Study title

Young People and Politics 2009

Dataset ID Number

FSD2629

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2629

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Elo, Kimmo (University of Turku. Department of Political Science and Contemporary History)
• Rapeli, Lauri (University of Turku. Department of Political Science and Contemporary History)
• Koskimaa, Vesa (University of Turku. Department of Political Science and Contemporary History)

Abstract

The study charted the political activity of Finnish young people and the political atmosphere in their environment.

The respondents were first asked about their childhood home, such as whether newspapers had been read, how many books there had been in the household, what the education of the parents was like and whether the parents had usually voted, and how often politics had been discussed.

The next set of questions focused on the role of politics in the respondents' lives at the time of the survey. The number of history and civic education courses taken at school was surveyed as well as intentions to take more courses on the said subjects. Opinions on the importance of receiving more information on certain topics in teaching (e.g. World history, the EU and the judicial system) were investigated. The frequency of discussions with different people relating to politics and events in the society was charted.

The opinions on and interest in politics was examined. The respondents were asked to what extent different people and institutions influenced their notions of politics, how interested in politics they and their friends and family were, which institutions should hold the decision-making power in certain issues, and which ways would be best suited for trying to influence decision-making in different issues.

At the end of the survey, the respondents were requested to write an essay of roughly two pages titled 'My notion of politics: What comes to my mind when I hear the word "politics"'. The essays are archived as a separate dataset 'FSD2883 Young People and Politics 2009: Essay Responses'.

Background variables included the respondent's gender and year of birth as well as the municipality where the respondent was studying and the type of educational institution (general or vocational upper secondary school).

The survey was conducted as part of a wider study called 'Suomalaisten politiikkatietämys' [Finns' Knowledge of Politics].

Keywords

adolescents; citizen participation; civic education; democracy; family influence; mass media; parents; political awareness; political behaviour; political influence; political participation; politics; social influence; voting

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Elections (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Elo, Kimmo (University of Turku. Department of Political Science and Contemporary History)
• Rapeli, Lauri (University of Turku. Department of Political Science and Contemporary History)
• Koskimaa, Vesa (University of Turku. Department of Political Science and Contemporary History)

Time Period Covered

2009

Collection Dates

2009 – 2009-12

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Young Finnish-speaking persons in upper secondary education in Finland (excluding students living in the Åland Islands and those studying in Swedish-speaking educational institutions)

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability

The target population was first stratified by province and the resulting strata were further stratified by municipality type. The municipalities and educational institutions were selected by using simple random sampling, which was continued until the desired sample size was reached. The default number of respondents for each sample cluster (educational institution) was set to 30. Altogether, 34 educational institutions, of which 15 were upper secondary vocational schools and 19 general upper secondary schools, participated in the study in 31 different municipalities.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview: Paper-and-pencil (PAPI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

62.9

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: Finnish.

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

Data Version

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD2343 Knowledge of Politics and Society 2008: Turku Region Upper Secondary Schools 2007-2008

FSD2344 Knowledge of Politics and Society 2008: Turku Region Vocational Institutions 2007-2008

FSD2499 Knowledge of Politics and Society 2008

FSD2883 Young People and Politics 2009: Essay Responses

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

Elo, Kimmo (University of Turku) & Rapeli, Lauri (University of Turku) & Koskimaa, Vesa (University of Turku): Young People and Politics 2009 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-20). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2629

Deposit Requirement

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

Elo, Kimmo (2009). Kiinnostuksesta se kaikki lähtee... Havaintoja äänestysikää lähestyvien nuorten politiikkatietämyksestä. Kasvatus 40(1), 36-48.

Koskimaa, Vesa & Elo, Kimmo & Rapeli, Lauri (2010). Nuorten politiikka 2009. Katsaus suomalaisnuorten yhteiskunnallisiin kasvuympäristöihin ja politiikkakiinnostukseen. Turku: Turun yliopisto. Politiikan tutkimuksen laitos. Politiikkatietämys-hankkeen työpapereita 1/2010.

Elo, Kimmo (2011) Mistä nuoret äänestäjät tulevat? Havaintoja kodin poliittisuuden vaikutuksesta nuorten politiikkakiinnostukseen ja äänestämishalukkuuteen. Politiikka 53(1), 2011, 5-15.

Elo, Kimmo (2012). Yhdensuuntaista monologia vai sukupolvien välistä dialogia? Havaintoja kodin vaikutuksesta nuorten poliittiseen sosialisaatioon. Teoksessa: Nuoret ja ääni - Nuoret eduskuntavaaleissa 2011 (toim. Ronkainen, Jussi), 77-92. Helsinki: Nuorisotutkimusseuran julkisuja; 125.

Rytioja, Anni-Reetta (2016). Kansalaisuuden rajanvetoa. Kansalaisuuden ulottuvuudet aikuisten ja nuorten kertomina. Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto. Sosiologian pro gradu -tutkielma. URN:NBN:fi:uta-201602031152

Rytioja, A. & Kallio, K.P. (2018). Opittua käsitteistöä vai koettua yhteiskunnallisuutta? Pohdintoja kansalaisuudesta lasten ja nuorten näkökulmasta. Sosiologia [hyväksytty julkaistavaksi]