Different measures, different perceptions: A survey on measure sensitivity of inequality perception from Japan

Different measures, different perceptions: A survey on measure sensitivity of inequality perception from Japan | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Different measures, different perceptions: A survey on measure sensitivity of inequality perception from Japan Masaki Nakabayashi, Sho Fujihara, Keisuke Kawata, Shoki Okubo This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3797117/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Understanding whether our perceptions of the world are influenced by the way in which statistics are presented is a critical issue for public policy discussions because policy debates are often based on our perceptions of the world through our interpretations of data, as in the case of issues pertaining to income inequality. In this study, we investigate the sensitivity of perceived inequality to different stratification measures. We randomly presented 15,000 Japanese adult respondents with either the stratification index proposed by Xiang Zhou or a series of household income percentiles, both of which were derived from the same data distribution spanning two periods in Japan. Our findings indicate that respondents perceived a more significant increase in inequality when they were presented with the income percentiles than when they were presented with Zhou's stratification index. Therefore, to ensure consistency in public policy making, we must observe not only the same fact but also the same measurement of that fact. Different measurements of one fact may lead to different perceived worlds in our minds. Biological sciences/Evolution Biological sciences/Evolution/Social evolution Biological sciences/Psychology Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour perceived inequality stratification index percentiles Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3797117","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":286124305,"identity":"91d75c14-cf99-4d4c-9166-8be2c0887dfd","order_by":0,"name":"Masaki Nakabayashi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFAC5gMHYCyYUAIBLWwJEC1sxGvhMWBA14If6M7u+Xjwxx+GxAb55sPGPBUM8vwNDM8e4NNidufshsO8bUAtbGzJyTxnGAxnHGBIN8Cr5UbuhsOMDQyJ+4/xGIP0Mm5gYEiTwK8l5wHEYWwQLfbEaGE4wMMG0ZIMciERWtIMgIZLGDewpSUbzjkjkTzjMEG/JD/++OOPjWwD8+HDEm8qbGz723vSHuDTAgUQlzDxgBjMPGlE6IACxh9giv0Y8VpGwSgYBaNgJAAAsDdFSZysEYQAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Tokyo","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Masaki","middleName":"","lastName":"Nakabayashi","suffix":""},{"id":286124306,"identity":"db62e2a4-4e83-4c98-8a40-b9491bc4f7aa","order_by":1,"name":"Sho Fujihara","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Tokyo","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sho","middleName":"","lastName":"Fujihara","suffix":""},{"id":286124307,"identity":"25334d22-6101-469b-9db1-0565c5e66f7e","order_by":2,"name":"Keisuke Kawata","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Tokyo","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Keisuke","middleName":"","lastName":"Kawata","suffix":""},{"id":286124308,"identity":"266f2e89-5b96-46a7-9546-b0474e8c1a6a","order_by":3,"name":"Shoki Okubo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Tokyo","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shoki","middleName":"","lastName":"Okubo","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2023-12-23 16:14:15","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3797117/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3797117/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":58630241,"identity":"6ba25397-1fec-4f1f-a9d6-005c151e6ae7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-06-19 05:28:35","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":291624,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"FujiharaKawataNakabayashiandOkuboStrat20240328.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3797117/v1_covered_2d2c3f0e-8f12-4005-9b0f-37f3bdd2d522.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Different measures, different perceptions: A survey on measure sensitivity of inequality perception from Japan","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"perceived inequality, stratification index, percentiles","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3797117/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3797117/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Understanding whether our perceptions of the world are influenced by the way in which statistics are presented is a critical issue for public policy discussions because policy debates are often based on our perceptions of the world through our interpretations of data, as in the case of issues pertaining to income inequality. In this study, we investigate the sensitivity of perceived inequality to different stratification measures. We randomly presented 15,000 Japanese adult respondents with either the stratification index proposed by Xiang Zhou or a series of household income percentiles, both of which were derived from the same data distribution spanning two periods in Japan. Our findings indicate that respondents perceived a more significant increase in inequality when they were presented with the income percentiles than when they were presented with Zhou's stratification index. Therefore, to ensure consistency in public policy making, we must observe not only the same fact but also the same measurement of that fact. Different measurements of one fact may lead to different perceived worlds in our minds.","manuscriptTitle":"Different measures, different perceptions: A survey on measure sensitivity of inequality perception from Japan","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-04-02 16:00:45","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3797117/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"7cb60ec8-6451-447d-8db9-507b3fabd6c4","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 2nd, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":30115243,"name":"Biological sciences/Evolution"},{"id":30115244,"name":"Biological sciences/Evolution/Social evolution"},{"id":30115245,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology"},{"id":30115246,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-06-19T05:12:27+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-04-02 16:00:45","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-3797117","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-3797117","identity":"rs-3797117","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}