Eurobarometer Survey Series

collection: series

Investigator(s): European Commission

Studies

1

Variables

1,172

Publications

140

About this Collection

The Standard and Special Eurobarometer surveys are the products of a unique program of cross-national and cross-temporal survey research. The effort began in early 1970, when the Commission of the European Communities sponsored simultaneous surveys of the publics of the European Communities. Three pilot studies were conducted in 1970, 1971 and 1973 under the header of European Communities Studies. Starting with 1974, regular Eurobarometer are carried out in spring and fall of each year.

The standard Eurobarometer surveys are designed to provide a regular monitoring of the social and political attitudes among the European publics, to obtain regular readings of support for European integration, public awareness of and attitudes toward European unification, the institutions of the European Communities, as of 1992 the European Union, and its policies in complementary fashion. Attitudes towards the organization and role of the European Parliament and electoral behavior became a major topic in pre- and post- European Elections times, until in 2011 the European Parliament took responsibility for an own survey module ("Parlemeter"). The standard program was complemented by measures of general socio-political orientations, of subjective satisfaction and the perceived quality of life, or of cultural, national and European identities.

Intermittently Eurobarometer surveys have investigated special topics, such as agriculture, biotechnology, energy, environment, family planning, gender roles, health related issues, immigration, poverty and social exclusion, regional identity, science and technology, information society, working conditions, urban traffic, knowledge of languages etc. In the case of some supplementary studies, special youth and elderly samples have been drawn. Starting with Eurobarometer 34 (1990) additional supplementary surveys on special issues are conducted under each wave.

Eurobarometer regularly include all member countries, starting with the six founder members and in accordance with the enlargement process. Norway has been un-officially included in selected waves between 1989 (EB 34) and 1996 (EB 46), Finland started before the actual enlargement in 1993 (EB 39.0), and a few Swiss Eurobarometer surveys were run in parallel to selected waves or topics, starting in 1999 (EB 51.1). Candidate and Accession Countries for the Eastern enlargement process were surveyed in the Candidate Countries Eurobarometer (CCEB) series from 2001 until the 2004 enlargement. From Autumn 2004 (EB 62) onwards the official membership candidates are at the time included in the standard surveys, as in the cases of Croatia, Turkey, Macedonia, Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania. Additional samples are drawn for Great Britain and Northern Ireland almost from the start, in Germany (East and West) after the re-unification in 1989, and in Cyprus for the Turkish Cypriot Community (Northern Cyprus) for selected surveys since 2004.

The surveys are conducted by affiliate international networks of survey research institutes on behalf of the European Commission's Directorate-General Communication. Beginning with Eurobarometer 43, the archival survey titles in this ICPSR series no longer contain a hyphen separating "Euro" and "Barometer," in keeping with current usage. Other archives may follow different naming.

Studies

1 results

Eurobarometer 64.3: Foreign Languages, Biotechnology, Organized Crime, and Health Items, November-December 2005

This round of Eurobarometer surveys diverged from the standard Eurobarometer measures and queried respondents on (1) foreign languages, (2) biotechnology, (3) organized crime and corruption, (4) health consciousness, (5) smoking, (6) AIDS prevention, (7) medical errors, and (8) consumer rights. For the first topic, foreign languages, respondents were asked to identify their native language, and first, second, and third foreign languages spoken, including proficiency and frequency of use. In addition, respondents were asked to identify the main reasons to learn a new language, methods used in learning, and barriers preventing learning. Respondents' opinions were sought regarding the best age to start learning a first and second new language, language support, and whether there should be a common language used throughout the European Union (EU). For the second topic, respondents were asked about their understanding of biotechnology, including gene therapy, pharmacogenetics, genetically modified foods and plants, nanotechnology, stem cell research, and its application in industry. Respondents' opinions were sought regarding the use of these techniques, governing safety and regulatory processes, new technology development, and integration of biotechnology into society. Respondents were also queried about their knowledge of science and politics and discussion of these matters with others, their opinions regarding entity involvement, including the EU, in utilizing or advancing biotechnology, and their personal political involvement in this area. For the third topic, organized crime and corruption, respondents were asked to identify the degree of national corruption, sources where corruption exists, a regulatory force in reducing it, and any personal involvement with corruption, in addition to providing an opinion about whether information sharing or policy development may reduce corruption. For the fourth topic, health consciousness, respondents were asked about their current state of health, breastfeeding, dieting, views on eating, foods consumed, changes in eating or drinking patterns and associated reasons for these changes, ease of and barriers to eating healthily, and exercise. Respondents were asked about their knowledge of sports and physical activity, and their opinion about obesity among adults and children. For the fifth topic, smoking, respondents were asked about their smoking habits and use with other substances, sensitivity to smoke, knowledge about second-hand smoke, exposure to tobacco cessation campaigns, and the likelihood of quitting. In addition, respondents were asked to provide an opinion about smoking bans in public places and the consumption of alcohol and tobacco among pregnant women. For the sixth topic, AIDS prevention, respondents were asked about their knowledge of AIDS transmission, changes in personal behaviors influenced by AIDS, and their opinions regarding current national measures in managing the AIDS pandemic and the potential coordination with the EU. For the seventh topic, medical errors, respondents were asked about their awareness of incidents of medical errors in their country, the significance of those errors, personal experience of a medical error, the likelihood of avoiding an error, and their degree of concern about suffering a medical error. For the eighth and final topic covered by this survey, consumer rights, those respondents living in Poland were asked about where and how often they saw or heard information about consumer rights, how frequently the media talked about consumer rights, and who in the media was the source of this information. Respondents were also asked whether they had heard a particular message and to define the meaning of that message, to evaluate Poland's consumer rights in comparison to other EU countries, and to assess the effectiveness of the justice system in protecting consumer rights. In addition, respondents were queried about their knowledge of consumer rights in certain situations, which organizations they would trust to provide correct advice and information about consumer rights, and whether they would refer others to a specific organization that deals with consumer rights, Federacja Konsumentow. Demographic and other background information includes respondent's age, gender, height, and weight, nationality, origin of birth (personal and parental), religious affiliation and involvement, marital status, left-to-right political self-placement, occupation, age when stopped full-time education, household composition, use of a fixed or a mobile telephone, size of locality, region of residence, and language of interview.

Variables

1,172 results