Metropolis and Surrounding Countryside (Regional Study Cologne/Bonn)

Regional election study and factors of one´s own voting decision.
Political attitudes and evaluation of parties and politicians, viewed
at both local and federal level.

Topics: evaluation of the most important political events of the last
year; political interest; most important tasks of the FRG and perceived
possibilities of personal contribution to problem solution; degree of
familiarity and frequency of use of local and national daily
newspapers; personal election participation; party identification and
party preference; most preferred party at place of residence;
assessment of the influence of neighbors, colleagues, the family and
the circle of friends on one´s own voting decision; good and bad sides
of the parties; length of local residency and local ties; satisfaction
with place of residence; city size and preferred size of city of
residence; residential status and preferred residential status;
satisfaction with housing conditions; rank order of the criteria for
the assignment of social prestige in effect at place of residence, in
general for the FRG and personally preferred; currently most important
political tasks at place of residence and personal opportunities to
contribute to problem solution; expected chances for success of
personal political activity; issue ability of the parties to solve the
problems at place of residence; personal impact of the territory reform
(municipal reorganization); attitude to territory reform and expected
advantages and disadvantages; degree of familiarity of local
politicians and their achievements as well as their party affiliation;
personal voting decision oriented to person or party; differences
between CDU and SPD at local level and at federal level; assignment of
parties to social groups and personal group affiliation; sympathy scale
for SPD, CDU, CSU, FDP, NPD and DKP; memberships and intensity of
participation in events; offices accepted; self-assessment of social
class and assumed personal standing at place of residence as well as
assessment of the social class of father (scale); judgement on the
economic situation and the economic development of the FRG;
satisfaction with place of work; preferred place of work; location of
the job at place of residence.

Demography: age; sex; marital status; religious denomination;
religiousness; frequency of church attendance; school education;
occupational position; employment; the route to work; number of
recipients of income; household income; household size; household
composition; characteristics of head of household.

Interviewer rating: interest of respondent in interview; length of
interview; date of interview.

Also encoded were the following regional data at the level of
municipal districts or parts of town: election turnout; vote
distribution; population level in 1961 and 1970; resident density;
proportion of men and proportion of foreigners; residential population
with another residence; marital status; average size of household;
religion and age structure; sources of livelihood; training level;
sector of employment; occupational position; telephone density.