Reader's Digest Survey of 17 Western European Countries, 1990

The survey, which was carried out in 17 Western European countries in 1990, was primarily intended as a marketing survey of Western European countries. The aim was to measure the differences among these countries in consumption as regards a wide range of goods and services, and to examine how subscribers to the Reader's Digest compared against the total population of each country. # However, a number of other broader attitudinal questions are included, which give the survey a much wider relevance and potential audience than might otherwise be expected. # A broad overview of the topics is presented below: #1. Questions on consumption and furnishing: assessment of the economic situation in the last 5 years; classification of the standard of living in one's country, compared with other countries (split); detailed recording of type and age of durable economic goods; residential furnishings; having a yard; furnished with leisure time devices, radio equipment, computers, telephones, typewriters and cameras; camera type and film use in the last year; number of colour televisions or black-and-white television sets in household; age and features of device with remote control; cable or satellite connection; 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 driving licence; 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 of 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, the national parliament, the European Parliament, community service, local government, international companies, social insurance, the 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 the 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 the 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 luxury goods. #7. Holiday behaviour: holiday stay abroad as well as in one's country; package tours; type of holiday and means of transport; holiday countries visited in the last three years; travel frequency; business trips of a member of the 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 the 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 a bank account, cheque 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 the household; students in the household; frequency of visit of mother; parents living together at time of youth (16 years) of the 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