The Swiss Covid-19 Data Symposium organised by FORS will give social science researchers an overview of different Swiss datasets that can be analyzed to assess the impact of the Covid-19-pandemic on numerous aspects of individuals’ everyday lives.

COVID-19 data from the following surveys and studies are presented: MOSAiCH, Swiss Corona Stress Study, Selects, Swiss Household Panel, COVID-19 Social Monitor ZHAW, SHARE and the COVID-19 Edition of the Science Barometer Switzerland.

Researchers also get the chance to talk to the producers of the data and ask detailed questions. The event takes place online and all presentations are held in English.

All detailed information on the COVID-19 data, the surveys, studies and presenters and the registration are to be found on the Symposium website.

The event is organised by FORS.

Registration

Questions regarding the organisation: info@forscenter.ch
Questions regarding the content of the symposium: Dr Marieke Heers

The Selects team has now added data from wave 4 to the Selects 2019 Panel Survey. Data from wave 4 was collected between September 28, 2020 and November 2, 2020.

https://forsbase.unil.ch/datasets/dataset-public-detail/17396/2250/

All data from Selects 2019 can be found here :

https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/17396/2250/

Information on Selects:

The Swiss Election Study (Selects) has been investigating the electoral behaviour of Swiss citizens in national elections since 1995. The project sheds light on the dynamics of the citizens’ opinion formation as well as on the determinants of their political participation and voting choice for a specific candidate or party.

More information on www.selects.ch

We hereby invite scholars to propose questions for the follow-up survey administered after the ISSP 2022 module on “Family and Changing Gender Roles”. Proposals will be selected according to their scientific quality, thematic relevance and survey applicability. Successful proposals will be fielded in spring 2022 and data will be available early 2023. The deadline for submissions is Monday April 26^, 2021.

Further information and documentation can be found in the CALL MOSAiCH 2022  or on our webpage https://forscenter.ch/projects/mosaich/

One of the primary aims of Selects has been to systematically combine the new survey data with data collected by its precursor research projects. The product of these efforts is presented here: A pooled set of Swiss election survey data which covers the period between 1971 and 2019 and includes most of the variables that have been included at least twice in the data collections.

Cumulative Selects dataset: https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/17384/0/

Election Surveys Used:

All the available Swiss election surveys were used to build up this database. Each of them is separately archived and documented at DARISS:

Political Attitudes and Behaviour in Switzerland 1971/72, conducted by the Department of Political Science, University of Geneva (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/13036/0/)
Political Attitudes in Switzerland 1975 (Political Action), conducted by the Department of Political Science, University of Geneva (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/10710/0/)
National and Federal Council Elections 1979, conducted by the Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, on behalf of the Tages Anzeiger (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/2551/0/)
National Elections 1987 (VOX), conducted by the Research Center for Swiss Politics, University of Bern, and GfS
National Elections 1991 (VOX), conducted by the Research Center for Swiss Politics, University of Bern, and GfS
Swiss Electoral Studies (Selects) 1995: Post-Election Survey, conducted by the Departments of Political Science, Universities of Bern, Geneva, and Zurich (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/1993/0/)
Swiss Electoral Studies (Selects) 1999: Post-Election Survey, conducted by the Departments of Political Science, Universities of Bern, Geneva, and Zurich (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/5937/0/)
Swiss Electoral Studies (Selects) 2003: Post-Election Survey, conducted by the Departments of Political Science, Universities of Bern, Geneva, St. Gall, and Zurich, DARIS and OVP/USTAT (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/11328/0/)
Swiss Electoral Studies (Selects) 2007: Post-Election Survey, conducted by the Departments of Political Science, Universities of Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, St. Gall, and Zurich, FORS, OVP/USTAT, FSO and the Federal Chancellery (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/8436/0/)
Swiss Electoral Studies (Selects) 2011: Post-Election Survey, conducted by FORS (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/12631/0/)
Swiss Electoral Studies (Selects) 2015: Post-Election Survey, conducted by FORS (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/13882/0/)
Swiss Election Study (Selects) 2019: Post-Election Survey, conducted by FORS (see https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/16968/0/)

Measuring party affiliation (FORS Guide N°12), Georg Lutz, Lukas Lauener

Party affiliation is a key concept used in many social science surveys. To measure such affiliations, one can either ask about previous, current or future voting behavior, about party identification or about party proximity. Moreover, there are questions that ask about an evaluation of different parties simultaneously. This guide provides an overview of the different concepts to measure party affiliation, shows examples of their use in Swiss surveys and outlines the implications for researchers who have to choose among them.

Preparation of survey data (FORS Guide N°13), Alexandre Pollien, Jessica M. E. Herzing, Erika Antal

This guide focuses on the data preparation phase, which starts after data collection and ends before their analysis. This first assessment of the “raw” survey data is crucial since data preparation can affect the quality of the data in a positive or negative way. After an overview of the different types of errors, the guide discusses the remedies and issues related to these editing procedures.

The cumulative VOTO dataset contains all 13 VOTO studies, including all voting dates and proposals from September 2016 to September 2020. Researchers can access all the data free of charge at https://forsbase.unil.ch/project/study-public-overview/17219/0/

Mandated by the Federal Chancellery, the research project VOTO analysed after each federal ballot the voting decisions of Swiss citizens. For this purpose, VOTO surveyed about 1500 eligible voters all over Switzerland.

VOTO is a joint project of the Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences FORS, the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA) and the Survey Institute LINK. The standardized post-vote surveys are the result of the harmonization of the VOTO surveys. All VOTO reports are published on www.voto.swiss.

Sequentially mixing modes in an election survey

Authors: Oliver Lipps and Nicolas Pekari (FORS)

In this paper, the authors analyze to what extent a sequential mixed mode survey, consisting of push-to-web, telephone and mail-paper modes, is able to improve representativeness in terms of socio-demographic variables and reduce bias in terms of voting behavior compared to a single mode survey. In addition, they study whether changes in mode lead to measurement error issues by focusing on income. They find that adding the telephone mode improves sample representation in terms of socio-demographic variables. Meanwhile, adding the paper mode does not show further improvements in this respect. However, adding the telephone, and in particular the paper mode, turn out to reduce bias in voting behavior when compared to official figures. As for measuring income, the web and the telephone mode perform similarly well. Finally, they find little evidence of measurement differences of income when the same respondents are interviewed first by web or telephone and subsequently by paper questionnaire.

The FORS Working Paper series presents findings related to survey research, focusing on methodological aspects of survey research or substantive research. Manuscripts submitted are papers that represent work-in-progress. This series is intended to provide an early and relatively fast means of publication prior to further development of the work.  A revised version might be requested from the author directly. Further information on the FORS Working Paper Series can be found on https://forscenter.ch/publications/working-papers/

The ISSP team at the GESIS Data Archive is glad to announce the final publication of the ISSP 2018 data on Religion IV, including data from 33 countries across the world. The full set of documentation on this release can be found at:

 https://www.gesis.org/issp/modules/issp-modules-by-topic/religion/2018

Together with the international ISSP 2018 data set comes the data of “A cross-national and comparative study of religion” in additional 14 Asian and African countries based on the ISSP questionnaire. Overview information on the project (chaired by NORC) can be found at:

https://www.gesis.org/en/issp/modules/issp-modules-by-topic/religion/2018/2018-additional-14-countries

Both data sets together enable cross-national comparisons of ISSP Religion 2018 data with 47 countries.

Robin Tillmann, Monica Budowski, Dean R. Lillard, and Annette Scherpenzeel published a special issue in the Swiss Journal of Sociology in celebration of 20 years of the Swiss Household Panel. After an introduction to the history, the design and the content of the Swiss Household Panel, nine contributions from different fields shed light on social change in Switzerland over the last two decades.

All details and access to the content: https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/sjs/sjs-overview.xml?language=en&tab_body=latestIssueToc-79128.

The results of the Swiss Household Panel – Covid-19 study, published in the FORS Working Paper Series, shows for example that especially young people in Switzerland were affected by the pandemic and that the self-employed population had to deal, from an early stage onwards, with the negative consequences of COVID-19.

The 11^th International Conference of Panel Data Users in Switzerland will take place on June 9-10, 2021 at the University of Lausanne. The thematic sessions include health and well-being, education and labour market, socio-economic inequality and mobility, families, gender, ethnic minorities and migration, politics and attitudes, survey methodology, and longitudinal methods. Contributions about Covid-19 are also welcome.

Please send us your abstract or session proposal until February 14, 2021.

We hope that we will be able to welcome you on site!

Consult the call for abstracts.

The Swiss Household Panel has conducted a special wave to assess living conditions during the COVID-19 semi-lockdown. Thanks to this intermediate measuring point, the SHP offers a unique opportunity to observe the impact of this period on the daily lives and the changes that it entailed for the Swiss population. The additional wave focuses on well-being and health, changes in work and financial situation, time use, home schooling, family and social life as well as the evaluation of the government policies.

The data of the SHP COVID-19 study are now available on FORSbase!

A new ESS Topline Results Series publication on Justice and Fairness in Europe has been published. It is based on analysis of ESS 2018 data and written by the authors of the respective questionnaire module.

The publication focuses on the normative views people hold on the principles that should guide the fair allocation of goods and burdens within a society, the fairness of incomes for self and for others, the fairness of life chances, and the fairness of related political procedures. The highest scores of political procedural justice for instance are found in Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden, while the lowest are found in Croatia, Bulgaria, and Italy.

Access the publication:

Justice and Fairness in Europe.

FORS makes an important contribution to the evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 on the Swiss population. Questions on COVID-19 were included in various FORS surveys and then made available to researchers in Switzerland.

One survey is MOSAiCH, which this year was devoted to the theme of environment and climate. MOSAiCH is conducted in two parts. The second part contained questions about COVID-19 and the actions taken by the Confederation. In addition to some policy questions, the effects on well-being, work status and family/work compatibility were studied. The questionnaire was completed by just over 2,000 people between the end of April and the end of May.

Results of the MOSAiCH survey, summarized in factsheets

The following factsheets are avaiable in German and French:

Well-being and worries during the lockdown. Factsheet N°1.

Policy, fundamental rights and environmental concerns during the lockdown, Factsheet N°2.

Work situation during the lockdown. Factsheet N°3.

Reconciling family and career during the lockdown. Factsheet N°4.

The factsheets in German

The factsheets in French

The ISSP team at the GESIS Data Archive is glad to announce the publication of a second partial data release of the ISSP 2018 on Religion IV, including data from 33 countries across the world. The final release, with additional countries and the full set of documentation, will be published in the Autumn.

An overview information on this release can be found at: https://www.gesis.org/issp/modules/issp-modules-by-topic/religion/2018

FORS makes it possible for researchers in Switzerland to have access to LIS data and services.

The LIS: Cross-National Data CenterLuxembourg announces the launch of DART – the new LIS data visualisation tool.
DART is a powerful web-based interactive tool that allows users to select and visualise income and wealth indicators, countries, and time periods, and to decompose them by a multitude of individual and household characteristics, all based on the LIS harmonised databases.
With the launch of DART, LIS breaks new ground with data provision, as a broader base of users, including scholars, journalists, teachers, NGO staff, other analysts, and the general public, will be able to easily obtain and visualize a rich array of income and wealth indicators disaggregated across several dimensions.

DART Main Features

• Richness of overtime and cross-county inequality measures disaggregated by different social strata.
• No prior knowledge of statistical packages or coding skills required.
• Visualisation of data through different charting types (Trends, Scatter plots, Distributions, and Maps).
• Table format display of the aggregated data used to generate the plotted graph(s).
• Export of all the graphs/tables produced in pdf and excel formats.

ACCESS to DART

For more information about DART, see here.

For more information about the list of aggregates, indicators, and decompositions, see here.

For more information on the methodology, view the methodological note.

You can read the report online. The report is written in German, French and Italian.

https://forscenter.ch/selects_reports/slc-2020-00001 (German)

https://forscenter.ch/selects_reports/slc-2020-00002 (French)

https://forscenter.ch/selects_reports/slc-2020-00003 (Italian)

Authors: Tresch, Anke, Lauener, Lukas, Bernhard, Laurent, Lutz, Georg und Laura Scaperrotta (2020). Eidgenössische Wahlen 2019. Wahlteilnahme und Wahlentscheid [Swiss Federal Elections 2019. Turnout and vote choice]. FORS-Lausanne.

Selected results and a press release can be found on the website of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

The Swiss Election Study Selects

The Swiss Election Study Selects has been investigating turnout and electoral behaviour in federal elections since 1995. In order to gain a better understanding of how citizens form their opinions and decide whom to vote for, Selects also collects data on media coverage and candidates’ campaign activities. Selects is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and conducted by FORS in Lausanne. 

Data

As part of Selects, comprehensive surveys were carried out for the 2019 elections:

• Post-election survey of 6,664 citizens
• Three-wave panel survey of the same individuals, before and after the elections, with 5,000 to 8,000 survey participants per wave
• Survey of 2,158 candidates for the National Council and the Council of States
• Media study: content analysis of 87 traditional (print and online) media as well as of candidates’ social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook)

All datasets are documented and freely available for scientific purposes from FORS.

Lijphart/Przworski/Verba Dataset Award

The European Social Survey (ESS) has been chosen as the winner of the Lijphart/Przworski/Verba (LPV) Dataset Award 2020. Chosen by the Comparative Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA) for the best dataset in comparative politics, the award is a significant honour for everyone involved with the ESS.

Check this news on the ESS website

Questions on COVID-19 were included in various FORS surveys and then made available to researchers in Switzerland.

One is SHARE, the survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. In Switzerland, SHARE is run jointly by FORS and the University of Lausanne. At the request of the European Commission, a telephone survey investigating the impact of the epidemic among SHARE respondents was set up. Data collection started in early June and will last until the end of July. A first set of questions concerns the impact of the epidemic on physical health, mental health, medical follow-up and compliance with health measures. A second aspect concerns the impact of the epidemic on employment, working conditions and the financial situation. And a final component investigates the impact of the epidemic on social contacts and social support. These data may be linked to other data collected in the framework of SHARE and will be made available to the scientific community at the beginning of 2021.

Another survey is MOSAiCH. The MOSAiCH survey, which this year was devoted to the theme of environment and climate, is conducted in two parts. The second part contained questions about COVID-19 and the actions taken by the Confederation. In addition to some policy questions, the effects on well-being, work status and family/work compatibility were studied. The questionnaire was completed by just over 2,000 people between the end of April and the end of May. The first results should be presented in July 2020.

The Swiss Household Panel has also launched a special wave to assess living conditions during COVID-19. Thanks to this intermediate measuring point, the SHP will offer a unique opportunity to observe the impact of this period on the daily life of the Swiss population. The additional wave focuses on well-being and health, changes in work and financial situation, time use, family and social life. The survey is currently in the field and has had a very successful start in terms of response rates.

The second edition of data and documentation for Round 9 of the European Social Survey (ESS) has now been published.

The first edition of our Round 9 dataset – published in October 2019 – included survey responses collected from 19 countries during late 2018 and 2019. This included data from: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

In this second edition, data and documentation for an additional eight countries has been added: Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. Many of these countries have participated in the ESS after missing some rounds. In addition Montenegro participated for the first time.

This newest release of data and documentation also includes post-stratification weights (PSPWGHT) for all countries.

With the addition of these eight countries, it means that the integrated ESS9 file now includes data for 27 countries.

In addition to the core questionnaire two topics were covered in Round 9 specifically – questions were asked on the timing of life events (repeated from Round 3, 2006/07) and justice and fairness, in the context of income.

The data can be analysed on-line or downloaded from our website https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/data/round-index.html

Data anonymisation: legal, ethical, and strategic considerations (FORS Guide N°11)

Data anonymisation or pseudonymization? How to craft a coherent anonymization strategy compliant with legal requirements and ethical norms? Drawing on the Swiss context, this Guide illustrates key considerations in crafting a coherent anonymization strategy that is compliant with legal requirements and ethical norms. It shows how to strike the right balance between anonymization and other data protection measures, namely informed consent and access control, given the nature of a project’s data and their anticipated use. This guide is written by FORS researchers Dr. Brian Kleiner and Dr. Alexandra Stam.

All FORS Guides to survey methods or data management are available for free on our website. They are written by experts inside and outside of FORS and offer practical knowledge for researchers and students of social sciences.