DCA_current projects

FORS was mandated by the EPFL to conduct a panel survey aiming at observing changes in the habits of the inhabitants of the Lake Geneva cross-border region in terms of mobility, housing, energy and resource consumption. The project is mainly financed by the Cantons of Vaud and Geneva. A pilot survey was conducted in the French part in the spring of 2022. A total of 2’000 people were contacted with four experimental groups and an overall response rate of approximately 19%. For the main survey conducted in the autumn, about 19’000 people were contacted in France and 30’000 in Switzerland with a response rate of 14% and 30% respectively. The overall project includes two waves of data collection each year between 2023 and 2026, with an additional GPS tracking wave in 2023.

Percival is a social psychology study commissioned by researchers from the University of Zurich. The study aims to investigate the development of personality and civic engagement among the Swiss population over time. In civic engagement, there are individual differences in the nature and extent of personal engagement. This research project aims to find out which personality traits are particularly relevant for the emergence of civic engagement. FORS is tasked with the data collection of five survey waves between September 2022 and November 2024. In the first wave, 16’000 residents of all three language regions in Switzerland were contacted and the fieldwork was completed end of November 2022. The second wave is planned for spring 2023.

In collaboration with the UNIL and the University of Geneva, FORS conducted an actor survey across several countries. The aim was to understand and compare the way in which the subject of artificial intelligence is treated politically by public policy actors in multiple fields (banking and finance, social welfare, and health). Experts in artificial intelligence were also asked to participate. The survey was launched in Switzerland, France and Germany in 2022. The DCA has also been mandated to repeat the survey in the USA in 2023.

We were mandated to realize the Early Career Researcher Survey among doctoral students, postdocs and further staff working in SNSF funded grants. Of the approximately 9’000 respondents invited, 47% took part in the survey. The questionnaire was prepared in collaboration with the SNSF and we were in charge of conducting the survey, data analysis and report.

FORS, with the collaboration of the UNIL’s rectorate and the Equal Opportunities Office, conducted a survey on the work and study climate at the UNIL measuring well-being of personnel and students but also experiences of discrimination, psychological and sexual harassment. The DCA analyzed and reported the results in a public report that was widely covered by the media. We was also interviewed for an article in the media and FORS was cited in numerous press articles as well as in the national TV news. Given the large amount of data of interest to be analyzed in this project, we also started working on a larger, more technical report to be finished in 2023.

The IDHEAP has been mandated by the Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève (HUG) to conduct a study on the satisfaction of its staff. Within the framework of this project, the IDHEAP mandated FORS to carry out the survey fieldwork, which mainly consists of an online survey intended for all HUG personnel, with a complementary paper questionnaire for a predefined sub-population. The IDHEAP was responsible for the management of the whole project, the conceptualization of the study, the creation of the questionnaire, the data analysis and the transmission of the results. A total of 5’535 employees responded to the survey between June and September 2022. In addition to conducting the fieldwork, we revised the questionnaire proposed by the client and prepared the data for analysis.

FORS was mandated by the HES-SO Valais-Wallis to reconduct an employee satisfaction survey, based on the survey done by FORS in 2018. The questionnaire was revised thoroughly, and various new themes were added. Adaptations were also needed to ensure comparability with 2018 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. All employees were invited to participate in an online survey in autumn of 2021 and two reminders were sent. The response rate was 54%. The final report was submitted early 2022 and presented to the employees in the summer of 2022.

We were mandated to realize an employee satisfaction survey for the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB). The questionnaire was prepared in collaboration with SIB and we  were in charge of conducting the fieldwork, data analysis and report.

Le deuxième Observatoire, a research and education institute on gender relations with support from the OAK foundation, mandated us  in 2020 to conduct an external evaluation and a monitoring of a project to promote gender equality among students and educational personnel in schools and preschool in the Canton of Geneva. The evaluation is made by means of collection and analysis of multi-method data (quantitative and qualitative). Based on the intervention’s theoretical model of change, the evaluation aims at measuring the predictors of attitudes and behavioural change. Due to the nature of the project and observations planned in schools and preschools, the advancement of the project has been slowed down, but continued in 2021 and 2022 and will be finished in 2023.

After a break in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FORS again conducted the annual survey on mobility among the students and staff of the UNIL. The survey analyses commuting habits and their evolution across time. Approximately 20’400 persons were contacted, out of which 19% responded. The thematic focus was on remote work and remote teaching.

The EPFL has conducted a mobility survey of its students and employees since 2003. FORS was first mandated to take over this survey in 2019 and the survey was realized again in the spring of 2021. The data from the 2021 survey was integrated into the cumulative dataset in 2022. Preparations for the 2023 survey also started in 2022, with the revision of the questionnaire, as well as the definition of the specific modules to be included in the new edition.

FORS was mandated in 2021 by the Graduate Campus of the UNIL to conduct the annual Graduate Campus PhD survey among the former PhD students who received their degree three years prior. The survey among former doctoral students who finished in 2019 was conducted in Autumn – Winter 2022. Around 300 people were contacted, and the response rate was approximately 38%. The data will be prepared and added to the cumulative file in early 2023.

We collaborated with the consulting company Behavior Change Expertise to conduct a survey on the use of the “P’tite Poubelle Verte”, a publicly funded kitchen waste recycling bin, for the canton of Geneva. FORS provided support on the design of the questionnaire and was responsible for data collection. In the summer of 2020, a survey with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the use of the bin, as well as measuring the potential barriers to its use and understand recycling behaviour more generally, was conducted. The DCA also collaborated on an article on the results of the project, which was published in 2022 in Environmental Challenges. In 2022, we fielded a second survey that aimed at measuring the impact of the information campaign that took place between the two surveys. FORS also had the opportunity in the context of the project to include in the questionnaire an Implicit Association Test (IAT) on gender stereotypes to test the feasibility of implementing such a tool in an online questionnaire and exploring the use, validity and fidelity of such a tool in an applied research project.

In the context of a training programme on performance indicators, the Cour des Comptes of the Canton of Geneva asked FORS to provide training in four modules on the measure of performance and the construction of indicators, survey methodology, data management and analysis, and the presentation and visualization of results. Each module was comprised of a half-day course and a half-day feedback and discussion session based on group exercises. Three of the modules took place in late 2021 and one took place in early 2022.

FORS was commissioned by the Federal Office of Public Health to carry out a study among the stakeholders involved in research on human beings on their understanding and implicit attitudes towards the two main objectives of the Human Research Act (HRA): the protection of participants and the creation of favourable framework conditions for research. Based on the observation that tensions may exist between these two goals, this study aims to understand how actors interpret these two objectives and how they arbitrate between them. In 2020, we focused on planning and defining the project, literature research, consulting experts and mapping the theme. A first exploratory qualitative phase with three focus groups was conducted in the spring of 2021 and a report on this phase was drafted and submitted. The method was refined, and further focus groups, as well as individual interviews were conducted in autumn of 2021. A report based on this phase was submitted in late 2021. A final report, combining the different phases and additional content, as well as the feedback from the working group was written and submitted in 2022.

FORS consulted on the project at the request of Insertion Vaud to revise the three questionnaires and the methodology for the project aiming at measuring the satisfaction of beneficiaries of social integration measures.