European Social Survey (ESS)
European Social Survey European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS ERIC), School of Arts and Social Sciences, City, University of London.
The ESS was established in 2001, with data collected for the first time in 2002/03.
The overall purpose and objective of the data collection.
- to chart stability and change in social structure, conditions and attitudes in Europe and to interpret how Europe’s social, political and moral fabric is changing
- to achieve and spread higher standards of rigour in cross-national research in the social sciences, including for example, questionnaire design and pre-testing, sampling, data collection, reduction of bias and the reliability of questions
- to introduce soundly-based indicators of national progress, based on citizens’ perceptions and judgements of key aspects of their societies
- to undertake and facilitate the training of European social researchers in comparative quantitative measurement and analysis
- to improve the visibility and outreach of data on social change among academics, policy makers and the wider public.
38 European countries (including Ireland) have participated in at least one round since 2002/03; 32 countries (including Ireland) are participating in ESS Round 10 (2020-22).
The European Social Survey (ESS) is an academically driven cross-national survey that has been conducted across Europe every two years since 2002/03.
It was developed to offer academics and researchers a reliable dataset that measures the attitudes and behaviours of the general population both across and within European countries.
The ESS was awarded European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) status in 2013. The ESS ERIC Headquarters are hosted by, City, University of London (UK).
The ESS has 192,929 registered users of its data. The vast majority of users are students (69.5%) and faculty and research (16.2%). Other types of users are Ph.D. thesis (6.2%); private individual (2.8%); organisation (NGO) (1.4%); other (1.3%); government (1.3%); private enterprise (1%) and journalist (0.3%).
Each iteration of the survey includes a core module composed of the same questions on crime and justice, democracy, discrimination, Europe, government, health and wellbeing, identity, immigration, media, political values and participation, religion and social trust. The main questionnaire also includes the 21-item Schwartz human values scale. The 21-item scale is a series of statements developed by Shalom H. Schwartz (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) to better understand the moral values of respondents.
Additionally, in each round of the ESS, two other topics are covered in more depth following an open call for proposals. This open call process means that the ESS has included rotating modules on ageism, citizen involvement, climate change and energy, crime and justice, democracy, economic morality, the relationship between family, work and wellbeing, the fairness of income and opportunities, health, immigration, social inequalities in health, timing of life, welfare and wellbeing.
Examples of Health questions from the core module of the ESS questionnaire include:
How is your health in general?;
Are you hampered in your daily activities in any way by any longstanding illness, or disability, infirmity or mental health problem? Questions measuring wellbeing are also included.
Round 2 (2004/05) included a rotating module on health and care seeking, and Round 7 (2014/15) included a rotating module on social inequalities in health. This social inequalities module will be repeated in Round 11 (2023/24).
All data can be analysed by a wide range of socio demographics, collected from respondents, and weighted to be representative of the entire national population of each country.
Survey documentation for ESS Round 9 (latest round with released data) is available at the following link: http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/data/download.html?r=9
All data can be analysed at the regional level (NUTS).
A wide range of sociodemographic measures are included in the dataset, including: marital status; place of residence; education; occupation; activity last seven days; ever been in employment; main source of income; partner’s occupation and highest level of education; socioeconomic status; gender; religion; parents’ highest level of education; parents’ occupation when 14 years old; year of birth; household composition; children.
Primarily designed as a time series, the questionnaire is asked to a newly selected representative sample of adults aged 15+ in each country, chosen using strict probability methods. Up until Round 10, data collection took place during face-to-face interviews only every two years.
Due to the pandemic affecting Round 10 data collection, self-completion data collection methods (online and postal questionnaires) have been completed in some countries.
N/A.
The ESS Survey Specification states that the minimum ‘effective achieved sample size’ must be 1,500, or 800 in countries with ESS populations (aged 15+) of less than 2 million after discounting for design effects.
Biennially since 2002.
The data is available free of charge and without restrictions for not-for-profit purposes. The data files can be accessed after registering as an ESS data user on www.europeansocialsurvey.org
N/A.
In the coming months, all data and documentation will be available via https://ess-search.nsd.no/en/all/query/
Data will still be available via www.europeansocialsurvey.org until January 2023.