ABSTRACT
After having displayed the four traditions of international sociological surveys (Eurobarometers, Values, ISSP and ESS), this chapter explains their common points (for example the same willingness to replicate questions throughout time, indicators which must be decontextualized – out of a national context –, often complicated questionnaires, inevitable problems of translations into several languages) and their differences (for example in the kinds and wordings of questions). The end of the chapter shows the progress in knowledge these surveys have allowed us to make. They are essential for clear and effective comparison between societies which till now was only based on monographic approaches. They allow us to go beyond stereotypes and theories built on impressions or even rich but too specific analysis. They very well highlight the salience of cultural differences between countries that globalization does not easily reduce.
International sociological surveys, which consist in administering the same questionnaire to representative samples of people in several countries, have only been carried out after several decades of national opinion polls. The first studies of this kind were on particular subjects, were not repeated and did not lead to a tradition of surveys. A shift happened at the beginning of the 1970s when the Eurobarometers – a regular observatory ofpublic opinion – were created. Some years later, in 1981, the Values Surveys appeared, first at the European level (European Values Survey [EVS]), second at a worldwide level (World Values Survey [WVS]). Just after, in 1985, began the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). After that, the only creation was at the beginning of the new century with the launching of the European Social Surveys (ESS). Thus, in the sociological and political field, four main surveying traditions whose goals and logic are not identical can be observed and will be set forth first in this chapter. Second, this chapter will explain their common and different points which enable the analysis of their limits and methodological problems. The end of the chapter will show the progress these surveys have allowed sociology and political science to make.
