Welfare state survey 2010

Summary

The strength of the study is the possibility to follow and analyse welfare attitudes over time and relate it to current political development and future orientation. These studies have also high relevance in policy context where the resources, structures and forms of delivery of welfare services are subject to major institutional changes. The policy relevance is very high. So is also the scientific relevance, but there are methodological problems, e.g. response rates, etc. (The Welfare state survey 2010 SND 1.0, 2012-04-10 165 variables; 3,842 cases; 55% response frequency. 2010-03-05 - 2010-06-15 (Self-completed questionnaire: Paper/pencil))

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Survey different
Crosssection occasional

Data gathering method
Self administered questionnaire

Access to data

Conditions of access
Downloadable files, DVD/CD after agreement. On-line access to more general statistics.

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Data set compatible to various applications; e.g. Excel, SAS, SPSS, STATA, Text, etc.

Formats available

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Data collected in 1986 with a sample size of 7,000 people. Data collected in 1992 with a sample size of 7,000 people. Data collected in 1997 with a sample size of 7,000 people. Data collected in 2002 with a sample size of 7,000 people. Data collected in 2010 with a sample size of 7,000 people.

First year of collection
1986

Stratification if applicable

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
The whole country.

Age range
Individuals aged 18 – 79 and residing in Sweden

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
The series examines the Swedes' attitudes to welfare policy. A number of questions also exist in the ISSP survey conducted each year in several countries. In the survey, respondents indicate the degree to which they agreed with a number of statements taken from the current Swedish debate. They also state their views and experience with public spending and social services, how they considered the various activities to be funded and which ones are best suited to manage the different activities. A number of questions dealt with the social insurance and how the respondents felt that the responsibility should be shared between the individual and the public when it comes to paying these insurance policies. Another battery of questions considered the opinions of the Swedish taxes, the tax burden in general and for different income groups, and attitude towards not declaring any income and therefore paying less in income tax. Attention was also paid to choices between public and private welfare services. Socio-economic background data include employment, trade union affiliation, education, political preference, housing, income, marital status, spouse's/partner's employment and income, number of children in the household and parents' nationality.

Linkage

Standardisation
ISCED codes.

Possibility of linkage among databases
The research is to a large extent built on self-produced databases, with data from a number of different countries and time periods. The strong research environment is the Swedish participant in the comparative attitude surveys “International Social Survey Program” (ISSP) and “European Social Survey” (ESS), and is responsible for the national “Panel Survey of Ageing and the Elderly”.

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
No major entry errors.

Breaks
Good comparability between 1986 and 2010, but also thematic topics added over the years.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
High level of consistency.

Governance

Contact information
Stellan Svallfors and Jonas Edlund/ Department of sociology
University of Umeå

901 87 Umeå Sweden Phone: +46-90-7865560
Email: Stefan.svallfors(at)soc.umu.se
Url: http://snd.gu.se/en/catalogue/study/SND0904 http://www.umu.se/english/research/research-excellence/strong-research/Welfare+studies?languageId=1

Timeliness, transparency