Study title

Follow-up on Finnish European Parliament Elections 2004

Dataset ID Number

FSD2003

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2003

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Moring, Tom (University of Helsinki)
• TNS Gallup Finland

Abstract

The survey studied the 2004 European Parliament elections in Finland, focusing on election campaigning, political advertising and voting behaviour. The survey was conducted as part of the "Changes in Finnish TV Election Campaigns" project. At first, respondents were asked whether they had noticed political advertising in the media, had followed election issues in the media (radio, television, newspapers) or on the Internet, had attended election campaign events, or discussed the elections with other people. Respondents were asked to what extent they agree with several statements relating to the election campaign. They were asked whether they had voted in the elections, and when they had decided who to vote for. The importance of various issues (e.g. environment, immigration, crime prevention) to the voting decision was also investigated.

Respondents were asked to rate the influence of certain issues on the decision which candidate/party to vote for. The issues included: candidate's expertise in EU issues, candidate/party policy on how to develop the EU, etc. Their reasons for the decision to vote in the elections were charted. Further questions covered the sources used to obtain information. One question asked which candidate the respondent had voted for in the elections. Non-voters were asked why they had not voted.

A set of questions explored whether the respondents had seen television advertisements for certain political parties. Those who had seen television advertisements were asked to evaluate their impact, i.e., had the advertisements been beneficial or harmful with regard to the candidate/party the respondent supported. In conclusion, respondents were asked the candidate of which party they would vote for if the Finnish parliamentary elections were held now, which party had they voted for in the 2003 Finnish parliamentary elections, and which party they would vote for if they were in a situation in which they were obliged to vote for one.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, year of birth, marital status, household composition, number of household members, number of children aged under 21 living at home, education, economic activity, industry of employment, employer type, working hours, trade union membership, which party would vote for if the Finnish parliamentary elections were held at that time, which party had they voted for in the 2003 parliamentary elections and in the 2000 municipal elections, left-right political self-placement, social class, household annual gross income, monthly housing costs, household loans, economic situation, accommodation type, housing tenure, use of mobile phone, driving habits, frequency of Internet use, and region of residence.

Keywords

European Parliament elections; election campaigns; political allegiance; political attitudes; television advertising; voting; voting behaviour

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• International politics and organisations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Public relations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Elections (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Follow-ups on Finnish National and Local Elections (GallupChannel)

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• TNS Gallup Finland

Data Producers

• TNS Gallup Finland

Time Period Covered

2004

Collection Dates

2004-06-18 – 2004-06-22

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 18 or over living in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Multistage

The data have been collected with the help of GallupChannel telepanel (PCs and Internet terminals in respondent households). Multistage stratified sampling.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

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

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Variable 'Municipality of residence' has been removed from the data. Open-ended responses to variable q11 (who did vote for in the European Parliament elections) are missing.

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

Moring, Tom (University of Helsinki) & TNS Gallup Finland: Follow-up on Finnish European Parliament Elections 2004 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2004-08-18). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2003

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

Moring, Tom (2006). Between Medialization and Tradition: Campaigning in Finland in a Longitudinal Perspective. In: Campaigning in Europe - Campaigning for Europe (ed. by Michaela Maier & Jens Techer), 81-100. Berlin: LIT Verlag.