Study title

Finnish EU Attitudes 2012

Dataset ID Number

FSD2720

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2720

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA)

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Yhdyskuntatutkimus

Abstract

The survey charted Finnish public opinion on the country's European Union membership, potential NATO membership, defense policy, relations with other countries, EU decision-making, European integration, and the financial and economic crisis.

First, the respondents were asked how interested they were in matters related to the EU and Finnish EU membership, and how well informed they were of these issue. The survey carried a large number of statements relating to the EU membership, decision-making in the EU, Finland's role and policy in the EU, European integration and defence policy, European Monetary Union (EMU), the financial and economic crisis and Finnish policies on the issue. Other statements related to environmental policy, climate change, Finland's foreign policy, potential NATO membership, cooperation with other Nordic countries, relations with Russia, immigration and its effects, and national and European identity. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with these statements.

The respondents were asked how likely and how desirable certain scenarios were in the EU, for instance, that the EU would disintegrate or the weakest countries would leave the eurozone. Views were probed on the impact of the single currency. One question focused on perceptions of the EU ('democratic', 'bureaucratic' etc). Opinions were charted on Finland's EU membership, transfer to the single currency and bailout policy to aid EU countries in financial difficulties. The respondents were also asked whether the euro and EMU membership benefited or harmed Finland at the time of the financial crisis and whether their attitude towards the EU membership had become more critical or favourable.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, basic and vocational education, economic activity and occupational status, industry of employment, region of residence (NUTS), type of neighbourhood, membership in a federation of trade unions, self-perceived social class, and the candidate of which party R would vote for if parliamentary elections were held at that moment.

Keywords

European Union; European economic and monetary union; European integration; NATO; defence and state security policy; economic integration; political awareness; single European currency

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Government, political systems and organisations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• International politics and organisations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish EU Attitudes 1992-2012

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Taloustutkimus

Data Producers

• Finnish Business and Policy Forum

Time Period Covered

2012

Collection Dates

2012-01-12 – 2012-01-23

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 18 - 70 living in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Mixed probability and non-probability

The original Internet panel sample of Taloustutkimus, randomly drawn from Finland's population register, consisted of people aged 15 - 79 who had entered their demographic and sociographic information when registering to the panel and had given their consent to Taloustutkimus to invite them to participate in different surveys. Answering any survey was voluntary.

The sample in this study was formed from the Internet panel of Taloustutkimus, to be representative of people aged 18 - 70 living in Finland in terms of age, gender, region of residence, education and occupation/occupational status. The sampled persons received an e-mail inviting them to participate. Two reminder e-mails were sent to non-respondents. Four days before the end of data collection, an additional sample (correcting the sample of respondents so far) was formed and e-mails sent to persons sampled at that stage. Altogether, there were 1,271 respondents.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

30

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

116 variables and 1271 cases.

Data Version

2.0

Weighting

The data contain two weights, paino_1 and paino_2. The weight variables have been calculated based on the following: gender, age, region of residence, education, occupational group and which party R would vote for if parliamentary elections were held at that point. Paino_1 calculates the population estimates based on the actual numbers and paino_2 rounds the estimates to the nearest thousand (.000). There is also a third variable paino_3 which weights the sample to the population distribution but does not give estimates.

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 Business and Policy Forum (EVA): Finnish EU Attitudes 2012 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-23). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2720

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

Haavisto, Ilkka (2012). EU vai ei? EVAn arvo- ja asennetutkimus 2012 [verkkodokumentti]. Helsinki: Taloustieto. http://www.eva.fi/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/EU-VAI-EI.pdf [viitattu 4.4.2012].