European Social Survey (ESS)

The B. I. And Lucille Cohen Institute was selected by the Israel Academy of Science to carry out the Israeli component of this highly esteemed survey project. The European Social Survey emerged as an initiative of the European Science Foundation and the European Commission over a decade ago and is now established as a EuropeanResearch Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). It is conducted simultaneously in over 20 countries. The Israeli component of the project is funded by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and was conducted in Israel in 2002, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

Preparations for the survey (sampling, questionnaire translation and design, etc.) and the fieldwork in Israel done by The B.I. and Lucille Cohen Institute for Public Opinion Research, at the Tel Aviv University, directed by a steering committee with representatives from several universities and disciplines. The survey is a core project in social sciences. Its objective is to create a database on attitudes, values and behaviors and the way they change in time. The Questionnaire includes over 200 items covering a range of topics such as political behavior, socio-political orientation, social capital, confidence in institutions, discrimination, subjective sense of well-being, basic human values, attitude toward social exclusion, religion, identity (ethnic and national), ethnocentricity, exposure to and the use of different forms of media.

The study population for the ESS includes individuals 15 years old and above. In Israel the sample frame was based on addresses obtained from the population registry and within a given address an individual was selected using the “last birthday” method. Data collection was performed using face-to-face interviews conducted in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic and Russian.

In 2008 the achieved sample in Israel included 2,490 respondents, representing a 76.5% completion of the original sample. In the fifth round (conducted in 2010) the achieved sample included 2,294 respondents, with a completion rate of 71%. The most recent round of the survey was conducted in 2012 and the achieved sample included 2,508 respondents, a figure that represents a response rate of 77.6%.

Survey Questionnaires

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