7g. Schematics and body tables

Overview

This page covers the non-data graphics (conceptual schematics, timelines, architecture diagrams) and the short body tables that anchor each chapter of the report. Most of these are hand-tuned SVG / vector work rather than ggplot output; the chunks below are placeholders where the assembly script lives so the figure IDs reconcile against the spec.

Figure / table Title Type Status
F-01 Conceptual triangle: exposure / behaviour / receptivity Hand-tuned SVG Designer pass
F-02 Five-domain architecture diagram Simplified semPlot redraw Designer pass
F-03 Five-study timeline ggplot timeline Skeleton
F-04 S4 sample composition (country × age × gender) Stacked bar / mosaic Skeleton
F-05 Measurement invariance step chart ggplot step Skeleton
F-06 Reliability strip chart across studies ggplot strip Skeleton
F-30 Three-legs recommendation diagram Hand-tuned SVG Designer pass
T-01 Scale comparison (DisInforMeter vs MIST, BSMD, CMQ, GCB) Static table Author judgement
T-02 Five-study chain summary Static table Skeleton
T-03 Recommended priority countries for follow-up Static table Author judgement

Design source: docs/reports/2026-05-21_policy-report-content/02_figures-and-tables-spec.md F-01 to F-06, F-30, T-01 to T-03.

F-01 — Conceptual triangle (designer)

Static schematic with three vertices: Exposure (EDMO), Behaviour (DSA Article 40 platform telemetry), receptivity (DisInforMeter).

Figure 1: Conceptual triangle — exposure, behaviour, and receptivity as the three legs of EU disinformation monitoring.

F-02 — Five-domain architecture diagram (designer)

Simplified redraw of figures/sem_diagrams/ (S2/S3/S4): five higher-order domains feeding into 11 first-order belief constructs.

Figure 2: Five-domain architecture of the DisInforMeter — higher-order composites and the first-order beliefs they aggregate.

F-03 — Five-study timeline

Horizontal timeline; one row per study; coloured by country; node size by N; milestone annotations (item-pool generation, FIMI added, brief form locked, multinational deployment, external validity).

Figure 3: Five-study chain of evidence — fieldwork dates, country, and sample size per wave.

F-04 — S4 sample composition (country × age × gender)

Stacked bar (one bar per country); age band as stack; gender as facet.

Figure 4: S4 sample composition by country, age band, and gender.

F-05 — Measurement invariance step chart

Three points (configural, metric, scalar) with CFI on Y, vertical bars showing ΔCFI vs the previous step, dotted threshold lines at −0.01.

Figure 5: Measurement-invariance step chart — configural, metric, and scalar fit indices across the country ladder.

F-06 — Reliability strip chart across studies

Y axis = construct, X axis = α (or ω), colour = study, jittered points. Vertical dotted reference at 0.70.

Figure 6: Reliability strip — internal consistency (ω / α) across constructs and studies.

F-30 — Three-legs recommendation diagram (designer)

Visual reminder of how DisInforMeter sits next to other EU instruments. Same visual family as F-01, repurposed for §6 / §7 of the report.

Figure 7: Three-legs recommendation diagram — how DisInforMeter complements EDMO and DSA-Article-40 instruments.

T-01 — Scale comparison

Author-judgement table; rows = instruments (DisInforMeter, MIST, BSMD, CMQ, GCB); columns = what it measures, layered or flat, country-comparable, brief form, open licence.

Table 1: Where DisInforMeter sits in the wider misinformation-receptivity toolkit.
Where DisInforMeter sits in the wider misinformation-receptivityolkit
Comparison of structural design, country-comparability, brief-form availability, and licensing. Cells marked [DRAFT] require a final pass against the literature before publication.
Instrument What it measures Layered or flat Country-comparable Brief form Open licence
DisInforMeter (this report) FIMI receptivity via five higher-order affective composites and 11 first-order beliefs Layered (5 higher-order + 11 first-order) Yes — metric invariance across 13 S4 countries; intercept-level caveats Yes — 27-item Short DisInforMeter, ~90 s administration Yes — CC-BY 4.0 [DRAFT]
MIST (Misinformation Susceptibility Test) Ability to discriminate real from fake news headlines [DRAFT] Flat (single accuracy score) [DRAFT] Partial — primarily English; limited translations [DRAFT] Yes — MIST-8 / MIST-16 short forms [DRAFT] Yes — CC-BY 4.0 [DRAFT]
BSMD (Brief Scale of Misinformation Discernment) Self-reported ability to detect misinformation [DRAFT] Flat [DRAFT] Limited cross-country evidence [DRAFT] Yes — by design (brief) [DRAFT] Yes — academic open use [DRAFT]
CMQ (Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire) Generic conspiracy mentality (single-factor predisposition) Flat (single factor) Yes — validated in multiple European samples (Bruder et al. 2013) [DRAFT] Yes — 5-item short form Yes — academic open use [DRAFT]
GCB (Generic Conspiracist Beliefs scale) Endorsement of conspiracist content across five sub-themes Layered (15-item, 5 sub-themes) Yes — translations exist; cross-country evidence variable [DRAFT] Yes — GCB-5 short form Yes — open use under permission [DRAFT]
Source: Author judgement based on published validation work for MIST (Maertens et al.), BSMD (Maertens & Roozenbeek), CMQ (Bruder et al. 2013), GCB (Brotherton et al. 2013); see Annex F glossary. Reproduction code: scripts/policy_report/T-01_scale_comparison.R.

T-02 — Five-study chain summary

Rows = studies; columns = country, N, date, FIMI operationalisation, DisInforMeter version, what was tested.

Table 2: Five-study chain summary — country, sample size, fieldwork date, FIMI operationalisation, DisInforMeter version.
Five studies, five empirical questions
Each row is one S1–S5 wave. The FIMI operationalisation and DisInforMeter version columns show how the instrument’s deployment changed between waves.
Study Country N Date FIMI operationalisation DisInforMeter version What was tested
S1 Lithuania 681 Dec 2024 15-item formative pool Full belief battery (formative) Initial item-pool generation and scale construction.
S2 Lithuania 582 Mar 2025 Full FIMI (8 items: news1-8) Full battery + higher-order composites Model refinement; FIMI battery added; first-order ←→ higher-order architecture confirmed.
S3 Germany 782 May 2025 Full FIMI (8 items: news1-8) Full battery + higher-order composites Cross-national replication of S2 architecture.
S4 13 countries 8,040 Dec 2025 Full / Russian-origin / Chinese-origin / Short Short DisInforMeter (27 items) Multinational deployment; country invariance ladder; FIMI prediction across countries.
S5 Lithuania 248 Mar-Apr 2026 Not deployed (external validity wave) Short DisInforMeter (27 items) + extended battery Preregistered external-validity bundle (CMQ, GCB, Eurobarometer-anchor scales).
Source: outputs/tables/scale_diagnostics_s1_s5.csv (N) plus per-study Quarto pages (dates / deployment metadata). N = 10,333. Reproduction code: scripts/policy_report/T-02_five_study_chain.R.