DOI: 10.3886/icpsr34082.v1
title: Eurobarometer 73.2 and 73.3: Consumer Empowerment, February-April 2010
title: Version 1

description: The Eurobarometer series is a unique cross-national and cross-temporal survey program conducted on behalf of the European Commission. These surveys regularly monitor public opinion in the European Union (EU) member countries and consist of standard modules and special topic modules. The standard modules address attitudes towards European unification, institutions and policies, measurements for general socio-political orientations, as well as respondent and household demographics. The special topic modules address such topics as agriculture, education, natural environment and resources, public health, public safety and crime, and science and technology. This round of Eurobarometer surveys covers the special topic of consumer empowerment and includes the following major areas of focus: (1) Internet use and online shopping, (2) awareness of consumer legislation, (3) consumer skills and confidence, and (4) housing conditions. Questions in this survey pertain to respondent's Internet usage in the last 3 months, goods or services purchased by post, phone, or the Internet within the last 12 months, the rights of consumers to return goods, and knowledge of organizations or authorities representing and protecting consumers. Respondents were queried on their understanding of common consumer issues including intermediate numerical skills, interpreting nutritional information, identification of the "best before" date on products, and familiarity with brand logos. Finally, information was collected on respondent's household situation, dwelling, finances, and expenses. Demographic and other background information collected includes age, gender, nationality, origin of birth (personal), marital status and parental relations, occupation and form of employment, age at completion of full-time education and level of education, household composition, ownership of a fixed or a mobile telephone and other durable goods, level in society, computer experience, and Internet use. In addition, country-specific data includes type and size of locality, region of residence, and language of interview (select countries).
description: Please review the ICPSR codebook; "Variable Documentation" section for information concerning individual weights; and the "Technical Specifications" section for general weighting information.
description: Multistage national probability samples.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: GESIS DS2: ICPSR
description: In all, Eurobarometer 73.2 and 73.3 interviewed a total of 56,471 citizens in the 27 countries of the European Union after the 2004/2007 enlargement (i.e. including the Accession Countries Romania and Bulgaria), plus European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries Iceland and Norway. All respondents were residents in the respective country, nationals and nonnationals but EU-citizens, and aged 15 and over. Respondents were expected to have sufficient command of one of the respective national language(s) to answer the questionnaire. Separate samples were drawn for Northern Ireland and East Germany. Smallest Geographic Unit: country
description: face-to-face interviewThe original data collection was carried out by TNS Opinion and Social on request of the European Commission between February 26 - March 17, 2010 and March 12 - April 1, 2010.This collection is being released in two parts: Part 1 contains the original files provided by GESIS; Part 2 contains the ICPSR-processed files.Eurobarometer 73.2 and 73.3 merges responses to identical questions on the Consumer Empowerment (QA) module plus relevant demographics from surveys 73.2 (ICPSR 29761) and 73.3 (ICPSR 30161). This data doubles standard sample sizes and covers the 27 EU member countries plus Iceland and Norway.The documentation and/or setup files may contain references to Croatia, Macedonia, Switzerland, Turkey, and the Turkish Cypriot Community, but these countries were not participants in this wave of Eurobarometer surveys. This collection contains no data for Croatia, Macedonia, Switzerland, Turkey, and the Turkish Cypriot Community.The number of interviews in the data file for Eurobarometer 73.2 and 73.3 are not consistent with the number of interviews in the "Technical Specifications" section of the ICPSR codebook.Access to GESIS data and documentation, including the GESIS DOI, for Eurobarometer 73.2 and 73.3 can be found through the GESIS Data Catalogue. Additional information on the Eurobarometer Survey Series and the Eurobarometer data can be found at the GESIS Eurobarometer Web site and ZACAT, respectively.