Final Report Summary - ESS4 (European Social Survey Round 4 - Improving Social Measurement in Europe)
The ESS4 project provided data on underlying value change within thirty countries of Europe. It was designed to provide a long-term account of the evolution of European societal trends changes (family, work, well-being, health) and of how its changing political and economic institutions interact over time with the changing attitudes and values of its citizens. ESS also raises the standards of data for comparative attitudinal research. It informs both academic debate and European governance.
The ESS4 aimed:
- to chart and explain shifts over time in Europe's social, political and moral climate in relation to its changing population patterns and institutions;
- to improve methods of European social measurement in comparative studies, particularly attitudinal studies;
- to develop a series of European social indicators, including attitudinal indicators that measure changes over time in the quality of life in different European nations.
Three biennial rounds of the ESS4 have already been funded within the Fifth and Sixth Research Framework Programmes, all co-funded by the European Science Foundation and some twenty-five national academic funding bodies throughout Europe. It is an academically-driven, uniquely rigorous comparative time series, helping to document and interpret hitherto inadequately-charted aspects of the European condition. Its wide-ranging questionnaire covers people's value orientations, their political and cultural perspectives, and the underlying social structure of their societies. A separate data collection exercise monitors major events during fieldwork as a backdrop to an understanding of attitude change. The ESS4 has already established itself as a robust multi-national, multi-funded programme of large-scale substantive and methodological research - an exemplar of the European research area at work.
The ESS4 is among the first social science projects to receive funding to support its infrastructure - to sustain and improve its networks, accessibility, and methodology - and in 2005 was awarded Europe's top annual science award, the Descartes prize. It is also developing a world-wide reputation for both its rigour and utility. The survey covers now over 30 countries and employs the most rigorous methodologies. In the first 18 months of its first public data release, more than 20 000 people across Europe and beyond had registered to use it. Seven books and countless articles based on its data are in preparation and a United States clone has been funded by their American National Science Foundation.
The scale and high methodological standards used on the ESS are rarely implemented on a cross-national basis. This achievement was recognised by the European Science Foundation's initiated review report which has also been made available to the European Commission. The report stated: 'The panel unanimously finds that the importance of ESS4, its demonstrated success in initial launch, and its clear signals of impact justify fully continuous funding at levels necessary to achieve its vision and maintain its quality (Bethlehem et al. 2008). An academically-driven, uniquely rigorous survey, the ESS4 continues to document and help to interpret hitherto inadequately-charted aspects of the European condition. The wide-ranging questionnaire covers people's value orientations, their cultural perspectives and the underlying social structure of the societies in which they live. A separate data collection exercise monitors major events during fieldwork in order to provide a background to understanding attitude change. Always intended as a time series, the ESS4 has quickly established a remarkable momentum, a Europe-wide infrastructure and a world-wide reputation for both its content and its rigour. The award of the Descartes prize, the nomination of the project to be a future long term infrastructure via the ESFRI roadmap, and the praise received in the recent peer review of the project all demonstrate this. The first four rounds have now been completed and preparations for the fifth round are already underway.
The ESS4 aimed:
- to chart and explain shifts over time in Europe's social, political and moral climate in relation to its changing population patterns and institutions;
- to improve methods of European social measurement in comparative studies, particularly attitudinal studies;
- to develop a series of European social indicators, including attitudinal indicators that measure changes over time in the quality of life in different European nations.
Three biennial rounds of the ESS4 have already been funded within the Fifth and Sixth Research Framework Programmes, all co-funded by the European Science Foundation and some twenty-five national academic funding bodies throughout Europe. It is an academically-driven, uniquely rigorous comparative time series, helping to document and interpret hitherto inadequately-charted aspects of the European condition. Its wide-ranging questionnaire covers people's value orientations, their political and cultural perspectives, and the underlying social structure of their societies. A separate data collection exercise monitors major events during fieldwork as a backdrop to an understanding of attitude change. The ESS4 has already established itself as a robust multi-national, multi-funded programme of large-scale substantive and methodological research - an exemplar of the European research area at work.
The ESS4 is among the first social science projects to receive funding to support its infrastructure - to sustain and improve its networks, accessibility, and methodology - and in 2005 was awarded Europe's top annual science award, the Descartes prize. It is also developing a world-wide reputation for both its rigour and utility. The survey covers now over 30 countries and employs the most rigorous methodologies. In the first 18 months of its first public data release, more than 20 000 people across Europe and beyond had registered to use it. Seven books and countless articles based on its data are in preparation and a United States clone has been funded by their American National Science Foundation.
The scale and high methodological standards used on the ESS are rarely implemented on a cross-national basis. This achievement was recognised by the European Science Foundation's initiated review report which has also been made available to the European Commission. The report stated: 'The panel unanimously finds that the importance of ESS4, its demonstrated success in initial launch, and its clear signals of impact justify fully continuous funding at levels necessary to achieve its vision and maintain its quality (Bethlehem et al. 2008). An academically-driven, uniquely rigorous survey, the ESS4 continues to document and help to interpret hitherto inadequately-charted aspects of the European condition. The wide-ranging questionnaire covers people's value orientations, their cultural perspectives and the underlying social structure of the societies in which they live. A separate data collection exercise monitors major events during fieldwork in order to provide a background to understanding attitude change. Always intended as a time series, the ESS4 has quickly established a remarkable momentum, a Europe-wide infrastructure and a world-wide reputation for both its content and its rigour. The award of the Descartes prize, the nomination of the project to be a future long term infrastructure via the ESFRI roadmap, and the praise received in the recent peer review of the project all demonstrate this. The first four rounds have now been completed and preparations for the fifth round are already underway.
