DOI: 10.3886/icpsr25342.v1
title: Soft Power in Asia Survey, 2008
title: Version 1

description: This multicountry public opinion survey, conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in collaboration with the East Asia Institute (South Korea), examines the current and potential use of soft power in East Asia. This survey aimed to refine the concept of soft power, operationalize it into a measurable scientific variable, and contribute to the building of a database on soft power in Asia. For this survey, respondents were asked to examine topics such as the attractiveness of different national cultures and values, the effectiveness of nations as regional leaders and problem-solvers, the affinity of nations as trade partners, levels of human capital, attractiveness of educational institutions, and the emergence of regional identities. Participants also gave their opinions about the growing economic and political integration in East Asia and the impact this has on underlying regional tensions, including how likely there would be a military conflict in East Asia in the next ten years. Similarly, respondents answered queries regarding the economic, military, and political influence of China, Japan, and the United States in Southeast Asia, China and the United States as military threats to each other, China's rise as a leader in Asia, and the military presence of the United States in Asia. Further questions asked about the creation of a free trade area in China, Japan and South Korea, trade and investment among these nations, preferred economic systems, countries' willingness to promote democracy and human rights internationally, the use of diplomacy, and the respect for rule of law and sovereignty of other nations. Finally, participants gave their views on the leadership of international organizations, and the influence of one country's popular culture on another.
description: Please review the ICPSR codebook for information in regard to weighting for the following countries: China, Indonesia, South Korea, United States, and Vietnam.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: United States Data File 
 DS2: China Data File 
 DS3: Japan Data File 
 DS4: South Korea Data File 
 DS5: Indonesia Data File 
 DS6: Vietnam Data File
description: face-to-face interview, telephone interview, web-based survey 
There are variable names, variable and value labels, and codes in the data that do not fully correspond with the data collection instrument. For example, in the China data file, the demographic variables are present in the data; however, the question numbers and question text associated with each of these variables do not appear in the data collection instrument.
The dates in the data file for the United States and Vietnam are not consistent with the dates in "Appendix C: Methodology" section of the "Soft Power in Asia: Results of a 2008 Multinational Survey of Public Opinion" document in the ICPSR codebook.
description: Persons aged 18 years and older in China, Indonesia, Japan, the United States, and urban Vietnam; persons aged 19 years and older in South Korea.
description: Please review the ICPSR codebook for information in regard to sampling.