Reader's Digest Eurodata 1990 (A Consumer Survey of 17 European Countries)

Household furnishings, consumer habits and leisure time, moral
orientations and general attitudes to the EC.

Topics: 1. Questions of consumption and furnishing: assessment of the
economic situation in the last 5 years; classification of the standard
of living in one´s nation, compared with other countries (split);
detailed recording of type and age of durable economic goods;
residential furnishings; having a yard; furnished with leisure devices,
radio equipment, computers, telephones, typewriters and cameras; camera
type and film use in the last year; number of color televisions or
black-and-white television sets in household; age and features of
device with remote control, cable or satellite conection; video
recorder use.

2. Questions on car: possession of a private car or company car; car
possession, organized according to number, brand, model, car form,
displacement and year of manufacture; new purchase or used car
purchase; car equipped with car radio, CD player, tape recorder and car
telephone; kilometers driven annually; type of fuel used; possession of
drivers license; use and possession of bicycle, moped, motor-assisted
bicycle, scooter or motorcycle.

3. Recording of drinking habits with soft drinks, non-alcoholic beer,
beer containing alcohol, wine and schnapps.

4. Attitude to the EC: knowledge about the member countries of the EC;
countries that should be invited to join the EC; knowledge about
membership of one´s own country in the EC and effects of this
membership on personal standard of living as well as on the future of
Europe; judgement on the EC domestic market; most important goals of a
European Community and attitude to reduction of barriers to mobility in
the EC; common fight against crime as well as economic and currency
union as a goal in Europe (split: exchange of the two questions);
general attitude to unification of the Western European countries and
attitude to unification of the two German nations.

5. Moral orientations: social and ethnic tolerance (scale); general
attitude to young people and older people; trust in selected
institutions such as church, military, legal system, media, advertising
industry, trade unions, the police, parliament, European Parliament,
community service, local government, international companies, social
insurance, European Community; attitude to the welfare state; attitude
to abortion; attitude to foreign workers; work orientation; career
orientation; attitude to marriage and family; women and occupation;
general contentment with life; attitude to religion and communism.

6. Leisure time and further education: do-it-yourself jobs done by
members of household; athletic activity; paying attention to health and
fitness; drinking low-calorie and non-alcoholic beverages; vegetarian;
smoker; knowledge of foreign languages; languages spoken in household;
attitude to protection of nature, environmental protection, human
rights organizations, nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons as well
as increased women´s rights; television habits and reading habits with
magazines; entire reading time per week; number of books read and
bought in the last year; price of the most expensive book purchased in
the last year; preferred book genre; book purchase via mail-order;
customer with Reader´s Digest; purchase of selected luxury goods.

7. Vacation behavior: vacation stay abroad as well as in one´s
country; package tours; type of vacation and means of transport;
vacation countries visited in the last three years; travel frequency;
business trips of a member of household.

8. Miscellaneous: wearing contact lenses or glasses; responsibility
for obtaining food in household; nutrition and semi-luxury foods used,
tobacco and alcohol in household; frequency of consumption of
ready-to-serve meals; use of dish-washing liquids and household
cleansers or cleaning products; use of plastic wraps and paper towels
in household; use of group washing machines or use of a laundry as well
as personal washing machine; pet possession and purchase of animal
feeds; church attendance on Christmas Day.

9. Finances: possession of bank account, check book, EC-cards and
credit card; type of insurance policies; forms of assets.

10. Background variables: time worked each week; college degree;
number of marriages; age at conclusion of education; sex and age
structure of members of household; students in household; frequency of
visit of mother; parents living together at time of youth (16 years) of
respondent; number of children and ideal number of children;
residential status; floor of residence; age of building; length of
residence; number of rooms; number of toilets in residence; possession
of second home; satisfaction with income; dividends and participation
in company success in salary; Reader´s Digest subscriber.

The following question was posed to women: use of toiletries and
cosmetics.

The following question was posed to men: use of washing and shaving
utensils.

Interviewer rating: degree of urbanization; day of interview;
possession of a telephone; distance to next large city; city size.