Information Behaviour on the War in Ukraine (June 2022)

The study on information behavior regarding the war in Ukraine was conducted by Info Markt- und Meinungsforschung, Berlin on behalf of the Federal Press Office of the German government. During the survey period from June 1, 2022, to June 16, 2022, the German-speaking population aged 18 and over was asked about the following topics in online interviews (CAWI) and telephone interviews (CATI) (mixed-mode design): attitudes towards the war in Ukraine and its effects on Germany, information behavior and the way people deal with the war in Ukraine and its effects on Germany; information behavior and handling of the Ukraine war and its effects, media use for information about the Ukraine war and its effects on Germany, credibility of information and misinformation, perception of information from the German government about the effects of the Ukraine war on Germany, attitudes towards handling the Ukraine war and possible risks, and general attitudes toward politics. Respondents were selected for the online interviews (CAWI) by a multistage random sample from an actively recruited online access panel and for the telephone interviews (CATI) from an ADM selection frame including landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample).<br>Interest in politics; self-assessment of being informed about political issues; agreement with various statements regarding disenchantment with politics (all in all, I am satisfied with politics in Germany, parties only want voters´ votes, they are not interested in their views, people like me have no influence on our country´s politics anyway, politicians care about the well-being of our country, politics is so complicated that you don´t even understand what´s going on, politics takes care of the issues that are important for our country); currently particularly interesting topic (open); currently particularly annoying topic (open); opinion on the war in Ukraine (split 1) or on the effects of the war in Ukraine on Germany (split 2); self-assessment of being informed about the war in Ukraine (split 1) or about the effects of the war in Ukraine on Germany (split 2); personal dealing with the war in Ukraine (split 1) or with the effects of the war in Ukraine on Germany (split 2) (searched for information on the topic oneself, talked to friends or acquaintances about the topic, tried to change the topic when talking about the topic, avoided the topic as much as possible, argued with others about the topic); actively sought information on the following aspects of the war in Ukraine and its effects on Germany (what sanctions the federal government is imposing on Russia, how the federal government is supporting Ukraine, how the federal government is managing the refugee situation in Germany, how the federal government is ensuring the supply of electricity and food in Germany, how the federal government is preparing for possible catastrophic events, e.g. war, how to behave oneself in disaster situations); frequency of use of different news media for information on the war in Ukraine and its effects on Germany; social networks used for information on the aforementioned topic; activities in social networks in the last week (read news on the war in Ukraine or its effects on Germany, reacted to news on the topic, forwarded/ shared news on the topic, posted news on the topic oneself, wrote news on the topic to individuals oneself); estimated amount of misinformation currently in the different media on the war in Ukraine; Self-assessment of the ability to recognize misinformation in general; criteria for the credibility of a piece of information (e.g. dissemination of a piece of information in news broadcasts of German public media, dissemination of a piece of information by German government agencies or institutions, etc.); desire for more information to recognize misinformation; bodies from which more information to recognize misinformation is desired (media, federal government, universities, bloggers dealing with it); perception of information provided by the federal government on the impact of the war in Ukraine on Germany on the following channels: Federal government websites, on the federal government´s social media pages, during interviews of government politicians on television, in newspapers, and on the Internet; satisfaction with the way the federal government provides information about the impact of the war in Ukraine on Germany; reasons for dissatisfaction with the information provided by the federal government on this topic (open); agreement with various statements on the war in Ukraine and the impact on Germany (Germany should supply further heavy weapons to Ukraine, Germany should immediately stop natural gas imports from Russia, there is hardly any reliable information on the course of the war, German media report one-sidedly on the war in Ukraine, German media report one-sidedly on Russia and its motivation to attack Ukraine); assessment of the risk potential with regard to: Russia´s attacks on other states, NATO´s active military intervention in the war against Russia, Germany being drawn into a war against Russia).

Demography: age (year of birth); sex; education: highest school degree; highest vocational training degree; occupation; household size; number of persons in household under 16; party sympathies; current/former non-German citizenship of respondent or his/her parents (migration background); net household income.

Additionally coded: Respondent ID; weight; split; coarse clustering of politically disaffected/not politically disaffected; average age and age groups; average household size; average number of persons in household under 16; federal state; former affiliation of residential district with East or West Berlin; place of residence (West/East); Nielsen areas; city size.