Study title

Sociobarometer 2007

Dataset ID Number

FSD2808

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2808

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health (STKL)

Abstract

This wide-ranging survey charted expert opinion on the welfare of Finnish citizens, and on the present state of welfare services. The respondents were managers or management groups of municipal social services offices, municipal health centres (primary health care), employment offices, and local offices of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela).

There were separate questionnaires for each organisational sector, with somewhat differing questions for each.

The questions common to all organisations studied perceptions of the changes in the number of staff, difficulty of recruiting skilled staff, sufficiency of human resources, action taken to improve the well-being of staff at work, and the possibilities of ensuring service provision to citizens with the existing resources. The respondents evaluated welfare of population in the municipality, and charted the positive and negative developments in the situations of some population groups.

Views on how the services provided corresponded to the needs of the citizens were surveyed as well as the role of various actors in preventive services. Cooperation between the respondents' organisation and other bodies and actors was surveyed. The importance of so-called extensive welfare responsibility and how this responsibility had been accomplished in the municipality was studied. Opinions on the significance of various actors and institutions in the welfare of citizens were investigated. Involvement in and views on joint service points and public employment and business services were charted. Situation of the organisation in terms of changes in services was investigated.

The questions not common to all organisations charted, among others, financial situation of the municipality, increase/decrease in financial resources allocated for services, role of social, health and economic policies in municipal decision-making, models of social service provision used in the municipality, increase/decrease in out-tasking, views on the reform of the labour market subsidy, opinions on basic income, importance of various suggestions related to improving the circumstances of the worst off, vitality of the principle of universalism in Finnish social policy practices, municipal and public service reform, and competitive tendering of services.

Background variables included the respondent's organisational sector and occupation/title as well as educational background of the organisation's managing director, and type of municipality.

Keywords

administration; employment services; health services; human resources; local government services; medical centres; organizations; public services; social security benefits; social services; social welfare; welfare policy

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Medical and health sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Health care services and policies (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social welfare policy (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Specific social services: use and availability (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social welfare systems/structures (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Sociobarometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health

Data Producers

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health

Time Period Covered

2007

Collection Dates

2006-12 – 2007-02

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Organization/Institution

Universe

Finnish municipal social services offices, health centres (primary health care), and employment offices as well as local offices of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The Sociobarometer 2007 questionnaire was sent to the social services offices, health centres (primary health care), and "full service" employment offices of all Finnish municipalities (the Åland Islands excluded) as well as the offices of the Social Insurance Institution that were open every weekday. The questionnaire was addressed to managing directors. The survey was mainly conducted as an online survey with separate questionnaires for each organisational sector. The data for health centres were collected as a postal survey because email addresses for some respondents were not available. In the reminder round, all respondents received the questionnaires by mail. The questionnaires for social administration offices were sent to municipalities according to the situation in 2006 (prior to the decrease in the number of municipalities in 2007). The six largest towns, Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Oulu, and Turku, were exceptional in the data collection, as they were sent more than one qustionnaire per organisational sector. The Kainuu region formed another exception in that three questionnaires were sent to the social services in the region as a result of centralised social administration.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

50

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

The archived dataset is missing variable q12_7. The variables containing data on the municipality and region have been removed from the dataset. During archiving, the responses to variable q80 have been categorised.

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

Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health (STKL): Sociobarometer 2007 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2014-03-03). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2808

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Special Terms and Conditions for Access

Users of the data shall send the Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry (SOSTE) a copy of all reports, theses, articles, other publications or material based on or using the data. If printed, to the mail address: SOSTE Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry, Tutkimus, Yliopistonkatu 5, 00100 HELSINKI, FINLAND. If electronic, to the e-mail address: tutkimus@soste.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

Eronen, Anne & Londén, Pia & Perälahti, Anne & Siltaniemi, Aki & Särkelä, Riitta (2007). Sosiaalibarometri 2007. Ajankohtainen arvio kansalaisten hyvinvoinnista, palveluista ja palvelujärjestelmän muutoksesta. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan keskusliitto.

Related Publications

Eronen, Anne & Londén, Pia & Perälahti, Anne & Siltaniemi, Aki & Särkelä, Riitta (2007). Sosiaalibarometri 2007. Ajankohtainen arvio kansalaisten hyvinvoinnista, palveluista ja palvelujärjestelmän muutoksesta. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan keskusliitto