FSD2269 Finnish National Election Study 2007
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Paloheimo, Heikki (University of Tampere. Department of Political Science and International Relations)
Other Identification/Acknowlegements
The members of the Political Participation and Modes of Democracy: Finland in a Comparative Perspective research group: Åsa Bengtsson (Åbo Akademi University), Sami Borg (Finnish Social Science Data Archive), Kimmo Grönlund (Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa), Lauri Karvonen (Åbo Akademi University), Mikko Mattila (University of Helsinki), Tom Moring (University of Helsinki), Kim Strandberg (Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa), Jan Sundberg (University of Helsinki), Hanna Wass (University of Helsinki) and Tuomo Turja (Taloustutkimus) and Risto Sänkiaho (University of Tampere).
Abstract
The survey consists of two parts which were collected after the 2007 parliamentary elections in Finland with the help of face-to-face interviews and a supplementary, self-administered questionnaire. Swedish-speaking population is over-represented in the data. The interview data form Finland's contribution to the international Comparative Study of Electoral Systems program (CSES).
The respondents were asked about their interest in politics and how much they had followed the elections in different media. Their views were canvassed on which group they primarily identified with, self-perceived social status, how stable their party preference was, and what they would be willing to do in order to promote the issues they considered important. Views on voting, participating in parliamentary elections, politics, politicians, and various institutions were queried with the help of attitudinal statements. The respondents were also asked questions about the Internet and the ways of using it as a means of political participation.
Next, the respondents were asked whether they had held any municipal elected offices, and whether they were members of any political party. They were also asked to name objectives which the recently elected members of parliament in their constituency should focus on, and also to name the most important issues debated during the past parliamentary elections as well as the most severe social problems in Finland. The respondents were asked whether they thought voting makes any difference, and whether it makes any difference who is in power. They were also asked to assess the performance of the previous government led by Matti Vanhanen. In addition, the respondents were asked to place various political parties as well as Matti Vanhanen, Eero Heinäluoma, Jyrki Katainen, and themselves on the left-right axis. Some questions focused on how the parties had distinguished themselves from each other during the elections, to what extent the respondents had followed election campaigning, and how well democracy worked in Finland.
In addition, the respondents were asked whether they had voted in the 2007 parliamentary elections, which party they had voted or would have voted for, and whether there was a party in the past elections they would have never considered voting for. If the respondents had not voted, they were asked about their reasons for abstaining from voting. Those who had cast a vote were asked what their voting decision was based on, whether they had voted for a candidate of their own gender, how old their candidate was, and whether they had voted in the 2003 parliamentary elections. Finally, the respondents were presented with some questions measuring their knowledge of political issues.
The supplementary, self-administered questionnaire charted the importance of issues and objectives debated during the elections for the respondents. The respondents were also presented with a set of attitudinal statements on redundancies, growing income disparity, and building a sixth nuclear power plant in Finland. In addition, they were asked about different sources where they had received information relevant to their voting decision, and presented with general questions and statements pertaining to voting, Finland's international relations and politics. Membership in various groups was canvassed, as well as how often the respondents discussed political issues with other people and what they would think if it were possible to vote online on the issues debated in the Parliament. The respondents expressed their views on the significance of party leaders for party support, whether there should be more freedom of choice in the public sector, whether there should be more social reforms, and whether the state of affairs was better at the time of the interview than two years before. Finally, views on the future and satisfaction with financial situation and life in general were probed.
Variables beginning with 'k' denote the national election study variables, 'q' denotes CSES variables, 'p' denotes variables from the self-administered questionnaire, 'a' denotes CSES administrative variables, and 'd' denotes background variables.
Background variables included the respondent's year of birth, gender, education, marital status, trade union membership, economic activity, occupational status, annual household income, religiosity, mother tongue, place of residence, type of accommodation, and constituency.
Keywords
constituencies; elections; internet; objectives; parliamentary candidates; parliamentary elections; political attitudes; political participation; political support; voting
Topic Classification
political studies (FSD Topics Classification)
elections; mass political behaviour, attitudes/opinion (CESSDA Topics Classification)
Series Name
Finnish National Election Studies
Restrictions
Access to the data granted for scientific and teaching purposes. FSD's access application procedure.
Data Collector
Taloustutkimus
Data Producer
Academy of Finland
Finnish Social Science Data Archive (CSES Module)
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Education. Advisory Council for Youth Affairs (Nuora) (the interviews of the young people)
The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (the interviews of the Swedish-speaking people)
Collection Date
Face-to-face interviews for the Finnish-speaking respondents were conducted 20 March - 23 April 2007 and for the Swedish-speaking respondents 1 April - 20 May 2007. The drop-off questionnaires were returned before 22 May 2007.
Nation
Finland
Geographical Coverage
Finland
Analysis Unit
Individual
Universe
Finnish people entitled to vote in the 2007 parliamentary elections (excluding the Åland Islands)
Sampling Procedure
For the interviews of the Finnish-speaking respondents, the sample was drawn with the help of quota sampling, in which the quotas were based on age, gender and province of residence of the respondents. The interviews were conducted by using the starting point method. The first interview was conducted in a randomly selected starting point, after which the interviewer proceeded to the next four households. In the interviews of the Swedish-speaking respondents, the quotas were not based on province; instead, they were based on constituency, because the interviews were only conducted in the constituencies where the number of Swedish-speaking people entitled to vote was significant (the consituencies of Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland Proper, and Vaasa). In these constituencies, the interviews were further limited to the municipalities where the proportion of Swedish-speaking residents was significant. The selection was based on the information about the percentage of Swedish-speaking residents in Finnish municipalities, drawn from the Finlandssvenskarna 2002 report compiled by The Swedish Assembly of Finland (Folktinget). The quotas used in the interviews of the Swedish-speaking respondents were formed by ordering a random sample from the Finnish Population Register Centre. The size of the sample was ten times greater than the desired number of responses, and it contained altogether 3,000 names of Swedish-speaking people entitled to vote and living in the municipalities selected for the sample. The quotas in this sample were based on age, gender and constituency-specific population distribution.
Collection Mode
Face-to-face interview and questionnaire survey conducted with the help of supplementary, self-administered questionnaires left to be completed by the interviewees
Research Instrument
Structured questionnaire
Time Method
Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section
Collection Size
Data: SPSS portable file. Data available also in other file formats.
Number of cases and variables
1422 cases and 400 variables
Data version
1.1 (5.1.2012)
Other Material
See downloadable files at the top of the page
The website of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) research project
Questionnaires: face-to-face interview questionnaires and drop-off questionnaires as pdf files in Finnish and Swedish
Related Studies
FSD2263
Citation Requirement
The source must be acknowledged in any publication based wholly or in part on the data. The bibliographic citation may be in the form required by the publication, or in the form suggested by the archive.
Bibliographical Citation
Paloheimo, Heikki: Finnish National Election Study 2007 [computer file]. FSD2269, version 1.1 (2012-01-05). Helsinki: Taloustutkimus [data collection], 2007. The Political Participation and Modes of Democracy: Finland in a Comparative Perspective research group [producer]. Tampere: Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor], 2012.
Depositing Requirements
The archive must be informed of all publications where the data have been used.
Disclaimer
The depositor and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the secondary use of the data.
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