Eurobarometer 74.3 (2010)

Since the early 1970s the European Commission´s Standard & Special Eurobarometer are regularly monitoring the public opinion in the European Union member countries. Principal investigators are the Directorate-General Communication and on occasion other departments of the European Commission or the European Parliament. Over time, candidate and accession countries were included in the Standard Eurobarometer Series. Selected questions or modules may not have been surveyed in each sample. Please consult the basic questionnaire for more information on country filter instructions or other questionnaire routing filters. In this study the following modules are included: 1. European Parliament: perception and preferences, 2. European Parliament: energy supply, 3. Internet use, electronic identity and data privacy, 4. Labelling of chemical products, 5. Awareness of rare diseases.<br>Topics: 1. European Parliament / perception and preferences: attentiveness for information about the European Parliament in the media; self-rated knowledge about the European Parliament; assessment of the European Parliament as: dynamic, democratic, close to European citizens, not well known, or inefficient (image); seating arrangements of MEPs in the European Parliament according to their nationality or according to their political group; desire for more or less influence of the European Parliament; issues the European Parliament should defend with priority (equality between men and women, minority protection, dialogue between cultures and religions, solidarity between EU Member States, solidarity between the EU and poor countries, protection of human rights, freedom of speech, universal abolition of the death penalty).

2. European Parliament / energy supply: preferred measures of the EU within the framework of a coordinated energy policy: price stability, guaranteed supply, development of renewable energy sources, contributions to energy saving; attitude to energy supplies of the own country to other member states with energy shortages (in the interest of national energy security or desirable as solidarity between Member States).

3. Internet use, electronic identity and data privacy: internet access at home, at work, at school or university or internet cafe; type of internet activity (web browsing, social networking, online shopping, blog, chat, peer-to-peer software, voice over IP, and video conferencing, installation of browser plug-ins, creating a website, home banking, internet shopping (national, within and outside the EU), tax declaration, online software); information considered as personal information (medical information, fingerprints, occupational history, financial information, national identification number, name, address, nationality, hobbies, personal activities, preferences and opinions, personal photos, friends, visited websites, mobile phone number); attitude towards revealing personal information on the internet (scale: username and password requested to log into several systems, national government increasingly requests personal information, feeling compelled to to disclose personal information to obtain products or services, disclosing is not big issue, disclosing is part of modern life, disclosure of personal information in exchange for free services such as the provision of an email address); type of personal data passed on the use of social networks (same response categories as information that is classified as personal); most important reasons for disclosure of personal data in social networks; sense of control over the personal data; most important risks associated with the disclosure of personal data in social networks; duty of service provides to inform users about possible consequences of sharing personal data in social networks; responsible for personal data security (respondent themselves, providers of social networks, public authorities); changes in privacy settings of the personality profile; difficulty to change these settings; reasons for letting these settings unchanged; type of personal data disclosed when shopping online; most important reasons for the disclosure of personal data in online shopping; sense of control over the personal data; most important risks associated with the disclosure of personal data for online shopping; responsible for personal data security (respondent himself, internet service providers, or public authorities); concern about the recording personal behavior using cameras, smart cards and websites (online, in public spaces, in private rooms ); personal use of credit cards or bank cards, loyalty cards, ID card, passport, official electronic identity card, driving license, student card, internet access; personal security precautions to protect the identity (payment with cash, specifying only the minimal information, providing false information, forwarding data only to trustworthy agents, shredding old receipts, no disclosure on the internet of account details, user names and passwords, and PIN numbers); personal security precautions to protect the identity; information about the storage and disclosure of personal information by social networks or service providers; reading and understanding of privacy policy on the internet; adaptation of own online behavior after reading privacy policy; personal reasons for not reading of privacy policy; attitudes towards targeted advertising corresponding to your personal hobbies and interests; frequency of requests for not absolutely necessary personal data during registration; concern about this practice; demand for personal approval before personal data are collected and disclosed; trust in institutions with respect to protection of personal data (national authorities, European institutions, banks, health institutions, businesses, internet companies, telephone companies and internet service providers); concern about the disclosure of data to third parties without knowledge of the respondent; willingness to pay a fee to access personal data stored and level of willingness to pay; demand for complete deletion of personal data because on request of the respondent: when changing service provider or when stop using a website; importance of transfering of personal data when changing service providers; personal experience of data loss or identity theft; request for notification from a public authority or a private company in case of loss or theft of personal data; importance of data protection regulations independently from EU country where the data were collected; demand for special protection for genetic information (DNA) in line with EU data protection regulation; claim for special protection of young people with regard to the collection and disclosure of personal data and notice about the consequences of data disclosure; attitude to use of personal data by the police; belief if the protection of personal data could be ensured in large companies by designing responsible contact persons; preferred legislation level for the protection of personal data (European, national or regional / local level); knowledge of the responsible national authority for the protection of personal data (privacy commissioner); preferred government measures against data abuse.

4. Labelling of chemical products: associations with the term ´chemical products’; handling chemical products at work; products or product groups associated with the term ’chemical products’ (DIY products, detergents, household cleaners, car care products, garden fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides); assessing danger of a chemical product based on smell, color, packaging, safety regulations, warning symbols, information in shops, type of shops, information from friends; knowledge of the safe handling of chemical products (handling according to product instructions, wearing protective clothing such as gloves, observing the recommended useful life, recommended dosage, appropriate storage and application, chemical products are not safe to use); chemical products and product groups for which a user guide is desirable for safe use; frequency of reading the warnings and compliance with safety instructions for selected chemical products and product groups (DIY products, detergents, household cleaning products, car care products, garden fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides); assessment of the danger of a chemical product due to the mention ´Warning´ or ´Danger´ on the product label; knowledge of the hazard symbols based on four icons and the newly introduced CLP danger symbols; knowledge test of the meaning of the shown CLP danger symbols; self-rated information about potential risks associated with selected chemical products and product groups (DIY products, detergents, household cleaning products, car care products, garden fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides); information sources about potential dangers of chemical products; trusted source of information about potential dangers of chemical products.

5. Awareness of rare diseases: knowledge of the concept of rare diseases; contact with person suffering from a rare disease; attitudes towards support for people suffering from rare diseases (scale); attitudes towards actions of the European Commission and the national health authorities (scale); knowledge of selected rare diseases (cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, haemophilia, Huntington´s disease, osterogenesis imperfecta, progeria).

Demography: nationality; age; left-right self-placement; family situation; age at end of education; sex; occupation; professional position; type of community; household composition and household size; own a mobile phone and fixed (landline) phone; possession of durable goods (entertainment electronics, internet connection, possession of a car, a flat/a house have finished paying for or still paying for); financial difficulties during the last year; self-rated social position (scale).

Also encoded was: date of interview; beginning of interview; duration of interview; persons present during the interview; willingness to cooperate; city size; region; weighting factor; interview language (Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Malta).