Construyendo las bases para una comparación fiable: la Encuesta Social Europea

Abstract

Surveys are a valuable instrument to find out about the social and political reality of our context. However, the work of researchers is often limited by a number of handicaps that are mainly two. On one hand, the samples are usually low technical quality ones and the fieldwork is not carried out in the finest conditions. On the other hand, many surveys are not especially designed to allow their comparison, a precisely appreciated operation in political research. The article presents the European Social Survey and justifies its methodological bases. The survey, promoted by the European Science Foundation and the European Commission, is born from the collective effort of the scientific community with the explicit aim to establish certain quality standards in the sample design and in the carrying out of the fieldwork so as to guarantee the quality of the data and allow each comparison between countries.