The National SOM Survey Cumulative Dataset

In order to identify how the evolution of society affects Swedes’ attitudes and behaviour, the SOM Institute started its National SOM study in 1986. National SOM addresses three areas - society, opinions and mass media - and consists of a large number of questions related to politics, society, media and social background, but their areas of focus differ. Every year, the questionnaires are complemented with questions related to current events. Data is collected through postal questionnaires with an option to respond to the survey online, and each survey is conducted under conditions as identical as possible to make the results from the different years comparable.

The SOM Institute Cumulative Dataset contains data from the National SOM surveys from 1986. The data contains a selection of questions frequently asked over the years, focusing on time series. A general rule is that questions should have been asked at least four times.

The main purpose is to establish time series that enable researchers to analyse how various changes in society affect people's attitudes and behaviour.

The dataset has changed somewhat in relation to the codebook, in order to reduce the risk of re-identification. The following changes have been made:
Variables removed: mf100a mf100b mf100c kommun komkod2010 pinc2009 pinc2011 hinc1986 hinc1990 hinc1993 hinc1999 hinc2008 hinc2011 yearofbirthreg agereg ssyk occupation1986 map1 map2 map3 lanskod2010
Variables added: socialgroup
Variables aggregated: lan unionm_open

The SOM Institute also has an online tool for data analysis, where you can work with data from the national SOM surveys directly in your web browser. You can find it at https://som-institutet.se/dataanalys