ESF publishes blueprint for a European social survey

The ESF publishes today (14 June 1999) a ‘Blueprint for a European Social Survey (ESS)’ in both a fully specified and summary version. The ESS has been two years in preparation and has drawn upon the expertise of leading social survey researchers from 18 European countries. Through providing a European comparative database, the ESS is designed to fulfil the equivalent need for the social scientist that the ‘large infrastructure facility’ does for the natural scientist. An ESS will be a flexible infrastructure facility in the social sciences that will be made accessible to researchers through the existing data archives and other research facilities. With this initiative, the ESF Standing Committee for the Social Sciences (SCSS) hopes to achieve a major innovative step in fostering comparative analysis of European citizens’ values and attitudes in the face of political, economic and social change.

SCSS Chairman, Professor Robert Erikson (Sweden) says of the ESS – "This strategic initiative is built upon the assumption that designing a research instrument to produce data addressing European perspectives, rather than constructing data from existing, mainly national, sources will prove to be an economical and reliable strategy for future research. A range of ‘modules topics’ would be chosen from which comparative analysis could achieve substantial research gains and policy insights, for example, on topics such as social mobility, values, quality of life, social inequality and xenophobia".

The ESS combines concerns for both international comparison and the study of mid-to-long term change. Its design will involve interviewing independent cross sectional samples of people in each wave of the survey, conducted once every two years, with a common set of core questions being asked in each wave. The ESS will also include up to three research topic modules that will be repeated over much longer time intervals. Groups of researchers will be invited to submit proposals for designing these topic modules. Professor Max Kaase (Germany), Chairman, ESS Steering Committee emphasises the importance of this "bottom-up" element in the ESS – "This is why the idea of setting up a European Social Survey has met with so much enthusiasm by those who over the last couple of years have been involved in getting this project off the ground. Some researchers have drawn an analogy with the space shuttle which permits a wide range of experiments from different disciplines and many different research groups".

A large and innovative venture such as the ESS requires intensive methodological and quality control. It is important that the ESS routinely monitor and assess the implementation and effect of the questionnaire, sampling design and non-responses. Professor Roger Jowell (United Kingdom) Chairman of the ESS Methodology Committee notes that – "Too often, the strict standards used for national surveys are suspended in cross-national studies. Because international studies are more complex and involve cultural differences, there is a reluctant acceptance that methodological purity has to be sacrificed for the sake of mutual respect and practicability. With the ESS blueprint we have not turned a blind eye to these issues. Our goal is to aspire to the highest possible standards".

In Dublin today (14 June) the SCSS will present the ESS Blueprint to a meeting of ESF Member Organisations with the recommendation that in the coming months they reach a decision to fund the first survey wave from 2001. The total funds for each survey wave (6.9 MECU every two years) is envisaged to be raised from a mixed funding basis involving the national research councils covering the national survey costs and the European Commission covering the central costs (via the Fifth Framework Programme).

Contacts

Robert Erikson
Social Science Research Council, Stockholm, Sweden
+46 8 440 41 10
or
Max Kaase
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Berlin, Germany
+49 30 25 491 293
or
Roger Jowell
National Centre for Social Research, London, United Kingdom
+ 44 171 250 18 66
or
Andrew Smith
Head of Communication and Information, ESF,
+33 (0)3 88 76 71 32

Notes for editors:

1. The European Science Foundation is the European association of 65 major national funding agencies devoted to scientific research in 22 countries. The ESF assists its member organisations in two main ways: by bringing scientists together in its scientific programmes, networks, exploratory workshops and European research conferences, to work on topics of common concern, and through the joint study of issues of strategic importance in European science policy.

2. The European Social Survey – a research instrument for the social sciences in Europe, published by ESF, ISBN 2-912049-06-7, is available on-line as a PDF file here

Press contacts:Andrew Smith
Head of Communication and Information, ESF
+33 (0)3 88 76 71 32
typo3/esf_contacts_form.php?mail=5b10f52345cecc66799659689efa37f0

Issued 14.06.99

For further information contact  : Andrew Smith typo3/esf_contacts_form.php?mail=5b10f52345cecc66799659689efa37f0

Category: Media Centre, Press Releases 1999