140 likes | 269 Views
Comparative Methods in the Social Sciences , IV Cross-National Surveys. History & Current Developments www.comparativemethods.wordpress.com. Kazimierz M. Slomczynski & Irina Tomescu-Dubrow. Survey research in social sciences. (a) Definition Key words: sampling and questionnaire
E N D
Comparative Methods in the Social Sciences, IVCross-National Surveys. History & Current Developments www.comparativemethods.wordpress.com Kazimierz M. Slomczynski & Irina Tomescu-Dubrow
Survey research in social sciences (a) Definition Key words: sampling and questionnaire Modes of questioning: • face-to-face, FTF (use of laptop computers, CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) • telephone interviewing, CATI - Computer-Assisted Telephones Interviewing (Japanese experience with Fax machines) - mail questionnaires, MQ - internet contacts, ICI
(b) Academic vs. non-academic surveys • Statistical-offices’ surveys (eg., Current PopulationSurvey, CPS; Labor Force Survey, LFS) • Marketing surveys (eg., in segmentation research to determine the demographic, psychographic, and behavioural characteristics of potential buyers) • Political opinion polls (eg., TV stations & newspapers organize polls, or use specialized firms, to conduct public opinion research)
Ideal strategy for survey research - a representative sample - face-to-face interviewing. Cost of surveys.
Typology of cross-national and international surveys: • (a) replicated surveys • (b) planned surveys for two or more countries • (c) international surveys
(c) History Literary Digest, 1916 - predicting Woodrow Wilson’s election as president. In 1936 the Digest, on the basis of 2.3 million “votes” from its readers reported that Alf Landon was far more popular than Franklin D. Roosevelt. The 1930s and George Gallup. His success in correctly predicting Roosevelt’s victory.
History of cross-cultural survey research Professionalization of survey research since the 1930s. Hadley Cantril’s study(1948-1949) (William Buchanan and Hadley Cantril, How Nations See Each Other, 1953). 6 W. European countries (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway), + Australia, Mexico, & US Classical study Almond and Verba (Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture, 1963). US, West Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, & Mexico
Information on cross-national surveys • Index to International Public Opinion. Annual. 1978/79 - present. New York: Greenwood Press. Includes data from single-nation surveys by subject, multinational surveys by region, and world surveys by subject. Up to date. • World Opinion Update: A Monthly Summary of Opinion on Issues of International Importance. 1977- present. Williamstown, MA: Survey Research Consultants International. Monthly issues average about 10-12 pages and include selected questions, responses, and source information. Up to date.
Data Archives Two general organizations • 1. The International Federation of Data Organizations for the Social Sciences, IFDOSS • 2. Council of European Social Science Data Archives • Main data archives: ICPSR, the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex, and the German Data Archive in Koln (Cologne) - GESIS, Polish ADS
Main cross-national surveys European Social Survey International Social Survey Program World Value Survey *** Eurobarometer and its extensions
INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SURVEY PROGRAM (ISSP) Founded in 1984 as a platform for close collaboration btw. 4 existing surveys: - the General Social Survey (GSS, USA), the Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften (ALLBUS, Germany), the British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA, GB), and the National Social Science Survey (NSSS, Australia). In 1987-1988: 8 participating countries 1990: 11 countries 1992: 18countries 1994: 23 countries 1998: 32 countriess. As of 2009, 46 member countries .
WORLD VALUES SURVEYS (WVS) and EUROPEAN VALUES SURVEYS 1981-1984 wave 1989-1993 wave 1994-1999 wave 1999-2004 wave 2005-2008 wave 2010-2012 wave Principal investigator: Ronald Inglehart Over 60 countries participated in the 1995-1997 study. More countries in later years www.worldvaluessurvey.org/
EUROPEAN SOCIAL SURVEY (ESS) Cross-sectional and cross-national survey project with individuals as the units of analysis. ESS counts in “Rounds:” Round 1 data: collected in 2002; publicly released in 2003; Round 2 data: collected in 2004; publicly released in 2005; Round 3 data: collected in 2006; publicly released in 2007; Round 4 data: collected in 2008; publicly released in 2009; Round 5 data: collected in 2010; publicly released in 2011. www.europeansocialsurvey.org Invited lecture: Dr. Joshua K. Dubrow