Methodology

The results presented in the Atlas of Social Attitudes are estimates based on national survey samples designed to represent the population living in each country at the time of the survey. In general, the surveys cover people living in private households: those aged 15 and over in the European Social Survey and adults aged 18 and over in the European Values Study.

These results are based on samples rather than entire populations; they are therefore subject to sampling uncertainty. Therefore, caution is needed to interpret small differences between countries, groups or moments in time.

Survey mode varies by project, country, and wave. The European Social Survey has traditionally relied on face-to-face interviewing, although it has now started the transition towards a self-completion design using web and paper questionnaires. The European Values Study has also traditionally used face-to-face interviews, while introducing mixed-mode data collection in its 2017 wave.

Therefore, all comparisons should be understood as comparisons between harmonised survey estimates, not as if all observations were collected under rigorously identical conditions. Differences between countries or over time may reflect real differences in attitudes and behaviour, but part of them may reflect differences in sampling design, response rates, fieldwork dates, question wording, translation, survey mode, and other aspects of implementation, not to mention the already mentioned sampling uncertainty. Whenever more detailed methodological information is needed, users should consult the original documentation provided by each survey programme.

The results presented in this platform are obtained directly from survey micro-data, that is, individual respondent-level data made available by the websites and data archives of the relevant cross-national projects. Aggregate results are calculated as either proportions or averages for each country sample, depending on the indicator. Proportions report the share of responses in a given category or set of categories. Averages report the mean value of valid responses on the relevant scale.

For visualization purposes, results for each country and survey round/wave are assigned to the year corresponding to the midpoint of the fieldwork period. In the map, "beeswarm," and detailed results views, the most recent available results for each country and survey project are shown, within a maximum window of six years. In the development-over-time views, all available data points for each country are shown.

The Atlas focuses on countries with sufficiently extensive participation in the European Social Survey and European Values Study to support meaningful comparisons both across countries and over time. Countries are therefore included on the basis of the availability and continuity of comparable survey data. This avoids presenting countries for which the available evidence consists only of isolated or very short series. The countries included are those represented in both the ESS and EVS, with data from at least two EVS waves and either six or more ESS rounds or complete coverage across the four EVS waves used here.

Whenever appropriate, results are weighted using the weights provided by each survey programme. In the case of the European Social Survey, the post-stratification weight was used (more details can be obtained here). In the case of the European Values Study, results are weighted using the country-level weights supplied in the dataset, where available (weight availability here).

The aggregated country-level results for each indicator presented in the Atlas of Social Attitudes, including breakdowns by sociodemographic variables, are available for download as CSV files on the respective indicator page. The individual-level data can be accessed through the data sources listed below.