Study title

Municipal Environmental Administration Survey 1998

Dataset ID Number

FSD1175

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1175
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd1175

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Joas, Marko (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
• Kettunen, Aija (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
• Grönholm, Björn (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)

Abstract

The survey studied municipal (local) environmental administration, the role played by the elected officials and cooperation between different bodies in the management of municipal environmental functions. The main themes were the functioning of municipal environmental administration, its efficiency, the state of the environment and environmental problems occurring in municipalities.

First questions dealt with the basic organisation of municipal environmental functions: did the municipality manage them on its own or in cooperation with other municipalities. The municipality's environmental administration structure and overall administration structure were examined. The interaction of environmental administration was studied by asking how often the respondents were in contact with other persons, groups or bodies. The respondents were asked about their relations with the media, cooperation with regional environment centres and whether the foundation of regional environment centres had improved the regional administration cooperation. RThe respondents were asked to evaluate the overall state of their municipality's environment, whether the municipality had problems in certain areas, how serious these problems were and whether they had been monitored (e.g. the state of soil and ground water, waste management, noise level). The respondents were also asked to name five serious environmental conflicts which had occurred in the preceding five years, the parties involved and what the respondent had done to solve them. The survey included some questions pertaining to Local Agenda 21 (LA21), a sustainable development project.

Background variables included the respondent's age, sex and education, length of the working experience in environmental management, political inclinations, membership in organisations and environmental attitudes.

Keywords

conflict; environment; environment policy; environmental conservation; environmental degradation; environmental management; local government; local government officers; public administration

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Natural sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Environment and conservation (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Joas, Marko (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
• Kettunen, Aija (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
• Grönholm, Björn (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)

Time Period Covered

1998

Collection Dates

1998-03 – 1998-07

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Political-administrative area (Municipality)

Universe

Finnish municipalities

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The questionnaire was sent to the chief environmental officials of every Finnish municipality, including the 16 municipalities on the Åland Islands. The Municipal Environmental Administration Survey 1994 revealed that there are municipalities in which a cooperative body is responsible for the environmental management. In this case the questionnaire was mailed straight to the cooperative body. The questionnaires sent to municipalities and cooperative bodies were mostly similar. There was one follow-up by telephone.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

73.4

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD1174 Municipal Environmental Administration Survey 1994

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The data contain several string variables, which have not been converted to numerical variables.

For reasons of privacy, municipal variables, municipality of collaboration and open-ended question about major subject (q51_2_2) were removed from the data.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Joas, Marko (Åbo Akademi University) & Kettunen, Aija (Åbo Akademi University) & Grönholm, Björn (Åbo Akademi University): Municipal Environmental Administration Survey 1998 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-08-06). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1175

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Joas, Marko (2001). Reflexive Modernisation of the Environmental Administration in Finland: Essays of Institutional and Policy Change Within the Finnish National and Local Environmental Administration. Turku: Åbo Akademis Förlag.