European Social Survey European citizens´ attitudes towards society, economy and politics: An international comparative empirical project

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Stefan Liebig
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2002 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5362320

The most important goal of the European Social Survey is to describe, monitor and to explain the relationships between Europe`s changing political institutions, socioeconomic structures and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations.The ESS is designed as a continuous project in order to analyze developments in a long-term perspective and to examine theories. It is a particular feature of this application that the project is not primarily designed for the interest of the applying research group. Rather, it is intended to provide a database for the community of social scientists in the sense of a collective good which enables researchers to analyze political and social change and to make comparisons between countries.In almost every European country representative population samples are interviewed every two years with identical questionnaires about aspects of politics and society. The survey instrument contains a consistent core module and a series of thematic question modules which are selected in an international competition for every survey round.The ESS is a European social research project that aims to further develop methodical standards of comparative survey research. The ESS contributes to the continuous improvement of survey methodology and serves as a reference for national and international comparative population studies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Jan Willem van Deth; Professorin Dr. Edeltraud Roller; Professorin Dr. Sigrid Roßteutscher