DOI: 10.3886/icpsr28181.v2
title: Eurobarometer 71.1: European Parliament and Elections, Economic Crisis, Climate Change, and Chemical Products, January-February 2009
title: Version 2

description: This round of Eurobarometer surveys queried respondents on standard Eurobarometer measures, such as whether they discussed political matters, how satisfied they were with their present life, and their view on the current economic and/or employment situation in their household and country, in the European Union (EU), and in the world. Additionally, respondents were asked what expectations they had for the next 12 months, and what important issues were being faced personally and in their country. Additional questions focused on the respondents' opinions on the EU, including whether their country had benefited from being an EU member, as well as the overall direction of their country, the EU, and the United States, and their trust in certain institutions. The survey queried respondents on their personal financial situations, their views of the lives of children today, views of being socially excluded or becoming homeless, and their trust in the information media. Finally, respondents were asked about their voting behavior in the last parliamentary election in their country and their political party attachment. A second major focus of the surveys was the European Parliament and elections. Respondents were asked about their knowledge and impression of the European Parliament, and their opinions on its role, its policies, and its values. In addition, respondents identified the date of the next European elections, their interest and the likelihood of voting in the June 2009 elections, their decision-making criteria when choosing a candidate, their reasons for not voting in the elections, and the main themes on which the campaign for the next elections should concentrate. A third major focus was the economic crisis. The survey queried respondents about the present and future repercussions of the economic crisis, which type of government or other entity is most capable of dealing most effectively with the crisis, the role of the EU and member states in the crisis, whether the adoption or non-adoption of the euro positively or negatively affected the economy of their country, and their opinion of the policies aimed at alleviating the crisis. A fourth major focus was climate change. Respondents indicated their views on how climate change ranked in importance among the world's problems, the seriousness of climate change, and how well-informed they felt about this matter. In addition, respondents were asked about their knowledge of climate change, and the actions aimed to fight it. A fifth and final major focus was chemical products. The survey asked respondents to identify which consumer products contain chemicals that pose a risk to the user, the extent of risk and worry in using certain products, and who they trusted for protection against health and environmental hazards. In addition, respondents were queried on their knowledge of chemical substance exposure, which information sources they preferred and trusted for safety and safe use information about chemical products, the labeling of chemical substances in consumer products, and whether the producer of a chemical product should be held legally responsible for any harm caused by it. Respondents were also asked about reading product instructions, product usage of sunscreen and hair dyes, and the potential health risks and effects of certain chemical substances. Demographic and other background information includes age, gender, nationality, origin of birth (personal and parental), marital status, age when stopped full-time education, occupation, left-right political self-placement, household composition, ownership of a fixed or mobile telephone and other durable goods, type and size of locality, region of residence, and language of interview (select countries).
description: For each country a comparison between the sample and the universe was carried out. The Universe description was derived from Eurostat population data or from national statistics offices. For all countries surveyed, a national weighting procedure, using marginal and intercellular weighting, was carried out based on this Universe description. In all countries, gender, age, region and size of locality were introduced in the iteration procedure. For international weighting (i.e. EU averages), TNS Opinion and Social applies the official population figures as provided by EUROSTAT or national statistic offices. Please refer to the GESIS Documentation and Technical Specifications within the ICPSR Codebook for additional weighting information.
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: GESIS 
 DS2: ICPSR
description: Eurobarometer Survey Series
description: face-to-face interview 
The original data collection was carried out by TNS Opinion and Social on request of the European Commission between January 16 and February 21, 2009.
This collection is being released in two parts: Part 1 contains the original files provided by GESIS; Part 2 contains the ICPSR-processed files.
The codebook and setup files for this collection contain characters with diacritical marks used in many European languages.
The documentation and/or setup files may contain references to Norway, however Norway was not a participant in this wave of Eurobarometer surveys. This collection contains no data for Norway.
A split ballot was used for one or more questions in this survey. The variable V768 defines the separate groups.
The fieldwork dates in the data file for Belgium and Croatia are not consistent with the fieldwork dates in the "Technical Specifications" section of the ICPSR codebook. Also, the data indicate that all surveys were completed by February 21, 2009.
description: Citizens of the EU aged 15 and over residing in the 27 EU member countries: Austria, Belgium, Republic of Cyprus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and the national population of citizens and the population of citizens of all the EU member countries aged 15 and over residing in the three EU candidate countries: Croatia, Turkey, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and in the Turkish Cypriot Community. Smallest Geographic Unit: country
description: The basic sample design applied in all states is a multi-stage, random (probability) one. In each country, a number of sampling points were drawn with the probability proportional to population size (for a total coverage of the country) and to population density. In order to do so, the sampling points were drawn systematically from each of the "administrative regional units", after stratification by individual unit and type of area. They thus represent the whole territory of the countries surveyed according to the EUROSTAT NUTS II (or equivalent) and according to the distribution of the resident population of the respective nationalities in terms of metropolitan, urban and rural areas. In each of the selected sampling points, a starting address was drawn, at random (following the "closest birthday rule"). All interviews were conducted face-to-face in the people's homes and in the appropriate national language. As far as the data capture is concerned, CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) was used in those countries where this technique was available. Please refer to the GESIS Documentation and Technical Specifications within the ICPSR Codebook for additional sampling information.