Eurobarometer 81.3 (2014)

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. Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment, 2. Skills and qualifications in the EU.<br>Topics: 1. Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment: personal importance of environmental protection; most important environmental issues; self-rated knowledge about environmental issues; issues where respondent lacks information most; main sources of information about the environment; most trustworthy institutions or persons regarding the provision of information about environmental issues; preferred evaluation criteria of national progress: mainly economic criteria, social, environmental, and economic criteria in equal parts, mainly social and environmental criteria; extent of the influence of the following factors on the personal quality of life: state of environment, economic factors, social factors; approval of the following statements: protection of the environment can boost economic growth in the EU, efficient use of natural resources can boost economic growth in the EU; willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products; personal measures for protecting the environment; prioritized measures for people in the own country to protect the environment in daily life; approval of selected statements: individual plays a role in protecting the environment in the own country, big polluters should make good the damage they cause, environmental issues have a direct effect on daily life; preference for national public authorities to prioritize environmentally-friendly considerations over cost considerations or vice versa with regard to spending and investing; preference for decision making regarding the protection of the environment by the national government or jointly within the EU; sufficient action taken to protect the environment by: big companies and industry, citizens, own city, town, village, or region, national government, European Union; most effective ways to tackle environmental problems; attitude towards the following statements: European environmental legislation is necessary for protecting the environment in the own country, EU should be able to check the correct application of environmental laws in the own country, EU should assist non-EU countries to improve their environmental standards, more EU funding to support environmentally-friendly activities.

2. Skills and qualifications in the EU: highest completed level of education or training; most important skills education provides; designation of skills that can be obtained outside of formal education; ways to obtain skills outside of formal education; most important aspects of education; preference regarding the improvement of selected aspects in the own country: teacher’s expertise or subject knowledge, teacher’s ability to motivate students, modern and stimulating learning methods and learning environment, periods of study abroad or student exchanges, practical work experience; assessment of own education and training at school, in vocational education, in higher education, in courses for adults, through online education; own education or training provided necessary skills to find an appropriate job; recognition of own educational or training qualifications in other EU member states; own stay abroad for studying, trainee- or internship, or working in another EU member state or outside the EU; own work or studies with an institution or company in another EU member state or outside the EU while based in the own country; recognition of the following experiences within in the own country in terms of: studying, working, trainee- or internship in another EU member state, studying online with an institution located in another EU member state, or working remotely for a company located in another EU member state; attempt to work or study in another EU member state; difficulties experienced regarding own qualifications; knowledge of the level of the European Qualifications Framework the own qualifications correspond to; possibility to obtain a qualification in the own country by combining skills or competences acquired in different ways; knowledge of selected kinds of proof for documenting skills and qualifications for employment in the own country or in another EU member state; use of career guidance services; reason for and occasion when using career guidance service; attitude towards career guidance services regarding: usefulness for decisions for further studies, for finding a job, for finding opportunities to work or study in another EU member state, availability throughout education and after education; search for information on study or career guidance, on education or training courses, on internships, traineeships or apprenticeships, on the recognition of own skills in other EU member states; difficulties finding information; knowledge of selected European information points.

Demography: nationality; family situation; marital status; age at end of education; sex; age; occupation; professional position; type of community; household composition and household size; financial difficulties during the last year; self-rated social position (scale); internet use (at home, at work, at school); self-reported belonging to the working class, the middle class or the upper class of society; frequency of discussions about political matters on national, European and local level; own voice counts in the own country and in the EU (political influence); general direction things are going in the own country and in the EU.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country; date of interview; time of the beginning of the interview; duration of the interview; number of persons present during the interview; respondent cooperation; size of locality; region; language of the interview; nation group; weighting factor.