The research programme Finnish Local Government 2004 was a joint programme launched by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, universities and research centres. It was funded by Finnish municipalities and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. The project engaged in a systematic and comparable analysis of the development of the municipal sector in 1995-2004. The 47 municipalities participating in the programme were representative of the Finnish local government sector.
The study programme comprised of 14 research modules. For most modules, data were collected through mail surveys. The data may be used for cross-sectional or time series analysis.
The survey focused on the service provision, administration and development of cultural services in Finnish municipalities. The respondents were heads of cultural services, or other management level employees responsible for cultural services. Similar surveys were carried out in 1996 and 1999.
Questions covered the services, resources, facilities and staff of cultural services. A number of questions investigated what kind of services and facilities there were, who provided these services, and whether the municipality allocated funds for them. The respondents were also asked about contracted-out services, competitive tendering, and whether their municipalities sold cultural services to other municipalities. They were also asked to name the services that have attracted special attention in their municipalities. Views on recent changes and present state in the cultural services of their municipalities were probed, as well as the ownership of cultural facilities and respondents' satisfaction with them.
In relation to management and decision-making, the respondents were asked which elected body was in charge of cultural affairs in their municipalities, its significance, and the respondents' conception of the elected body. They were also asked about their duties and responsibilities as the heads of the cultural affairs departments.
Views on the use of client surveys and development policies for the future were explored. The respondents were also asked whether there were any ongoing reforms or experiments related to cultural services in their municipalities.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, job title, work experience, education, responsibility areas at work, and municipality size.
Two-stage stratified sampling in selecting project municipalities. Total study of heads of cultural services or other management level employees responsible for cultural services in the selected municipalities.
The project municipalities were selected separately from those with less than 10,000 inhabitants (28 municipalities) and from those with more than 10,000 inhabitants (19 municipalities). The selection aimed to be representative within both groups in relation to all municipalities with the same population size. Large municipalities were over-represented because 70% of the Finnish population lives in large municipalities. Representativeness criteria included regional location, age and education of the population, industry structure, municipal economy parameters, political situation and variables related to municipal policy. The selected municipalities form a small scale model of all Finnish municipalities. The Åland Islands municipalities were excluded because of special features resulting from Åland's autonomy.
The questionnaire was sent to the heads of cultural services (or equivalent) of the selected municipalities (N=47). 43 municipalities responded.