Social innovation
Opinion palls, Japanese society, Social change

Continuous practice and mode transformationof nation-wide time series social surveys
Graduate School of Human Sciences
Professor Toru Kikkawa
https://researchmap.jp/read0185055?lang=en

Abstract
In our research, we have been conducting a large-scale social
survey to accurately grasp the state of social inequality and social psychology in relation and comparing the results across time
points. We have pursued various trial surveys and large-scale
surveys, aiming to seamlessly transfer ongoing surveys that havebeen conducted in the analog modems to web-based collection.
This research project is known as the SSP (Stratification and SocialPsychology) Project.

▍In addition, we have clarified the changes in Japanese society
from the 1980s to the 2020s through an timeseries comparative
analysis, and discussed how the changes in social structure during
the post-industrial period have changed people’s social consciousness.

Positivity toward social life:
age 25-40

Non-graduate maleelection voting

Background & Results

Usually, web-based surveys use a non-probability sampling
method to obtain responses from a panel of spontaneously registered monitors. However, since it is essential to obtain responses
from randomly selected respondents from administrative lists inorder to continue existing surveys, it is necessary to establish amethod of web-based survey for non-spontaneous targets, andto confirm the comparability in terms of data quality. We carefully
bridged the gap between survey methods and established a method to conduct a web-based survey. This has enabled us to gain an
unbroken picture of trends in public opinion and social consciousness in Japanese society, as well as changes in the structure ofsocial stratification since the 20th century. The shift to this method
is expected to lead to the generalization of web mode not only foracademic social surveys, but also for official government surveys,
market surveys, and public opinion polls.

freedom of life
choice45.7

48.9

private support

47.6

48.1

choiceprivate support

47.9

acuisition

freedom of life
choice50.3

52.4

acuisition

49.3

luxuary consumption

48.3
Graduate female

election voting
49.4

social activity

choice

50.0
51.5

50.8

54.5

luxuary consumption
information

47.9

acuisition

freedom of life

52.9

50.0

private support

48.1

informationelection voting
49.6

social activity

49.1

51.2

luxuary
consumption

information
Graduate male

freedom of lifesocial activity

47.6
49.5

Non-graduate female
election voting

50.8

51.4

private support
51.7

informationsocial activity

luxuary
consumption

51.6

acuisition

Social innovation▍ Significance of the research and Future perspective
Japanese social surveys have maintained a high international
standard in terms of (1) rigorous survey participant design, (2) development and continuation of functional question items, (3) survey
modes that yield accurate responses, and (4) continuity of timeseries data. Over 60 years of continuous use of the method by governments, public interest groups, news organizations, and others
has resulted in the accumulation of survey data at multiple points intime for a wide range of generations.
The current challenge is to establish a method to obtain accurate
survey responses from a new generation of people and to ensuresocial research sustainable. To achieve this goal, it is necessary toshift from paper-and-pencil mode survey questionnaires to electronic media surveys in a manner that does not compromise comparability.
Our research group conducted a survey using tablet PCs in 2015
and confirmed that response collection using electronic devices
has comparability with traditional questionnaire surveys. Buildingon this, in 2022, we conducted the SSP2022 survey, the first random sampling national survey to use a push-to-web mode as its
collection method. Analysis of the survey data has paved the way
for shifting the mode of survey with intertemporal comparability
from questionnaires to web-based responses.

P a t e n t
Kikkawa, Toru. Gap in attitudes toward higher education between graduates and non-graduates: Growing educational disparity in younger cohorts. In:Shirahase, S. (eds). Social Stratification in an Aging Society with Low Fertility. 2022, Springer, Singapore.
doi: 10.1007/978-981-19-3647-0_7
Tr e a t i s e
Hommerich, Carola; Sudo, Naoki; Kikkawa, Toru (eds). Social Change in Japan, 1989-2019: Social Status, Social Consciousness, Attitudes and Values,
2021, Routledge.
Kikkawa, Toru, Social division in Japan: Neglected presence of lightly educated guys, Kobunsha, 2018 (in Japanese)
URL https://ssp.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/
K e y w o r d social inequality, web survey, opinion