Page 54 - Roadmap

MOMENTUM OF INNOVATION

7.5. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INNOVATION

ESS-HU (EUROPEAN SOCIAL SURVEY) RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE GROUP

Presentation of the RI group
The European Social Survey (ESS) was initiated in 2001 by the European Commission with the aim of gaining com-
parative data every two years about the demographic and social conditions of European societies, political and public
preferences of citizens, and changes in social attitudes and action-guiding values. Perhaps the greatest strength – and
value – of ESS is that it applies very strict and constantly monitored data collection methodology which has made it one
of the methodologically soundest collaborative international endeavours, in Europe. The data characterising the society of
the participating countries are developed jointly, using the same methodology, ensuring that survey results are comparable
across Europe. The survey consists of varying and standard components: varying question blocks address current social
phenomena and problems at European level and change by survey wave, while the standard blocks collect information on
the main socio-economic characteristics of the population, political and public attitudes, value preferences – such data are
available about the past sixteen years. The varying question blocks (the so-called rotating modules) focused on aging and
related social attitudes, and on behaviours relating to welfare systems in 2008, and addressed the topics of work, family
and well-being in 2010. In the 2012 wave , rotating modules dealt with the complex issues of personal and social well-
being, and attitudes towards democracy. The seventh wave in 2014 focused on attitudes towards migration and state of
health. behavior increasing risk of diseases. In 2016 rotating modules inquired about knowledge and attitudes concerning
climate change and energy consumption and repeated the 2008 questions of welfare attitudes. The data produced bi-yearly
by the RI allows for timely and cross national or cross regional comparison. It is openly accessible to anyone and thus is
widely used in the academic scene, in policy making as well as higher education. Since its inception, over 100,000 people
have registered as ESS users. Around 64% of registered ESS users are students. A further 27% can be classed as academics
(research/ faculty/ PhD) and just under 10% come from other domains (e.g. policy, NGOs, businesses, private individuals).
Near to 1000 academic papers published in double blind peer reviewed academic journals ha vused ESS data. In University
education educators are using the ESS to support the delivery of both methodological and topical modules. The robustness
of the survey data , and the clarity of the accompanying methodological annexes, provide lecturers with real-world examples
with which to illustrate the theoretical aspects of their presentation on research methods.

National coordinator of the RI group: Background information
HAS Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Sociology; The RI coordinator MTA TK is responsible for research implementation, compliance of
and Institute for Political Science data collection with international standards, and professional and operative cooperation
with the international partners (City University, London; NSD Norway; The Netherlands
Contact: Vera Messing Institute for Social Research; Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain; University of Essex, UK;
Email: messing.vera@tk.mta.hu University of Leuven, Belgium; University of Ljubljana, Slovenia). The ESS database is
Website: http://ess.tk.mta.hu/ open-access, so the researchers, lecturers and students of the Hungarian partner institutions
can use it for educational and publication purposes. In Hungary nearly 2000 users have
Partners: MTA KRTK; Central European University; registered to ESS most of whom have downloaded and used the data. Many institutions
BCE Faculty of Social Sciences and International Rela- of the Hungarian scientific and academic sector participates in the wide utilisation of ESS
tions; ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences; ELTE Faculty of data, mainly in education and for dissertations in the fields of methodology, sociology and
Law; ELTE Faculty of Education and Psychology; political science. In addition, over the past few years, more than a hundred scientific pub-
PPKE Faculty of Social Sciences; PPKE Faculty of Law lications authoed by Hungarian scholars relied on ESS information. Furthermore, after
and Political Sciences; SZTE Institute of Social Sciences; each wave, the most important survey results are presented in a special issue of a peer-re-
SZTE Faculty of Law; PTE Faculty of Law; PTE Insti- viewed journal, and there is also an annual conference dedicated to ESS. In June 2018,
tute of Social and Media Studies; DE Faculty of Law; MTA TK hosted the two-day Central and Eastern European Regional ESS scientific con-
DE Department of Sociology and Social Policy; ME Fa- ference. The group also participates in the series of events of Hungarian Science Festival.
culty of Law and Political Sciences; ME Faculty of Arts; To promote domestic utilisation, the ESS TK team plans to organise workshops for uni-
SZE Faculty of Law and Political Sciences; SZE Faculty versities and research centres to raise awareness of the infrastructure.
of Economics and Social Sciences
Aim of the RI group
ESFRI connection: ESS-ERIC The aim of the RI group is to gain comparative data about the demographic and social
conditions of European societies, political and public preferences of citizens, and changes
Status of the RI group: operating in social attitudes and action-guiding values. The RI provides data to Hungarian research
and academic communities, which are used in higher education, publications and other
scientific activities . All ESS waves provide abundant sources to dozens of scientific pub-
lications and a number of university courses.

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