DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37137.v2
title: Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation (PIDOP) in nine European Countries, 2009-2012
title: Version 2

description: PIDOP, Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation, was a multinational research project that was funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme. The project examined the processes which influence democratic ownership and participation in nine European countries - Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Italy, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey. The project drew on the disciplines of Psychology, Politics, Sociology, Social Policy and Education to examine macro-level contextual factors (including historical, political, electoral, economic and policy factors), proximal social factors (including familial, educational and media factors) and psychological factors (including motivational, cognitive, attitudinal and identity factors) which facilitated and/or inhibited civic and political engagement and participation.
The project had a distinct focus on the psychology of the individual citizen and the psychological processes through which macro-level contextual factors and proximal social factors exert their effects upon citizens' civic and political engagement and participation. Young people, women, minorities and migrants were examined as four specific groups at risk of political disengagement. The research explored the differences as well as the overlap between civic and political engagement, and both direct and representative participation. The data were collected in three phases: Phase 1 (Focus Groups), Phase 2 (Individual Interviews), and Phase 3 (Quantitative Survey). Qualitative focus group and interview data are not included as part of this data collection at this time. Data included as part of this collection includes one dataset with 8197 cases for 198 variables. Demographic variables include: age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, education-level, occupation, marital status, children, income, and political ideology.
description: The project had a distinct focus on the psychology of the individual citizen and the psychological processes through which macro-level contextual factors and proximal social factors exerted their effects upon citizens' civic and political engagement and participation. Young people, women, minorities and migrants were examined as four specific groups at risk of political disengagement. The research explored the differences as well as the overlap between civic and political engagement, and both direct and representative participation. Particular attention was paid to relevant phenomena at local, national and EU (European Union) levels. Stakeholders at all three levels were involved in the work to ensure that the research addressed issues of concern to them and to ensure that the policy implications and recommendations which emerged from the research were relevant to their needs.
The overall aim of the survey used to collect quantitative data from the nine participating countries (England, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, and Northern Ireland) was to examine the political and civic engagement among members of different age, gender, minority and migrant groups within each participating country, and to examine differences in the factors and processes related to engagement in these different groups.
description: The work undertaken in the Process Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation (PIDOP) project was broken up into a series of discrete work packages (WP's). There were six research WP's (WP2-WP7), and two project management work packages (WP1 and WP8):

<strong>WP1:</strong> Consortium management and coordination activities
<strong>WP2:</strong> Collation and analysis of current policies on participation
<strong>WP3:</strong> Development of political theories of participation
<strong>WP4:</strong> Development of psychological theories of participation
<strong>WP5:</strong> Modeling existing survey data on political and civic participation
<strong>WP6:</strong> Collection and analysis of new data on political and civic participation (Survey)
<strong>WP7:</strong> Theoretical integration and the development of recommendations for policy and practice
<strong>WP8:</strong> Dissemination activities
In the survey, each of the nine national teams (England, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, and Northern Ireland) that participated in the project collected data from the national majority group and two ethnic minority or migrant groups living within their country. The national and ethnic groups studied within each country were as follows:

<strong>England:</strong> English, Bangladeshis, Congolese
<strong>Belgium:</strong> French-speaking Belgians, Moroccans, Turks
<strong>Czech Republic:</strong> Czechs, Roma, Ukrainians
<strong>Germany:</strong> Germans, Turks, German resettlers from Russia
<strong>Italy:</strong> Italians, Albanians, Moroccans
<strong>Portugal:</strong> Portuguese, Brazilians, Angolans
<strong>Sweden:</strong> Swedes, Kurds of Turkish background, Iraqis
<strong>Turkey:</strong> Turks, Roma, Turkish resettlers from Bulgaria
<strong>Northern Ireland:</strong> Northern Irish, Chinese, Poles
The data were collected in three phases within Work Package 6. Phase 1 (Focus Groups) were conducted with 16- to 26-year-olds from all 27 national and ethnic groups. Phase 2 (Individual Interviews) were conducted with some of the individuals who had been identified during the focus groups as important sources of influence on the focus group participants. Phase 3 (Quantitative Survey) was administered to 16- to 26-year-olds in the nine countries, with data being collected from individuals drawn from all 27 national majority and ethnic minority/migrant groups.
description: The variables that were measured in the survey included the respondents' levels of civic and political participation and the perceived quality of their participation experiences, political interest, political attentiveness, political knowledge, internal and external efficacy, trust in institutions and in government, motivations and emotions regarding participation, perceived barriers to participation, perceived social norms, social well-being and interpersonal trust, sense of community, strength of national, ethnic and religious identifications, religiosity, and support for minority rights. In addition, detailed demographic information about each participant was collected.
description: Presence of Common Scales: After the main data-collection with full samples had taken place, it was discovered that not all scales had functioned equivalently with all national and ethnic groups in all locations. For this reason, each research team derived their own scale scores based on the psychometric analysis of their own datasets. The questionnaire predominantly used several Likert-type scales.
description: In the survey sample as a whole, data were collected from 8,197 participants. They were aged between 11 and 30 years old; however, precise age data are missing for 170 participants (2.1 percent of the sample), 146 of these being in the Northern Ireland sub-sample. Data were collected from both males (47.8 percent) and females (51.7 percent)(0.5 percent missing data). The bulk of the data (94 percent) came from 16- to 26-year-olds, this being the intended age range for the survey.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: PIDOP Survey Dataset
description: 16- to 17-year-olds and 18- to 26-year-olds from the local national group, as well as two ethnic minority or migrant groups, living in each participating country during 2009-2012. Smallest Geographic Unit: Country
description: face-to-face interview; on-site questionnaire; web-based surveyFor more detailed information about the Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation (PIDOP) project, please visit the PIDOP website.