Swedish Media Barometer

Summary

The Media Barometer has since attracted significant public interest. It has been organised as an independent media research project with full transparency and through the opportunity for further analysis, it has gradually taken the characteristics of the basic survey to other media measurement. Through a relatively simple examination procedure and with many postgraduate opportunities, it has created a powerful instrument in the development of knowledge concerning our media system. The Media Barometer has made it possible to follow Swedish media development in a way that would not have been possible. The Media Barometer has gained a unique position among Swedish media measurement. Even from an international perspective, this kind of continuous, publicly accessible media measurement is very rare.

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Survey different

Data gathering method
Telephone

Access to data

Conditions of access

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Anonymised microdata and aggregated tables.

Formats available
Data set is compatible with Excel, SAS, SPSS, STATA, Text, etc.

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Data collection via telephone interviews is ongoing since 1979.

First year of collection
1979

Stratification if applicable
General focus.

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
Whole country

Age range
Individuals aged 9 – 79 years

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
The Media Barometer is an annual investigation that looks at what proportion of the Swedish population uses a certain type of media on an average day. For example, it looks at how much are radio, television, teletext , video, movies, cassettes, CDs, newspaper , tabloid, vecko-/månadstidning, magazine, book, direct mail and new media technologies used on an average day. There is a specific section of the questionnaire related to internet usage. The aim is to describe trends and changes in how people use the media.

Linkage

Standardisation

Possibility of linkage among databases

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
Response rate always a problem to be discussed.

Breaks
The Media Barometer originally focused on radio and TV and not on individual channels, and on each morning and evening newspapers and not individual papers. Extensions to more specific devices and multiple media have been implemented as a result of media development, both overall and for certain periods. In recent years, measurements can be found, for example, on issues with significantly more responses for TV viewing and radio listening on different channels than before. New subject areas have also been added to reflect the new media landscape that is emerging; this applies particularly to Internet use. It is important to note in this context that this has been done within the original framework of the Media Barometer, which shows a great deal of flexibility in the survey.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
Media Barometer 2003 The approach chosen for the Media Barometer is media's true scope. The study does not relate people's media habits, but what individuals made during a specific period of time. Technically, this tends to be mentioned 'recency', as opposed to the 'frequency', which refers to the regularity or habit.

Governance

Contact information
Ulla Carlsson (PI) / NORDICOM
University of Gothenburg
Box 713
413 13 / 405 30 Gothenburg Sweden Phone: +46 31 786 00 00
Email: info(at)nordicom.gu.se
Url: http://www.nordicom.gu.se/eng.php?portal=mr

Timeliness, transparency