Conceptual Framework

The WJP Open Government Index is the first effort to measure government openness based on the general public’s experiences and perceptions in 102 countries. The Open Government Index is composed of four dimensions: publicized laws and government data, right to information, civic participation, and complaint mechanisms. Further explanation of these dimensions can be found here.

Data Sources

Scoring for the WJP Open Government Index 2015 is derived from two data sources collected by the World Justice Project in each country for the WJP Rule of Law Index: (1) a general population poll (GPP), conducted by leading local polling companies, using a representative sample of 1,000 respondents in the three largest cities per country; and (2) a qualified respondents’ questionnaire (QRQ) consisting of close-ended questions completed by in-country practitioners and academics with expertise in civil and commercial law, criminal justice, labor law, and public health. Taken together, these two data sources provide up-to-date, firsthand information from a large number of people on their experiences with and perceptions of the openness of the government.

Scoring and Validation

The two data sources are processed, normalized on a 0-1 scale, and aggregated from the variable level all the way up to the dimension level for each country, and then to an overall score and ranking using the data map and weights reported in the methodology section of the WJP Open Government Index Report 2015, also on display to the right. Finally, these scores are validated and crosschecked against qualitative and quantitative third-party sources to identify possible mistakes or inconsistencies within the data.

Additional information regarding sampling design, city coverage, polling methodology, and Index variables can be accessed here

 

Full Methodology