Η ευρωπαϊκή κοινωνική έρευνα: Οργανωτική δομή και μεθοδολογικό πλαίσιο

Over the last three to four decades, the European Commission and Eurostat have developed harmonized methodologies aiming at the collection and statistical analysis of European data. This process has contributed enormously to the shaping and evaluation of social and economic policies as well as to the assessment of the Lisbon Strategy. The European Social Survey (ESS) constitutes a “New Scientific Instrument” for the investigation of beliefs, attitudes, ideas and social values of the Europeans. Currently, the total number of participating countries amounts to 32 and the data set includes more than 30,000 face to face interviews. The ESS data base is explored by more than 10,000 registered users, producing books, scientific articles, papers and policy documents. In Greece the first round (2002-2003) was conducted by face to face interviews in a random sample of 3.227 households and a response rate of 80%. The second round (2004-2003) was launched to 3.002 households and the response rate accounted to 74,2%. Greece, in comparison with the rest of the participating countries in the ESS study, fulfilled all the strict scientific criteria and achieved the highest response rates.