale.

In summary, a given indicator or sub-indicator has the following elements:

• Indicator question, provided by Global Integrity
• Indicator scoring criteria/coding, provided by Global Integrity
• Indicator score (either yes (100)/no (0) or ordinal scale of 0 - 100 with steps at 25, 50, and 75), assigned by the lead researcher based on:
  • References, provided by the lead researcher
  • Comments (optional), provided by the lead researcher
  • Reader review comments (optional), as provided through a blind peer review process (See more on the peer review process below.)

Example of Sub-Indicator Scoring Criteria

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Public Access to Information > Sub-Indicator 13a

13: Is the right of access to information effective?

13a: In practice, citizens receive responses to access to information requests within a reasonable time period.

          100           75          50          25          0         

Scale 100 Criteria: Records are available on-line, or records can be obtained within two weeks. Records are uniformly available; there are no delays for politically sensitive information. Legitimate exceptions are allowed for sensitive national security-related information. Scale 50 Criteria: Records take around one to two months to obtain. Some additional delays may be experienced. Politically-sensitive information may be withheld without sufficient justification. Scale 0 Criteria: Records take more than four months to acquire. In some cases, most records may be available sooner, but there may be persistent delays in obtaining politically sensitive records. National security exemptions may be abused to avoid disclosure of government information.

Sources: (required)
Identify two or more of the following sources to support your score.

Media reports (identify the publication, author, date published, title, and website if available)

Academic, policy or professional studies (identify the publication, author, date published, title, and website if available)

Government studies (identify the publication, author, date published, title, and website if available) International organization studies (identify the publication, author, date published, title, and website if available)

Interviews with government officials (identify the person by name, title, organization, date of interview, and place of interview)

Interviews with academics (identify the person by name, title, organization, date of interview, and place of interview)

Interviews with civil society or NGO representatives (identify the person by name, title, organization, date of interview, and place of interview)

Interviews with journalists or media representatives (identify the person by name, title, organization, date of interview, and place of interview)

Description of sources (required).

Comments: (optional)

The Integrity Scorecard: A powerful tool for analysis

The data presented in an Integrity Scorecard is a powerful and unique way to succinctly assess the strengths and weaknesses of a country's national integrity framework (i.e., the existence and effectiveness of the mechanisms in place to prevent abuses of power). The data can be used to prioritize governance challenges and allocate available resources in a more efficient manner, for instance to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, or tighten up transparency around political financing. Integrity Scorecards are also a valuable tool for grassroots advocates seeking to target their advocacy programs on key priority sectors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generating the Global Integrity Index: A Tool for Cross-Country Analysis

While it is important to stress that the strength of the Integrity Indicators is their utility as an in-depth diagnostic tool for users, Global Integrity is also able to generate scores across categories and countries and classify countries into an overall Global Integrity Index according to various performance bands. These may be useful tools for those wishing to compare countries' overall performances against each another.

The Global Integrity Index groups countries into five performance "tiers" according to a country's overall aggregated score:

• Very strong (90+)
• Strong (80+)
• Moderate (70+)
• Weak (60+)
• Very Weak (< 60)

For the purpose of producing the Global Integrity Index, a simple aggregation method is used that parallels the process for generating indicator, sub-category, and category scores for each country. Original indicator and sub-indicator values are assigned by the lead social scientist for the country (those scores are adjusted following the peer review process; see more below). Each indicator score is then averaged within its parent subcategory, which produces a subcategory score. The subcategory score is in turn averaged with the other subcategory scores in a parent category. Category scores are averaged to produce a country score which then falls into one of the above five groupings.

 

 

 

 

 

Because some aspects of governance and anti-corruption mechanisms are harder to measure definitively, some categories require a more complex matrix of questions than others. Thus, the categories are equally valued, even if some categories are derived from a more lengthy series of questions than others. Similarly, the subcategories are equally valued within their parent category.

In other words, each score (sub-indicators, indicator, and so on) is equally weighted with its peers addressing the same topic. However, indicators from different categories are not necessarily equally weighted. Our approach of using equally valued concepts and adding subordinate elements as needed has produced score weightings that reflect the six main conceptual categories evenly. Although we recognize the rationale for a non-equal weighting system (to give emphasis to issues of greater import), we have yet to develop a compelling defense of considering certain categories, sub-categories, or indicators more important than others.

Peer Review Process

The importance of the peer review process cannot be overstated. Since Global Integrity utilizes an "expert assessment" approach to compile the Integrity Indicators and Reporter's Notebook, it is crucial that we employ quality control mechanisms to ensure that our data and reporting is as accurate and as balanced as possible. Individually contracted and carefully vetted "peer reviewers," selected for their independence and expertise in particular countries, are asked to blindly review both the raw Reporter's Notebook and the raw Integrity Indicators using the same password protected website that lead researchers and reporters use to file the original data and reporting from the field. The blind review process ensures that readers are unrestrained in their commentary, which most likely adds to frankness when commenting on the draft country report. Peer review comments are used to interpret — and in some cases adjust — scores that reviewers identify as containing errors, bias, or out-of-date information. Score adjustments follow certain rules and generally require repetition (i.e., similar comments from several reviewers) or solid referencing of a factual dispute. See further details on this below (Final Index Scores).

In reviewing the Reporter's Notebook for the country, peer reviewers are asked to consider the following:

• Is the Reporter's Notebook factually accurate?
• Is the Reporter's Notebook fair? Is anything misrepresented or unclear?
• Are there any significant events or developments that were not addressed?

Peer reviewer comments on the Reporter's Notebook are captured in narrative, paragraph style and are published anonymously alongside the final Reporter's Notebook.

For the Integrity Indicators, peer reviewers are asked to consider the following:

• Is the particular Indicator or Sub-indicator scored by the lead researcher factually accurate?
• Are there any significant events or developments that were not addressed?
• Does the Indicator or Sub-indicator offer a fair and balanced view of the anticorruption environment?
• Is the scoring consistent within the entire set or sub-set of Integrity Indicators?
• Is the scoring controversial or widely accepted? Is controversial scoring sufficiently sourced?
• Are the sources used reliable and reputable?

The peer review process for the data scorecard, like for that of the Reporter's Notebook, does not assign direct attribution of peer review comments. This ensures that peer reviewers are unrestrained in their commentary. Peer review comments on the country's data scorecard are included alongside the final scorecard and play an important role in final scoring adjustments prior to publication.

With regard to peer review feedback on the Integrity Scorecard data, beginning in 2007 peer reviewers were offered one of three standardized choices in responding to a given indicator or sub-indicator, using the above guidance to evaluate each data point:

1. "Yes, I agree with the score and have no comments to add."
2. "Yes, I agree with the score but wish to add a comment, clarification, or suggest another reference." Peer reviewers then provide their comment or additional reference in a separate text box which is published alongside the original data.
3. "No, I do not agree with the score." In this third case, peer reviewers are asked to explain and defend their criticism of the score and suggest an appropriate alternative score or reference.

For 2007, Global Integrity retained the services of approximately 150 peer reviewers for the 55 country assessments, with some readers reviewing a number of countries.

Final Index Scores

Global Integrity takes full and final responsibility for the scores contained in the Integrity Scorecard for each country and the Global Integrity Index. These scores are generated following an elaborate and collaborative review process that includes balancing information from several (sometimes conflicting) sources while being guided by the master scoring codebook.

Following the peer review process, Global Integrity staff identifies specific data points where peer reviewers have flagged problematic results. The staff then engages the entire country team in a discussion of the issue in question and ultimately decides on appropriate changes, when necessary, to the original data based on the country team's feedback.

While Global Integrity makes every attempt to produce credible information, we welcome all feedback on the veracity and accuracy of our data. Please email Global Integrity with specific comments on indicator scores that you may not agree with, particularly with regard to factual accuracy.

Confidence Intervals

Beginning in 2007, Global Integrity began publishing confidence intervals for the top-level scores generated for countries as part of compiling the Global Integrity Index. We credit Dani Kaufman, Aart Kraay, and Massimo Mastruzzi of the World Bank for raising awareness within the research and practitioner community of the need to generate and acknowledge errors in any calculations of governance or corruption data.

The challenge in generating confidence intervals/margins of error for the Global Integrity Index's country-level scores was that unlike a survey with a large sample of respondents, the Global Integrity approach relies on an expert assessment approach backed up by a transparent peer review process. Thus, we did not have a large "N" (sample size) that would allow us to use the ordinary techniques of variance and standard deviation to generate confidence intervals by exploring the variance of the data around the mean or median.

Instead, we relied on a count of the number of indicators for a country that were ultimately changed as part of the peer review process. We took those changes as an indication of the possibility that greater levels of error existed in the data for the country. In other words, the great number of indicators changed because of the blind peer review feedback, the greater the likelihood that errors existed in the country's entire dataset, we reasoned.

However, we were careful to bear in mind that some countries would have a greater number of indicators flagged (and ultimately changed) because those scorecards were subjected to a larger than average number of peer reviewers. The number of peer reviewers varies slightly from country to country. We did not want to automatically imply greater error for those countries that had more peer reviewers critically examining the data, a situation that, in our experience, almost always leads to an increased number of indicators flagged for review.

We ultimately arrived at the following approach for generating confidence intervals for the 2007 country-level scores:

Where:

N_i = number of indicators scored for the country (304 for all countries in 2007)
M_PR = minimum number of peer reviewers required for all countries
A_PR = actual number of peer reviewers for a country
C_i = number of indicators for the country changed as a result of the peer review process

Confidence Interval = (C_i / N_i) * (M_PR / A_PR)

The (M_PR / A_PR) ratio serves as a "peer review factor" whose impact on the final confidence interval diminishes as the number of actual peer reviewers for the country increases.

We warmly welcome any and all feedback on this approach for estimating error.