The survey studied municipal (local) environmental administration, the role played by the elected officials and co-operation between different bodies in the management of environmental functions in municipalities. The main themes were the functioning of municipal environmental administration, its efficiency, state of the environment and environmental problems occurring in municipalities.

First topics dealt with the basic organisation of the municipal environmental functions: does the municipality manage them on its own or in co-operation with other municipalities. Respondents were asked to which extent their job includes environmental functions and how the municipality's environmental administration and the overall administration was organised. The role of the elected officials was surveyed by asking which committee or other elected body manages the environmental issues and whether the respondent acts as a presenter of environmental issues in any committee. The interaction of environmental administration was examined by asking how often respondents are in contact with other persons, groups or bodies, which factors hinder communication and who normally initiates the contact. Environmental conservation's efficiency and functioning was studied by asking whether certain aspects of the municipal environment (e.g. hazardous waste disposal systems) have improved in the last five years, what was the role of the environmental administration in it and how big an effort the municipality has made to improve the environment. Respondents were asked to evaluate the overall state of their municipality's environment, whether certain environmental problems occur in their municipality, how serious they are and whether they have been monitored (e.g. state of the soil and ground water, air pollution and noise level). Respondents were also asked to name five serious environmental conflicts which have occurred in the last five years in their municipality and which parties were involved. Respondents' environmental attitudes and behaviour and the characteristics of their job were also surveyed.

Background variables included the name of the municipality, respondent's age, sex and education, length of working experience in environmental management, length of other working experience, political inclinations and membership in organisations.