The Finnish Voter Barometer surveys are commissioned by the major parties in the Parliament. In election years, other sponsors have also been involved. Up till 1988, the surveys were planned by Gallup Finland (TNS Gallup Ltd, Kantar) and the Department of Political and Economic Studies at the University of Helsinki in collaboration with the political parties. After 1988, the planning has been in the hands of Gallup Finland and the parties.
From 1973 to 1990, the annual voter barometers were collected mainly with face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires, 1000-2000 interviews/barometer. Since 1991, the data have been collected with GallupChannel (PC's installed in respondents' homes). No surveys were conducted in 1985 and 1989.
Survey themes include voting behaviour, opinions on the government and the parties, and attitudes towards national political issues. In addition, respondents' economic expectations and political participation have often been studied, as well as their opinions on local politics, and the significance of the party leader to a party. Background variables have often included the social class of the respondent and the household head, economic activity of the household head, respondent's education, age, mother tongue, gender, party membership, political views, trade union membership, and family's annual income. There are also regional variables. Even though the variables are not always fully comparable from one survey to another, all kinds of comparisons over time are possible. The FSD collections cover data from 1973-2005.
The variables describe the following: image of the parties, party membership, interest in politics, important sources of information in view of voting decision, voting in the 1972 municipal elections, voting certainty, party choices, satisfaction with the government, forming of the new cabinet, opinions on parties and politics, economic situation, agreement reached through collective bargaining, and the necessity of new parliamentary elections. Some variables are connected with the interview situation and the social structure of the sample.
The survey sample was selected using two-stage stratified sampling process, applying the Deming zone selection method. To save travelling costs, the cluster sample was drawn from the survey sample. The number of clusters was set at 179 and the number of subjects in each cluster at 10. First, the sample was stratified in proportion to the number of inhabitants aged 15 or over, using regional plan area and municipality group as stratifying variables. Then one voting district was drawn for each cluster. This draw included only the 350 municipalities sampled for the 1974-1975 National Readership Survey. The selection of voting districts: the number of voters in the voting districts of each stratum's municipalities were counted up and the sum was divided into as many parts as the number of clusters in the stratum required. For each zone, one voting district was drawn and a sufficient number of subjects were selected from Gallup Finland's basic sample group. Gallup Finland's basic sample group was drawn from Finland's population register by selecting every other individual born on the 5th of any month. Gross sample was 1,790, net sample 1,699 and the number of respondents 1,229.