Survey for Assessment of a Person’s Legal Consciousness: Development and Preliminary Validation

Abstract

The results of the development and preliminary assessment of the psychometric properties of the questionnaire of legal consciousness of a person are presented. Theoretical justification is given for the structure of the questionnaire containing six subscales. One scale relates to the individual’s awareness of constitutional rights and freedoms, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Russian Federation (personal, economic, political, cultural and social rights). The other five scales relate to the importance of constitutional rights and freedoms for the subject. The content validity of the tool was confirmed by expert assessments of professional lawyers—specialists in constitutional law—and the results obtained with semi-structured interviews (n = 30). The construct validity of the tool was established using exploratory factor analysis and tested by confirmatory factor analysis for student sample (n = 100). Cronbach’s alpha indicated high degree of internal consistency of the subscales. Currently, we continue improving the psychometric characteristics of the measure. The questionnaire obtained as a result of this work can be used to assess the level of a person’s legal consciousness development, and in particular, during the professional personnel selection for the state and civil service. The results of large-scale studies carried out with the help of this tool can be implemented in the activities of public authorities in order to improve the legislative process, taken into account by public organizations and authorities involved in the spread of legal education and legal culture in the framework of state policy on the development of legal consciousness and legal culture.

The association between fear of malpractice and burnout among Chinese medical workers: The mediating role of legal consciousness

“…Thus, we focused on the issue of legal consciousness. As a concept in legal science, assessing legal consciousness is complicated, as it involves a cognitive component as well as emotional and behavioral elements [ 52 ]. Horák et al reviewed 2,054 articles, included 156 relevant articles and identified six components of legal consciousness including general knowledge, skills, specific knowledge, attitudes, trust, and identity [ 32 ].…”

Walking into the Philippine Legislation: An In-Depth Analysis of the Daughter Clause of Article 247 of the Revised Penal Code

“…The interview questionnaires are referenced from an existing study by Molotova et al (2020), modified in order to cater to the study. Its properties are inclusive of psychometric aspects and the topic expertise of the respondent developed to achieve the six segmented goals all aimed to comprehend the respondents' perspectives, approaches, and understanding.…”

“…There is currently no appropriate and accurate toolkit in a quantitative form that provides a holistic purview of obtaining the enumerated objectives. The questionnaire developed by Molotova et al (2020), has been examined and furnished to administer the review and analysis of Article 247 in accordance with the principles of policy reform.…”

Effect of Peer Attachment on Legal Emotion Among Junior Middle School Students: The Mediation Role of Self-Esteem

“…Legal ideology is understood as a system of legal knowledge whereas legal psychology is regarded as a combination of feelings, beliefs, habits, and motives of legally volitional actions. This was further developed into a three-component-construct: cognitive (legal concepts and knowledge, cognitive assessment of legal phenomena), affective (emotional assessment of legal phenomena), and behavioral (intention to behave in a certain way in legal situations; Molotova et al, 2020). More complex models were also proposed, such as a four-component model of legal consciousness introduced by Shchegortsev (1981), which includes a substantive component (knowledge and ideas of law), evaluative component (assessment of legal phenomena), behavioral component (behavior and activity of people in legal situations) and energy (emotions and feelings of people experienced in a meaningful situation); and a six-component model was proposed by Horák et al (2021).…”