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Surveying Volunteering : Giving in the Netherlands

Surveying Volunteering : Giving in the Netherlands. René Bekkers Center for Philanthropic Studies VU University Amsterdam. Giving in the Netherlands. A biennial survey among a preselected pool of potential respondents recruited by polling institute TNS/NIPO

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Surveying Volunteering : Giving in the Netherlands

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  1. SurveyingVolunteering: Giving in the Netherlands René Bekkers Center for Philanthropic Studies VU University Amsterdam

  2. Giving in the Netherlands • A biennialsurveyamong a preselected pool of potentialrespondentsrecruitedbypollinginstitute TNS/NIPO • Conductedsince 1996 • Repeatedcross-sectionalsurveyuntil 2000 • Panel studysince 2002 • Fundedbyseveralministries of the Dutch nationalgovernment

  3. Aims of GINPS • “Whogiveswhat and when?” Estimate the volume and composition of charitablegivingbyhouseholds and volunteeringbyindividuals • “How is itchanging?” Describe trends in giving and volunteeringsources and destinations • “Why do peoplegive?” Analyzepredictors and howthey are changing over time

  4. Trends in volunteering

  5. “Methodology is Destiny” • Howmanyquestions, whichquestions, and howyouaskthemdetermines the responsespeoplegive in a survey. • Whoasks, whoyouask and howyouaskpeopledetermineswhethertheyrespond to the survey at all.

  6. What is the major source of error? • Respondents, interviewers, survey designers or data-analists? • The survey in the interview situation. • Social desirability is not a personality characteristic; it is strongly dependent on the situation. • People are more honest in private situations such as a written questionnaire or an online survey than in a phone/personal interview.

  7. Modules in GINPS • Prosocial values • Charitablegiving • Individualhelping and attitudes to nonprofitorganizations • Volunteering • Socio-demographics

  8. The volunteering module • First we definevolunteering for the respondents: work without pay (at best a compensation) for anorganization. • We give a few examples. • We mentionparticipation in activities and membership as notbeingvolunteeringbecauseit is notwork. • We do notmentionsocial support and informalhelping as notbeingvolunteerwork – peoplecould do this as volunteers.

  9. Area – Method module • AREA: first we list 18 different sectors of organizations. • METHOD: then we list 12 different tasks. • A method – Area module couldfurtherincrease the proportion of volunteersifitimprovesrespondentsrecollections. • The respondents’ employer is notidentified in the module.

  10. The Dutch volunteerprofile • Older, smaller towns • Highereducated • More wealthy, own home • Religious: Catholicor Protestant • Social pressure in social context • Altruisticvalues, responsibility, trust • Confidence in charities

  11. Volunteermotives • Currentvolunteers complete a shortenedversion of the VolunteerFunctionInventory (Clary et al.), Pride and Respect scales (Boezeman & Ellemers) and Ownership. • Frequency of volunteering, hours, supervision of others • Retrospectivequestion for currentnon-volunteers: have you ever volunteered?

  12. Motivation and motivatedcognition • Ifyouaskvolunteers ‘Why do youvolunteer’ theymaycome up with all sorts of nice post hoc rationalizations. • These reasonsoftenrefer to intrinsicmotivations. • Ifyouasknon-volunteers ‘Why do younotvolunteer’ theyciteexternalcircumstances. • It is hard to tellhow accurate these reasons are, but a positivesocial image bias is likely.

  13. Whobecomes a volunteer? • All respondentsshouldanswerquestionsonpredictors of entry and exit out of the volunteerworkforce. • Mobilization: have you ever been asked to volunteer? • Social norms: howself-evident is volunteering for peoplearoundyou? • Prosocial values: altruism, trust

  14. Development of generalizedsocial trust Bron: GINPS Bekkers, R. (2012). ‘Trust and Volunteering: Selection or Causation? Evidence From a 4 Year Panel Study’. Political Behaviour, 32 (2): 225-247. DOI 10.1007/s11109-011-9165-x. (open access)

  15. Careers in volunteering • Ifyouask all repondentsretrospectivequestionsaboutvolunteeractivitiesyoucan map lifehistorycareers in volunteering. • Comparisonswithothercareerscan show howthey are intertwined. • Does achieving a higher level of educationmakepeoplevolunteer more? • Does volunteeringimproveemployability?

  16. Volunteering and education Proportion of respondents in the Family Survey of the Dutch Populationreportingvolunteerwork at earlieragesby the highest level of educationachieved in the year 2000(Bekkers & Ruiter, 2008)

  17. Twosources of bias Civicduty Lying “Social desirability”

  18. Or are volunteers ‘better’ respondents? OVERESTIMATE of amounts donated

  19. Accuracy of self-reports

  20. Errors in three phases Underestimate Overestimate Net result?

  21. The civicduty of survey response • The lower the response rate, the higher the proportion of respondentssayingtheyvolunteer (Abraham, Helms & Presser, AJS 114(4): 1129-65, 2009). • Post hoc solution: weight the data. • Includemeasures of civicdutybehaviors for whichtruepopulationvalues are known, such as voting, charitablededuction, blooddonation, organdonation

  22. Volunteering and otherhelping

  23. Contact • ‘Giving in the Netherlands’, Philanthropic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, VU University Amsterdam: www.giving.nl • René Bekkers, r.bekkers@vu.nl • Blog: renebekkers.wordpress.com • Twitter: @renebekkers

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