Eurobarometer 38.1 (Nov 1992)

The main topics of this Eurobarometer are:

1. Economic situation and satisfaction;

2. Europe;

3. Television;

4. Consumer protection;

5. Science and technology.

Topics: 1. Eligibility to vote at place of residence; contentment with
life; judgement on future economic development; judgement on the
general economic situation in comparison with the previous year;
judgement on change of personal financial and general economic
situation in the last year; personal opinion leadership and frequency
of political discussions; satisfaction with democracy.

2. Attitude to unification of Western Europe; attitude to membership
of the country in the EC; advantages or disadvantages for the country
from EC membership; regret of a possible failure of the EC; agreement
or rejection of the Maastricht Treaty as well as selected components of
the treaty; familiarity of the ´European Economic Area´ of the EC and
Efta as well as the European summit in Birmingham; significance of the
European summit for personal life, the area of business, the region and
the EC.

3. Frequency of obtaining news from television, radio and newspapers;
cable television, satellite reception or television reception via
antenna; frequency of use of satellite television in one´s own and a
foreign language; interest in a European news station and preference
for certain news and reports; interest in high resolution (HDTV)
television and preferred broadcasts of this quality.

4. Consumer protection; knowledge of European initiatives regarding
labeling of cosmetics, product safety, toys, package tours, consumer
credit, misleading advertising, sales at the front door; consumer
complaints in the last 12 months in selected consumer areas;
organization consulted for support with a consumer complaint; reasons
for foregoing a consumer complaint; result of consumer complaint;
sources of information and advisers consulted for a larger purchase or
sale in another European country; expectations of consumer protection
in a uniform European market; attitude to standardization of consumer
protection in all EC member countries; satisfaction with labeling of
food products; judgement on product information on packaging for food
(scale); interest in harvest date, packaging date, best-before date and
perishability after opening packages of fruit and vegetables as well as
frozen food and canned food; interest in detailed information about
additives or materials contained as well as information on nutritional
value of foods; judgement on materials contained, additives,
preservatives and colorings regarding their naturalness, danger or
promoting health; understanding of best-before date; knowledge and
understanding of selected additives such as antioxidant, coloring,
emulsifiers, stabilizers etc.; frequency of trips to other EC countries
and frequency of services taken advantage of there and injuries
suffered and damage to property; compensation received for the damage;
assessment of the security standard and compensation in one´s country
compared with the other European countries.

5. Interest in selected news topics and extent to which informed about
topics, such as e.g. sport, politics, environmental protection,
technology, medicine and science; occupational prestige of selected
occupations; frequency of reading scientific newspaper articles;
frequency of visits in technical museums, zoos, aquariums, natural
history museums, art museums and libraries; natural science knowledge
test; assessment of the scientific quality of selected sciences (split:
in the first case the contents of the sciences were explained briefly;
in the second case only the term was mentioned); knowledge of
scientific methods (split); knowledge in probability calculation
(test); influence of science and technology on daily life and
acceptance of technology as well as attitude to science and research
(scale; split: 5-pole vs. 4-pole answer category without middle
category); self-classification of understanding of selected
environmental topics such as acid rain, global warming; knowledge about
the position of the ozone hole and the consequences of selected
environmental problems; knowledge about the activities of the EC in
scientific and technical areas; comparison of national and European
research regarding waste of money, efficiency, significance, promotion
of growth, compatibility with national interests, hindrances to
competition and international inequalities; comparison of Europe, Japan
and the USA in selected areas of research and technology.

Demography: self-classification on a left-right continuum; marital
status; age at end of education; resumption of school training after an
interruption and length of school training; length of further
education; sex; age; size of household; number of children in
household; possession of durable economic goods; occupational position;
weekly number of working hours; supervisor status; person managing
household; position in household; age of head of household at end of
education; occupation of head of household; supervisor status of head
of household; self-assessment of social class; degree of urbanization;
religious denomination; monthly household income; city size; region;
possession of a telephone.

Indices: opinion leadership (cognitive mobility); attitude to Europe;
status in profession; EC support; media usage; ESOMAR Social Grade;
life cycle.

The following questions were posed only in Great Britain and Northern
Ireland: knowledge about the British presidency in the council of
ministers; importance of the British presidency.

Also encoded was: date of interview; time of interview; length of
interview; number of persons present during interview; willingness of
respondent to cooperate.