FSD2653 Finnish National Election Study 2011
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Study title
Finnish National Election Study 2011
Alternative Title
CSES
Dataset ID Number
FSD2653
Persistent identifiers
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2653https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2653
Data Type
Quantitative
Authors
- Borg, Sami (University of Tampere. Finnish Social Science Data Archive)
- Grönlund, Kimmo (Åbo Akademi University. Social Science Research Institute)
Other Identification/Acknowledgements
- Following members of the election study consortium participated in questionnaire design: Åsa Bengtsson (Åbo Akademi University), Kimmo Elo (University of Turku), Anne Maria Holli (University of Helsinki), Tapio Häyhtiö (University of Turku. School of Economics), Lauri Karvonen (Åbo Akademi University), Mikko Mattila (University of Helsinki), Tom Moring (Swedish School of Social Science), Heikki Paloheimo (University of Tampere), Lauri Rapeli (University of Turku), Jarmo Rinne (University of Tampere), Kim Strandberg (Åbo Akademi University), Peter Söderlund (Åbo Akademi University) ja Hanna Wass (University of Helsinki).
Abstract
The survey focused on the 2011 parliamentary elections in Finland. Main themes included political participation, political attitudes, party support, candidate and party choice and voting behaviour. Data were collected after the elections through face-to-face interviews and a self-administered drop-off questionnaire. The interview data contain Finland's contribution to the international CSES study. The same CSES module was fielded in Finland in 2007 (see FSD2269).
First questions covered interest in politics, attention to media coverage of the elections (including social media), Internet use frequency, willingness to discuss politics with others, party identification and self-perceived social class. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with some statements relating to voting, democracy, holding referendums and tolerance of people with different values or views. Willingness to influence things by own activity (for instance, by participating in a demonstration or joining a consumer boycott) was charted. Further questions covered membership in a political party, participation in election campaign work and opinions on whom a MP should represent. The survey also carried a set of attitudinal statements on voting, politics, political parties, politicians and public political influence. For instance 'I have no say in what the government and parliament decide' or 'By voting people can have a say how things are run'.
The CSES module explored what issues had been important to the respondents in these elections, what they thought were the most important political problems facing Finland and whether it made a difference who was in power or who people voted for. Views were probed on government performance, political parties, political leaders and whether any party or political leader represented R's views well. The respondents were asked to place themselves, the parties and party leaders on a left-right axis. Questions also covered differences between parties, the extent to which the respondents had followed election campaigning, satisfaction with democracy in Finland and whether they felt close to any party. Voting behaviour was studied with questions on whether the respondents had voted, the candidate of which party they had voted for, whether they had considered voting for a candidate of any other party and if yes, which party, whether they had voted in the previous parliamentary elections and which party they voted for. Finally, the respondents' factual knowledge was tested with a few questions.
Non-voters were asked why they had not voted and how self-evident not voting had been to them. Those who had voted for the True Finns were asked to what extent a number of issues had influenced their decision to vote for a candidate of that party and what had been the main reason. All those who had voted were asked what had influenced their choice of party, to what extent various issues had influenced their candidate choice, whether they had voted for the same candidate before and when had they decided whom and which party to vote for. One question explored how the respondents wanted MPs to vote in Parliament in cases where there was a conflict of opinion between them, their party or their voters. One theme pertained to trust in government and other institutions, groups and people.
The self-administered questionnaire surveyed what issues had been decisive for the respondents' party choice in the elections, opinions on what kind of policies Finland should focus on and what kind of political decision-making the respondents would prefer. Views were probed on work-related immigration to Finland and the policies of different parties on the issue. One question focused on information sources used for making voting choice. Political activities carried out on the Internet and type of activities generally engaged in when using social media and the Internet were charted. Other topics covered online voting, views on the importance of the candidate's gender and how easy it had been for the respondents to find a suitable party and candidate. The respondents were also asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to Members of Parliament, the government and political decision-making. Opinions on Finland's membership in the EU and NATO were surveyed as well as whether it was more important to let the majority decide or protect the needs and rights of minorities. Other topics included views on own financial situation and the Finnish economy and employment situation, left-right scale of certain concepts (e.g. being pro-immigration) and influence of a number of actors on the Finnish society. The effects of the debate on election campaign funding were charted as well as how the debate had influence the respondents' views of each political party. Finally, personality traits of the respondents were surveyed using the Ten-item personality inventory (TIPI).
Variables beginning with 'k' are national election study variables, 'q' denotes CSES variables, 'p' denotes variables from the self-administered questionnaire, 'a' denotes CSES administrative variables and 'd' denotes background variables.
Background variables included the respondent's year of birth, gender, basic and vocational education, marital status, trade union membership, daily television viewing, economic activity, occupational status, employer type, annual household income, number and ages of persons in the household, R's religiosity, religious affiliation, mother tongue, type of neighbourhood, housing tenure and constituency.
Keywords
Internet; election campaigns; elections; parliamentary candidates; parliamentary elections; party identification; personality traits; political allegiance; political attitudes; political awareness; political influence; political interest; political leaders; political participation; political support; trust; voting; voting advice applications
Topic Classification
- Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
- Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
- Elections (CESSDA Topic Classification)
Series
Finnish National Election StudiesDistributor
Finnish Social Science Data Archive
Access
The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.
Data Collector
- Taloustutkimus
Data Producers
- Election Study Consortium
Time Period Covered
2011
Collection Dates
2011-04-18 – 2011-06-14
Nation
Finland
Geographical Coverage
Finland
Analysis/Observation Unit Type
Individual
Universe
People living in Finland and entitled to vote in the Finnish parliamentary elections in 2011 (excluding the Åland Islands)
Time Method
Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section
Sampling Procedure
Non-probability: Quota
The sample of Finnish-speaking persons was drawn using quotas based on the age, gender and major region distributions of the target population. Interviews were conducted using the starting point method. The first interview was conducted at a randomly selected starting point, after which the interviewer proceeded to the next five households. In urban areas, interviewers were given the exact starting address whereas in rural areas they could choose the starting point themselves. Most interviews were conducted in the homes of interviewees, except for 178 interviews in Helsinki and 38 in Rovaniemi conducted in the premises of Taloustutkimus.
All interviews of Swedish-speaking respondents were conducted in their homes. The quotas for the Swedish-speaking sample were based on constituencies, not major regions, as interviews were conducted only in the constituencies where the number of Swedish-speaking people entitled to vote was significant (i.e. the constituencies of Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland Proper, and Vaasa). In these constituencies, interviews were only conducted in those municipalities where the proportion of Swedish-speaking residents was significant. The information on the percentage of Swedish-speaking residents in Finnish municipalities was taken from the Finlandssvenskarna 2009 report, compiled by The Swedish Assembly of Finland (Folktinget). In the first stage, a random sample of 1800 Swedish-speaking persons was drawn from the Finnish Population Register Centre. In the second stage, quotas were formed based on the age, gender and constituency-specific distribution in the random sample.
Altogether, 1,298 persons were interviewed (1,223 Finnish-speaking and 75 Swedish-speaking). 1,141 respondents consented to fill in the drop-off questionnaire (1,080 Finnish-speaking and 61 Swedish-speaking). In total, 806 adequately filled in questionnaires were returned (71%) of which 761 by the Finnish-speaking (71%) and 37 by the Swedish-speaking (61%). Taloustutkimus sent a Ässä lottery scratchcard to persons who had returned the questionnaire with their contact information. Face-to-face interviews of the Finnish-speaking respondents were conducted 18 April - 28 May 2011 and those of the Swedish-speaking respondents 5-24 April 2011. Deadline for returning the drop-off questionnaires was 14 June 2011.
Collection Mode
Face-to-face interview
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 and English.
FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.
Number of Cases and Variables
492 variables and 1298 cases.
Data Version
5.0
Related Datasets
FSD2556 Finnish National Election Studies 2003-2019: combined data
Completeness of Data and Restrictions
The residence of municipality (d27) is removed in the version 4.0 for privacy reasons.
Variables p29 ja p30_3 have been removed from the data.
Weighting
The data contain a weight variable 'painopu' matching the sample to the actual vote share of parties in the elections. The variable identifying which party's candidate the respondent had voted for was used to form the weight.
In 2021, updated weight variables were added for the main and self-administered questionnaires to enable more detailed comparison between the Finnish National Election Studies. The researchers recommend using these new weight variables when analysing the data. More information on the weight variables can be found in the attached background information file.
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
Borg, Sami (University of Tampere) & Grönlund, Kimmo (Åbo Akademi University): Finnish National Election Study 2011 [dataset]. Version 5.0 (2021-09-13). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2653
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.
Other Material
See downloadable files at the top of the page.
Website of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)
Related Publications
Borg, Sami (2012). Nuorten äänestysvalinnat, puoluekiinnittyminen ja edustautuminen. Teoksessa: Nuoret ja ääni - Nuoret eduskuntavaaleissa 2011 (toim. Ronkainen, Jussi), 15-27. Helsinki: Nuorisotutkimusseuran julkisuja; 125.
Fieschi, Catherine & Morris, Marley & Caballero, Lila (2012). Recapturing the Reluctant Radical: how to win back Europe's populist vote. London: Counterpoint. urn:isbn: 978-0-9568225-2-9
Karvonen, Lauri (2012). Att välja parti och att välja person. I Sphinx årsbok 2011-2012, 41-54. Helsingfors: Finska Vetenskaps-Societeten.
Bäck, Maria & Kestilä-Kekkonen, Elina (2013). Sosiaalinen pääoma ja poliittinen osallistuminen Suomessa. Politiikka 55(2), 59-72.
Quinlan, Stephen (2012). The Conundrum of Youth Turnout. A Cross-national Examination of Generational Processes. Dublin, IE: University College Dublin, IE. Doctoral Dissertation.
Smets, Kaat (2013). De opkomstkloof tussen jong volwassenen en ouderen in nationale verkiezingen. Een vergelijkend onderzoek (The Age Gap in Voter Turnout Between Young Adults and Older Citizens in National Elections. A Comparative Study). Res Publica 55(1), 11-36.
Karvonen, Lauri (2014). Parties, Governments and Voters in Finland. Politics under Fundamental Societal Transformation. Colchester. ECPR Press
Giger, Nathalie & Holli, Anne Maria & Lefkofridi, Zoe & Wass, Hanna (2014). The gender gap in same-gender voting. The role of context. In: Electoral Studies 35(3), 303-314.
Öberg, Susanne (2014) Sambandet mellan personlighet och politiskt deltagande i Finland. Pro gradu. Åbo Akademi, Statskunskap.
Garzia, D., De Angelis, A. & Pianzola, J. (2014). "The Impact of VAAs on Electoral Participation". In D. Garzia & S. Marschall (eds.), Matching Voters with Parties and Candidates. Voting Advice Applications in a Comparative Perspective. Colchester: ECPR Press.
Kestilä-Kekkonen, Elina (2014). Puoluedemokratian haasteet Euroopassa: Syrjäyttävätkö uudet poliittisen osallistumisen muodot edustuksellisen demokratian? In Tuomas Forsberg & Tapio Raunio (eds): Politiikan muutos. Tampere: Vastapaino.
Karjalainen, Maija & Rapeli, Lauri (2014). Who will not deliberate? Attrition in a multi-stage citizen deliberation experiment. Quality & Quantity 49(1), 407-422.
Rapeli, Lauri (2014). Eduskunta ja kansalaismielipide. Teoksessa: Eduskunta. Kansanvaltaa puolueiden ja hallituksen ehdoilla (toim. Raunio, Tapio & Wiberg, Matti), 51-65. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
Bäck, Maria & Kestilä-Kekkonen, Elina (2014). Owning Protest But Sharing Distrust? Confidence in the Political System and Anti-Political-Establishment Party Choice in the Finnish 2011 Parliamentary Elections. Research on Finnish Society 7, 21-35.
Ilkka, Sakari (2015). Sosialidemokraattien sosiokulttuurinen asema. Puolueen ja äänestäjäkunnan vertailu. Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto. Johtamiskorkeakoulu. Kandidaatin tutkielma.
Koivisto, Petra (2015). Portfoliosukupolven luottamus presidentti-instituutioon. Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto. Johtamiskorkeakoulu. Valtio-opin kandidaatintutkielma.
Wanamo, Markus (2015). Prospektiva och retrospektiva partibedömningars inverkan på väljarrörlighet. En studie av Finlands riksdagsval 2007 och 2011. Åbo: Åbo Akademi. Statskunskap. Pro Gradu.
Heinonen, Marja & Laaninen, Riikka & Paju, Reijo & Rapeli, Lauri (2013). Kyselytutkimuksen edustavuus Suomessa 1973-2011. Katsaus keskeisistä taustatekijöistä. Politiikka: Valtiotieteellisen yhdistyksen julkaisu 55 (2013):3, s. 192-199.
Intke, Maarit (2015). Perussuomalaiset - suomalaiselle sopivin? Perussuomalaisten äänestäjien ja kansanedustajien sijainti vasemmisto-oikeisto- ja liberaali-konservatiivi -ulottuvuuksilla vuoden 2011 eduskuntavaaleissa. Turku: Turun yliopisto. Valtio-opin kandidaatintutkielma.
Dudakova, Barbora & Havlik, Vlastimil (2013). Pravi Finove. Volebni uspech populisticke Radikalni pravice ve Finsku. Politologicka revue, 2013, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 7-33.
Koivusalo, Katriina (2016). Multinomiaalisen ja logistisen regression soveltaminen vuoden 2011 eduskuntavaaliaineistoon. Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto. Tilastotieteen kandidaatintutkielma.
Yrjölä, Oskar (2016). Politiskt deltagande i Finland. En överblick utgående från tre hypoteser. Kandidatavhandling. Svenska social- och kommunalhögskolan vid Helsingfors universitet.
Salovaara, Jaakko (2016). Eduskuntavaaliehdokkaiden näkemyksiä vapaan sivistystyön koulutuksesta. Oulu: Oulun yliopisto. Kasvatustieteiden pro gradu -tutkielma.
Bergman, Matthew (2016). No More Mr.Niche Guy: Multidimensional Issue Voting in Proportional Electoral Systems. Dissertation, University of California. San Diego
Sivonen, Jukka (2017). Poliittisesti eriytyneet asiantuntijat? Ammattirakenteen ja poliittisen suuntautumisen yhteys jälkiteollisessa Suomessa. Turku: Turun yliopisto. Taloussosiologian pro gradu -tutkielma.
Intke, Maarit (2018): Asiantuntijapäätöksenteko ja poliittinen epäluottamus: Häivedemokratian kannatus Suomessa vuosina 2007, 2011 ja 2015. Turku: Turun yliopisto. Valtio-opin pro gradu -tutkielma.
Kestilä-Kekkonen, Elina & Tiihonen, Aino & Westinen, Jussi (2018). Vääriä kysymyksiä vai vääriä vastauksia? Vasemmisto-oikeisto -ulottuvuus vuosien 2003-2015 vaalitutkimusten valossa. Politiikka 60:2, 92-111.
Bekkers, R. & Sandberg, B. (2018). Grading Generalized Trust Across Europe [online]. Paper presented at the 6th ESS workshop, March 16, 2018, The Hague. https://osf.io/qntze/ [cited 7.1.2019].
Zur, Roi (2019). The Empty Center Phenomenon Revisited: Ideology, Valence, and the Electoral Failures of Centrist Parties. PhD Dissertation, University of California, Davis.
Jansesberger, Viktoria Anna (2020). Participation Patterns of People-Centered-Democrats. Master´s thesis in Political Science, University of Salzburg
Peltoniemi, J. (2016). Parlamentissa vai ulkona? Ulkosuomalaisten poliittinen representaatio [verkkodokumentti]. Politiikka 58(2), 144-161. http://elektra.helsinki.fi/se/p/politiikka/58/2/parlamen.pdf [viitattu 27.7.2020].
Rapeli, L., & von Schoultz, Å. (2015). Citizen competence and different conceptions of democracy. ECPR Joint Sessions: University of Warsaw, Warsaw.
Westinen, Elina (2016). Multiscalarity and polycentricity in rap artists' social media communication: multisemiotic negotiations of otherness and integration. In: Downscaling Culture: Revisiting Intercultural Communication (eds. Singh, Jaspal & Kantara, Argyro & Cserzo, Dorottya). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.
Källman, Alex (2020). Är proteströstandet orsaken till Sannfinländarnas framgång år 2011? En empirisk jämförelse om protest- och ideologiattityders förändring mellan 2007 och 2011. Åbo: Åbo Akademi. Kandidatavhandling.
Garzia, D., Ferreira da Silva, F. & De Angelis, A. (2021). Leaders without Partisans. Dealignment, Media Change, and the Personalization of Politics. London: ECPR Press/Rowman & Littlefield International.
Isotalo, Veikko & Helimäki, Theodora & von Schoultz, Åsa & Söderlund, Peter (2023). Suomalainen äänestäjä 2003-2023. FNES: Vaalivälähdykset, 2023:13. https://www.vaalitutkimus.fi/suomalainen-aanestaja-2003-2023/ [viitattu 12.6.2024]
Söderlund, Peter (2023). Äänestäjien liikkuvuus vuosien 2019 ja 2023 eduskuntavaalien välillä. FNES: Vaalivälähdykset, 2023:7. https://www.vaalitutkimus.fi/aanestajien-liikkuvuus-vuosien-2019-ja-2023-eduskuntavaalien-valilla/ [viitattu 12.6.2024]
Study description in machine readable DDI-C 2.5 format
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