Advisory Council for Youth Affairs (Nuora), nowadays called the State Youth Council, started to produce Youth Surveys in 1994. This survey series charts attitudes and expectations of Finnish young people aged 15 - 29. Each survey contains both current questions and recurring questions which are repeated over time, enabling the study of long-term attitude changes. The main themes include attitudes to education, working life, social security, spending, drug use, and young people's willingness to participate in order to influence decision-making.
The youth survey focused on Finnish young people's trust in institutions, voting behaviour, views on acceptable behaviour and on causes for social exclusion, feelings of insecurity, religious affiliation, attendance and beliefs, and opinion on the Church.
First, the respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to work, working life, and commitment to work. Trust in political parties, public officials, trade unions, the Church, the Defence Forces, the police, Parliament, municipal executive council, the European Union, the President, banks, judiciary, the Government, NATO, the media and the Internet was charted. Some questions covered the respondents' voting behaviour in the presidential elections, and opinions on Finland's EU membership.
The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to acceptability of vandalism, demonstrations against foreigners, downloading music from the Internet without paying, tax evasion, etc. A number of statements related to sex, e.g. is it acceptable to buy or sell sex, have sex with a same-sex partner, have an abortion, etc. Views were probed on to what extent exclusion is caused by lack of education, friends, hobbies or faith in the future, own indifference, troublesome childhood home, injustice in society, etc. The respondents were asked whether they felt insecure or uncertain regarding studies, getting a job, health and safety of family members, increase in immigrant numbers, prevailing values and attitudes, etc.
The respondents' religious affiliation and attendance were surveyed. The respondents were also asked how religious they considered themselves to be, how religious their childhood home had been, and whether family members had talked about religion, attended religious services or Sunday School, or prayed before meals in their childhood home. Further questions charted how often the respondents pray and with whom they talk about religious issues. Two questions focused on beliefs about God. Attitudes towards different religions and religious groups were surveyed. The respondents were asked whether they believe in supernatural beings, ghosts, witches, UFOs, Jesus the Son of God, Holy Spirit, angels, Satan, demons, extraterrestrials, astrology, or that God created the world like it says in the Bible, that everything is predestined, etc. Feelings of life control and general satisfaction with life were charted. Views were also probed on what happens after death, and whether the Church is capable of providing good answers to moral, spiritual or social problems and needs. The respondents were asked how important they considered certain activities and services carried out by parishes to be. Voting behaviour in church elections was investigated.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, household composition, vocational education, and the education, age and occupation of R's parents, R's current educational or employment situation, type of employment contract, economic activity and occupational status, region and province of residence, type of municipality.
Random sampling from the population register with quotas based on age, gender, mother tongue, and place of residence. 1,800 Finnish-speaking and 100 Swedish-speaking young people were interviewed.