No. 32

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European Social Survey Gives Answers to Questions That Are Necessary for Governing a Country

14 December 2015

Varia

RiTo No. 32, 2015

  • Mare Ainsaar

    Mare Ainsaar

    Associate Professor in Sociology and Social Policy, University of Tartu

The article gives an overview of the activities of the European Social Survey in Estonia in 2004–2015.

Collecting of data for the European Social Survey started in Estonia in 2004. Estonia has participated in all subsequent rounds of study. New data for the survey are collected every two years. The survey has turned out to be very successful both by the great number of users and also by the number of publications based on the survey in Estonia. 1200 people use the data of the survey in Estonia, which is the second result per 1000 people in the world after Slovakia. In 2015, every three days an article about Estonia was published in international cooperation in every three days. The article gives an overview of the activities and principles that have been taken into account in conducting the survey and have contributed to its success. These include, fist of all, open use of the data, training of users, and clear and user-friendly web output. For example, in 2012–2015, there were 39 special trainings for 1780 persons in Estonia. The results of the survey are valuable in making decisions for governing the country. A short overview of analyses that deal with two issues and were written on the basis of the data of the survey is given as an example of the usefulness of the European Social Survey in governing a country. The themes of these analyses are “Stable and Successful State” and “Economic Growth, Social Relations and Welfare”.

(The European Social Survey (ESS) http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org)

Full article in Estonian

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