Aho, Pauliina
Rural Finland barometers were developed as part of the Landmarks Programme of the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra). The barometers provide information on the relationship of the Finns to the countryside as well as ideas for its future. The survey series will allow monitoring change in opinions and experiences relating to the countryside. They will also help to evaluate the impact of the programme and provide basis for discussion. There will be regular data collection during the programme (2010-2012).
The survey studied public opinion and experiences of the countryside in Finland and beliefs about the significance, development and future of rural areas. The barometer was developed for the Landmarks Programme carried out by the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra) to provide the programme with the latest information on the relationship of Finns to the countryside.
First, the respondents were asked how firmly they connected certain qualities and issues to countryside and to urban areas. Images of the countryside were charted by asking what kinds of places corresponded to their view of the countryside and which areas they saw as part of the countryside (e.g. holiday villages in rural areas, rural population centres, nature areas, rural areas dominated by agricultural areas). The experience of urban/rural identity was examined with questions on whether they thought themselves as city or rural residents and the importance of this identity to Finns in general. The respondents were asked in what kind of a neighbourhood their homes, holiday homes and workplaces were located and in what kind of a neighbourhood they preferred to live.
The respondents were also asked about their habits of spending time in different neighbourhoods during their working time, weekends and holidays. Views were probed on the intentions to move to a more urban or rural setting within the following ten years. Reasons for the importance of different places (e.g. friends in other regions, spending holidays) were studied. Opinions were surveyed on how important various issues were for the respondents to feel that their life is good (for instance, feeling safe, sufficient income, self-fulfilment, control over their own life, ability to enjoy nature, meaningful job, stress-free pace of life) and how satisfied they were with the state of these things in their own life at the time of the survey.
The respondents were presented with a number of statements relating to the countryside, its image and future development and significance. Some questions covered what the respondents would like the countryside to be like in 2025, what countryside meant to them at the time of the survey and what they believed it would mean to them in ten years' time. Further questions explored the respondents' beliefs about whether the significance of rural areas would grow or diminish in Finland. Opinions on rural economics were examined.
Background variables included the respondent's year of birth, gender, region of residence (NUTS3), education, occupational status, household composition, number and age of children living at home, annual gross income of the household and municipality type.
The members of the Taloustutkimus Internet panel have been recruited in connection with omnibus studies or through telephone or mail campaigns based on random sampling. The sample is respresentative of the Finnish population aged 15-79 (excluding the Åland Islands) and is invitation-based, as it is not possible to participate in the panel on a volunteer basis.