Study title

Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 1997: Day Nurseries

Dataset ID Number

FSD2162

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2162

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Heikkinen, Erja (University of Vaasa. Faculty of Public Administration)

Abstract

The survey focused on the practicalities, service provision, administration, and development of child day care services in Finnish municipalities. Municipal day nurseries mind children aged under seven. The respondents were managers of either municipal or private day nurseries. Similar surveys were carried out in 1997, 1999 and 2003, from the viewpoints of day nursery managers, municipal service directors and child-minding coordinators.

First, the respondents were asked how many children there were in their day care centres, and how the children were divided in terms of age and the type of day care (e.g. full day care, sessional day care). The respondents also assessed the reputation and popularity of their day nurseries. The number of employees in the nurseries and their tasks were queried, as well as the current expenditure and income of day care services. Some questions pertained to the current ownership, location, and opening hours of the nurseries. Opinions on day care facilities and special needs provision (e.g. for physically disabled children) were charted. There were also questions relating to service provision, competitive tendering, and satisfaction with services.

Further questions covered management and decision-making on child day care in the municipality. Views on the use of performance measures were probed. The respondents also gave their opinions on the quality and importance of municipal day care. Finally, the development of day care services since 1992 and development policies for the future were surveyed.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, mother tongue, year of birth, job title, work experience, level of education, and elective offices.

Keywords

child day care; child-minders; child-minding; children; community development; day nurseries; local community facilities; local government; local government officers; local government policy; local government services; pre-primary education; pre-primary schools; preschool children; public services; social systems; subcontracting

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Government, political systems and organisations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Specific social services: use and availability (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social welfare systems/structures (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish Local Government 2004

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Mäkelä, Pertti (University of Vaasa. Faculty of Public Administration)

Data Producers

• Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities

Time Period Covered

1997

Collection Dates

The early 1997 ( 1997 )

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Political-administrative area (Municipality)

Universe

Finnish municipalities (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Multistage

Two-stage stratified sampling in selecting project 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 managers of municipal and private day nurseries in the selected municipalities (N=558). 366 of them responded.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

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

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD2161 Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 1997: Service Directors

FSD2163 Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 1997: Child-Minding

FSD2164 Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 1999: Service Directors

FSD2165 Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 1999: Day Nurseries

FSD2166 Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 1999: Child-Minding

FSD2167 Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 2003: Service Directors

FSD2168 Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 2003: Day Nurseries

FSD2169 Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 2003: Child-Minding

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The data do not include the names of day nurseries nor opinions on the survey asked at the end of the questionnaire.

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

Heikkinen, Erja (University of Vaasa): Finnish Local Government 2004: Child Day Care 1997: Day Nurseries [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-20). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2162

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 Materials

Heikkinen, Erja (1998). Subjektiivisin oikeus - päivähoitopalvelut paineiden alla. Helsinki : Suomen Kuntaliitto. KuntaSuomi 2004 -tutkimuksia nro 11. Acta nro 94.

Related Publications

Heikkinen, Erja (1998). Subjektiivisin oikeus - päivähoitopalvelut paineiden alla. Helsinki: Suomen Kuntaliitto. KuntaSuomi 2004 -tutkimuksia nro 11. Acta nro 94.