Eurobarometer 56.0 (Aug-Sept 2001)

This round of Eurobarometer surveys diverged from standard trendquestions, instead focusing on information and communicationtechnologies, financial services, and cultural activities. Respondentswere questioned about how important it was to use a computer in theirdaily lives, whether and where they used a computer, for which uses acomputer or the Internet was important, and which other communicationproducts they used, such as cable TV and mobile phones. They were askedwhat type of computer training they had received, whether they workedremotely (telecommuted), whether communication technologies had beenintroduced at their workplace, if so, what the outcome had been, andhow using a computer, e-mail, or the Internet had changed the way theyworked. Respondents were further queried on financial services,governmental legislation of financial services, whether consumerprotection standards should be harmonized within the European Union(EU), and what obstacles were preventing consumers from using financialservices in the EU. They were asked about their preferred method ofpaying for significant purchases and the reasons for that preference,whether they used cards with a confidential code, and the types offinancial accounts or loans they had. A final section focused oncultural activities and asked respondents which type of televisionprograms they watched, whether they watched videos or DVDs, listened tothe radio, or owned a computer, how often they used the Internet andfor what purpose, how many books they had read in the past year,whether they read newspapers or magazines, and what types of music theylistened to. They were asked to describe cultural activities theyengaged in, types of media they had access to at home (such as atelevision set, records, CDs, video game player, books), and how manytelevision sets, encyclopedias, and books they owned. Demographic and other background information provided includesrespondent´s age, gender, nationality, marital status, left-rightpolitical self-placement, occupation, age at completion of education,household income, region of residence, and subjective size of community.