Arab Barometer: Public Opinion Survey Conducted in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen, 2012-2014 (ICPSR 36273)

Version Date: Nov 13, 2015

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Principal Investigator(s):
Mark Tessler, University of Michigan; Amaney Jamal, Princeton University; Musa Shteiwi, University of Jordan; Khalil Shikaki, Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research; Michael Robbins, University of Michigan; Rabih Hamami, Okba Com Institut (Algeria); Hesham Gaafar, MADA Center for Media and Communication Strategies; Munqith Dagher, Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies; Ehab Sami, Qiyas Center for Consulting and Political Studies (Kuwait); Rabih Haber, Statistics Lebanon; Fathi Ali, University of Benghazi; Mhammed Abderebbi, Hassan II University-Mohammedia (Morocco); El-Mogiera Al-Sayed, Sudan Polling Survey Center; Imen Mizlini, Sigma Conseil (Tunisia); Tareq Salaam, Sana'a University (Yemen)

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36273.v1

Version V1

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Summary

The Arab Barometer is a multicountry social survey designed to assess citizen attitudes about public affairs, governance, and social policy in the Arab world, and to identify factors that shape these attitudes and values. In this third wave of the Arab Barometer, respondents in the countries of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen were queried regarding (1) general questions, (2) evaluation of political institutions and political attitudes, (3) elections and parliament, (4) the media, (5) democracy, (6) social, religious and cultural topics, (7) the Arab world and international relations, and (8) views of the Arab uprisings. In regards to general questions, respondents were asked to give their opinion on the current overall and future economic condition of their countries, the current economic situation of their families, the safety of their locality, and levels of interpersonal trust. On the topic of evaluation of political institutions, political participation, and political attitudes, respondents gave their opinions on how much trust they had in political institutions such as political parties, police, parliament, the courts, and the prime minister. Further, participants were asked about the ease of obtaining services from the government, the present political situation, the performance of their country's current government, problems facing their country, citizen freedoms, corruption and the use of "wasta" (personal influence or connections). Concerning elections and parliament, questions focused on electoral participation, the fairness of elections, and important qualities in a candidate for office. On the subject of the media, questions included the respondent's main source of political information, media bias, media censorship, and use of the Internet. Concerning democracy, respondents were asked questions about their opinions on political competition and reform, participation in political dissent, their opinions on the characteristics of democracy, their opinions about various political system, the degree to which, on a given list of countries, each is a democracy, and how suitable democracy is for the respondents' respective countries. Regarding social, religious and cultural topics, respondents gave their views on the lottery, choosing a spouse, the interpretation of Islam in present-day issues, and the behavior and situation of women in Muslim society. Additional queries included the degree to which religion should influence voting in elections, government decisions, and legislation. Regarding the Arab world and international affairs, questions were asked about views toward globalization and trade, security relationships with other countries, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Finally, respondents were asked about their participation in and views of the events associated with the Arab uprisings. Demographic variables include age, gender, education, income, employment status, occupation, marital status, and religious preference and practices.

Citation

Tessler, Mark, Jamal, Amaney, Shteiwi, Musa, Shikaki, Khalil, Robbins, Michael, Hamami, Rabih, … Salaam, Tareq. Arab Barometer: Public Opinion Survey Conducted in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen, 2012-2014. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-11-13. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36273.v1

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Funding

United States Institute of Peace, International Development Research Center (Canada), University of Michigan, Princeton University

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

Block

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2012 -- 2014

Date of Collection

2012-12-20 -- 2014-04-18

Data Collection Notes

  1. The Arab-Barometer survey was carried out within the framework of the Global Democracy Barometer Project.

  2. Although representatives from the participating country teams met regularly both in the Arab world and in the United States for the purpose of making decisions about the content and methodology of the Arab-Barometer surveys, please note that there are nonetheless a few instances in which data collection procedures led to differences in one or more countries in question wording or response codes.

  3. Dates of data collection vary by country; please refer to the Technical Information section in the ICPSR Codebook under Original P.I. Documentation for further information.

  4. Not all questions in the survey instrument were asked in each country. Please refer to the Survey Instrument section in the ICPSR Codebook under Original P.I. Documentation for further information.

  5. Additional information about the Arab Barometer Survey can be found at the Arab Barometer Web site.

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Study Design

The survey in each country is designed to be nationally representative at the household level. Although certain geographic variables such as province or governorate are provided, the survey is not designed to be representative at the sub-national levels.

Sample

The survey represents a national probability sample design of adults 18 years and older in each country. The surveys were conducted face-to-face in Arabic and used a complex sample design, including stratification and clustering. For more detailed sampling information regarding the methods used in each individual country, please refer to the Technical Information section in the ICPSR Codebook under Original P.I. Documentation.

Universe

Citizens of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen aged 18 and older.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Response Rates

Estimated 75+ percent

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Original Release Date

2015-11-13

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Tessler, Mark, Amaney Jamal, Musa Shteiwi, Khalil Shikaki, Michael Robbins, Rabih Hamami, Hesham Gaafar, Munqith Dagher, Ehab Sami, Rabih Haber, Fathi Ali, Mhammed Abderebbi, El-Mogiera Al-Sayed, Imen Mizlini, and Tareq Salaam. Arab Barometer: Public Opinion Survey Conducted in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen, 2012-2014. ICPSR36273-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-11-13. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36273.v1

2015-11-13 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Standardized missing values.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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Weight

The data are not weighted. The collection includes the weight variable, WT, which should be used in any analysis. Please refer to the Technical Information and Processing Notes sections in the ICPSR Codebook under Original P.I. Documentation for additional weighting information.

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Notes