Survey Topics

Wave 1      | Wave 2 | Wave 3  | Wave 4

1. Economic Evaluations

What are your thoughts on the economic condition of the nation and of your family: now, over the last five years, and in the next five years?

2. Trust in Institutions

Do you perceive public institutions, including different branches of government, the media, the military, and NGOs, to be trustworthy?

3. Social Capital

Membership in private and public groups, frequency and degree of group participation, trust between citizens, and the influence of guanxi.

4. Political Participation

Voting in national and local elections, country-specific voting patterns, and active participation in the political process as well as in collective political actions like demonstrations and strikes. Contact with government and elected officials, political organizations, NGOs and the media.

5. Electoral Mobilization

Personal connections with officials, candidates, and political parties; influence that political players have on voter choice.

6. Citizen Involvement and Partisanship

Interest in political news coverage, impact of government policies on daily life, and party allegiance.

7. Traditionalism

Importance of consensus and family; views on the role of the elderly, face, and woman in the workplace.

8. Regime Legitimacy and Citizen Preference for Democracy

Democratic rankings of current and past regimes, and expected rankings in the next five years; satisfaction with how democracy works, suitability of democracy; comparisons between current and previous regimes, especially corruption; democracy and economic development, political competition, national unity, social problems; military government and technocracy.

9. Efficacy, Citizen Empowerment, System Responsiveness

Accessibility of a political system to everyday citizens: does a political elite prevent access and reduce the ability of people to influence the government.

10. Democratic vs. Authoritarian Values

Level of education and political equality, views on leadership, degree of separation between the executive and the judiciary.

11. Cleavages

State/public ownership vs. private ownership, national authority over local decisions/federalism, cultural insulation, the community vs. the individual.

12. Belief in Procedural Norms of Democracy

Respect for democratic institutions and democratically elected leaders: compromise, tolerance of opposing and minority views.

13. Social-Economic Background Variables

Gender, age, marital status, level of education, years of formal education, religion and religiosity, household, income, language and ethnicity.

14. Interview Records

Gender, age, class, and language of the interviewer, people present at the interview; did the respondent: refuse, display impatience, and cooperate; the language or dialect spoken in interview, and was an interpreter present.