Erhebung zur europäischen Integration, allgemeine politische Fragen und Umwelt - 1999

The European Commission's Eurobarometer surveys, originally conceived as opinion barometers on European integration, are now large-scale surveys that regularly cover important public life issues in addition to a core of standard questions. For the Swiss social sciences, the Eurobarometer is intended to offer Switzerland the opportunity to receive regular information on population attitudes towards European integration. On the other hand, it should enable researchers in psychology, educational science, sociology, political science, business administration and economics to analyse the attitudes and behaviours of the Swiss population on a broad database and compare them internationally.1st subproject: Representative survey of the Swiss resident population (headed by Franz Haag). The survey contains the following topic groups: Attitude towards European integration, personal and general economic situation, party affinity, attachment to institutions (especially to neutrality, federalism and direct democracy), spatial and cultural identification, environment. After the 1992 EEA vote, various polls and analyses were conducted on the result of the vote, which examined, among other things, the motivations of supporters and opponents. Some authors conclude that the individual economic impact of the voters was decisive. In contrast, other researchers show that motivations of a socio-cultural nature and motives for identification have determined the voters' decision. The political science part of the 1999 Eurobarometer survey in Switzerland is intended to help answer the controversy over economic versus socio-cultural factors in relation to European integration. The Eurobaromter survey in Switzerland is to be conducted at least once a year until 2003.
2nd subproject: Development of a teaching tool on the web (director: Eugen Horber). In Switzerland, secondary analysis of data sets is not yet very common. The Eurobarometer is ideally suited for such secondary analyses and therefore this subproject aims to develop a teaching tool to discuss the answer to a research question using a secondary analysis of the Eurobarometer data sets. The work instructions and "exercises" are to be published on the web. The teaching material is primarily aimed at professors in method training. The professors select and communicate the subject matter and, as far as possible, adapt the teaching material to their specific interests and didactic goals.