Study title

Sociobarometer 2003

Dataset ID Number

FSD1314

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1314

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health (STKL)

Abstract

The survey charted expert opinion on the welfare of Finnish citizens and present state of welfare services. Respondents were managers or management groups of municipal social services, medical centres, employment offices, social and health organisations or local offices of the Social Insurance Institution. Respondents evaluated the welfare of various population groups and rated the importance of different bodies (e.g. family or congregation) in providing welfare at the time of the survey and in the future. They were asked about the direction of quantitative changes of different forms of service and whether services were reorganised and why and how it was being done. The importance of voluntary organisations in developing services of the organisation was probed. Respondents assessed municipal social services, public health services, services of the Social Insurance Institution and labour administration, and social and health services provided by private enterprises and voluntary organisations from the point of view of citizens who use them and of the functionality of co-operation with the organisation. They were also asked to evaluate how their own sector could provide municipal services with present resources.

The survey charted the changes in personnel numbers from the year 2002 to 2003. Opinions on the sufficiency of human resources, working conditions and organisation's ability to improve occupational competence of its personnel were examined. Views on the aspects that management was concerned about and satisfied with were probed. Respondents evaluated the socio-economic situation of their municipality and sector.

Respondents in the social services were asked whether their municipality has an arrangement with voluntary organisations to provide services regionally and whether citizens have to wait for social services. In addition, they assessed the economic situation of the municipality, how that might change from the year 2002 to 2003 and the occurrence of deliberate underbudgeting. It was also charted how many social workers the municipality has, how many of them are qualified, and if there are not enough qualified social workers, what strategies have been used to solve the situation. It was studied how social services administration has been arranged and what kind of titles and educational backgrounds chief officials of social services have.

Respondents in local offices of Social Insurance Institution and in employment offices were asked how their organisation could provide services with present resources. Respondents in medical centres were asked whether citizens have to wait for health services and what strategies have been used to solve the lack of personnel.

Respondents in voluntary organisations assessed the focus and regional emphasis of their activities and the centrality of different forms of activities at the time of the survey and in the future. They were also asked about the total budget, overall economic situation and importance of different sources of funding in the organisation. The survey charted the importance of different measures voluntary organisations take to evaluate the situation of their target groups. It also examined the importance of the public sector and voluntary organisations in, for example, securing income and providing services. Respondents were asked about their organisation's participation in providing regional services with local governments and co-operating with centres of expertise on social welfare and the role of volunteers.

Background variables included respondent's organisation and occupational status and location of organisation.

Keywords

Social Insurance Institution; employment services; medical centres; organizations; personnel; public sector; qualifications; resources; social services; social welfare; social workers; voluntary organizations; welfare

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Specific social services: use and availability (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social welfare policy (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social welfare systems/structures (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Sociobarometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health

Data Producers

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health

Time Period Covered

2002

Collection Dates

2002-12-16 – 2003-02-07

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Organization/Institution

Universe

Social services offices, health centres, employment offices and local offices of the Social Insurance Institution in all Finnish municipalities plus major social sector and health organisations (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The Sociobarometer 2003 questionnaire was sent to every Finnish municipalities' (the Åland Islands excluded) social services offices and its district offices in all the major cities and to the majority of medical centres. The questionnaire was also sent to local medical centres, employment offices and so called "full-serivce" offices of the Social Insurance Institution in the municipalities of the Helsinki metropolitan area. It was sent to central social and health care nationwide. Health centre questionnaires were posted as the researchers did not have the e-mail addresses. Other questionnaires were posted only if there were some technical problems with the Internet survey or the respondent organisation had not responded to the Internet survey by the closing date.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

58

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: English and Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Number of Cases and Variables

390 variables and 757 cases.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Questions connected with data variables between q23ABC_1 and q23ABC_4 as well as q24ABC were missing in the questionnaires sent to medical centres, employment offices and Social Insurance Institution's offices. Therefore, there are no answers from medical centres to the above mentioned variables, because the survey sent to medical centres was a postal survey.

The variables identifying municipalities and organisations have been removed from the data. A new regional variable has been constructed. Responses to open-ended questions have been removed from the data.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health (STKL): Sociobarometer 2003 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2004-02-13). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1314

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Special Terms and Conditions for Access

Users of the data shall send the Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry (SOSTE) a copy of all reports, theses, articles, other publications or material based on or using the data. If printed, to the mail address: SOSTE Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry, Tutkimus, Yliopistonkatu 5, 00100 HELSINKI, FINLAND. If electronic, to the e-mail address: tutkimus@soste.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Siltaniemi, Aki (2003). Sosiaalibarometri 2003: mistä resurssit tukea kaikkien hyvinvointia? Sosiaali- ja terveysviesti 2003(2), 4-6.

Saarinen, Arttu (2005). Kunnailla ja kaamoksessa: Pohjois-Karjalan ja Lapin hyvinvointi objektiivisesta näkökulmasta. Turku: Turun yliopisto. Sosiaalipolitiikan pro gradu -tutkielma.

Eronen, Anne & Londén, Pia & Perälahti, Anne & Siltaniemi, Aki (2003). Sitkeät seutukunnat: pohjoiskarjalaisten kokemuksia hyvinvoinnista ja palveluista. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan keskusliitto & Joensuu: Pohjois-Karjalan sosiaaliturvayhdistys.

Eronen, Anne & Kinnunen, Petri & Londén, Pia & Selkälä, Arto & Siltaniemi, Aki & Särkelä, Riitta & Urponen, Kyösti (2003). Sosiaalibarometri 2003: hyvinvointipalvelujen tuottajien ajankohtainen tilanne ja näkemys kansalaisten hyvinvoinnista. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan keskusliitto.