Authors

• Helsingin Sanomat. Weekly supplement Nyt

Keywords

deceit, dishonesty, fraud, honesty, moral behaviour, moral values, property offences, swindle, tax evasion, theft

Abstract

The survey, conducted by the weekly supplement NYT of the daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in the spring 2001, studied moral behaviour in Finland and citizens' attitudes to right and wrong in different everyday situations. The survey carried a set of attitudinal statements pertaining to lying, stealing from home, from work or elsewhere, shoplifting, infidelity, fishing without paying the fishing licence, traffic behaviour etc. The morality of the respondents was also charted by asking about tax evasion and insurance fraud. Background variables included respondents' age, sex, occupation, annual gross income and which party the respondent had voted for in the previous parliamentary elections.

The data are not representative of Finland's population. The subject matter of the survey interested women in particular, since more than three out of four respondents were women. In addition, most respondents were young people, the majority under 30 years of age.