Study title

ISSP 2016: Role of Government V: Finnish Data

Dataset ID Number

FSD3149

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3149

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
• Melin, Harri (University of Tampere. School of Social Sciences and Humanities)

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Borg, Sami (University of Tampere. Finnish Social Science Data Archive)
• Nieminen, Markku (Statistics Finland)

Abstract

ISSP 2016: Role of Government V: Finnish Data - survey investigated the opinions of Finnish people on government and government actions, authorities, citizen's possibilities of influencing government, taxation, corruption, and immigration.

The first questions dealt with law and the justice systems. The respondents were asked whether they thought that people should obey the law without exception and whether they thought it is worse to convict an innocent person or to let a guilty person go free. The respondents were also asked about ways in which people or organisations should be permitted to protest against the government and what rights should be allowed for political extremists.

Views on government's possible economic measures were probed. The respondents' were asked if they were in favour or against certain measures, such as "cuts in government spending" and "reducing the working week to create more jobs". Next, the respondents were presented with a list of government spending areas. They were asked whether they would like to see the government spend more or less money on areas such as health, the police and law enforcement, and education. Furthermore, views on government responsibilities such as "keeping prices under control" or "providing health care for the sick" were investigated. The respondents' attitudes on who should provide services, such as health care for the sick, care for the elderly, or education for children, were charted. The options included government, private companies, non-profit organisations, religious organisations, and family.

Perceptions of which people and organisations have the most influence on government actions in Finland were investigated. Views on civil liberties and public security were studied with questions about government surveillance of private persons. Furthermore, the respondents were asked what rights the authorities should have in case of a suspected terrorist act. Next, the respondents' interest in politics and their views on how they could influence politics were studied.

Views on taxation for people with different levels of income, as well as attitudes towards tax authorities and major private companies were investigated. Opinions on corruption of politicians and public officials were studied as well. Lastly, the respondents were asked how successful the Finnish government was in providing health care for the sick, providing a decent standard of living for the old, and dealing with threats to Finland's security. The Finnish questionnaire also contained a question about immigration, which was absent from the English version of the ISSP questionnaire. In this question, the respondents' views on who should be allowed to immigrate to Finland were studied.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, education, participation in working life, occupation, weekly working time, whether R held a managerial position, employer (public/private sector), membership in trade union, voting behaviour, religion, income, and information about R's neighbourhood.

Keywords

administration; corruption; economic systems; government; government role; health services; immigration; law; legal systems; political extremism; political interest; political power; public administration; public expenditure; social services; taxation

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social welfare policy (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

ISSP (International Social Survey Programme)

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Statistics Finland

Data Producers

• University of Tampere. School of Social Sciences and Humanities
• Statistics Finland
• Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Time Period Covered

2016

Collection Dates

2016-09-06 – 2016-12-20

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Finns aged 15-74 years

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Systematic random

Systematic random sample from the population register maintained by Statistics Finland. Sorting order: municipality of residence and time of birth

The sample size was 2,500 persons, 94.9% of whom were Finnish speakers, and 5.1% of whom were Swedish speakers. 1,186 forms were returned. Non-response was 1,314. The reasons for non-response were: unknown address (10), sick or otherwise unable (2), language problems (1), chosen respondent absent (1), refusal (4), forms returned empty (5), and other reason (1,291).

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

47.4

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

FSD2248 ISSP 2006: Role of Government IV: Finnish Data

Weighting

There are two weight variables in the data: bv7_1 and bv7_2. They have been created by calibration in order to improve the accuracy of estimation, and in order to correct for non-response bias. The weights are based on the following population distributions: 1) gender, 2) age categories (15-24, 25-34, ..., 65-74), 3) NUTS3- regions in such a way that Greater Helsinki area was treated on its own, 4) type of municipality (capital area, urban municipality, rural municipality). The first weight variable (bv7_1) expands the sample size to the whole population (the total of the weights corresponds with population size). The second weight variable (bv7_2) does not have this expanding attribute (the average of the weight is one, and the total is the number of units of observation). Both weight variables are based on the same calibration process, only the scale is different.

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

International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) & Melin, Harri (University of Tampere): ISSP 2016: Role of Government V: Finnish Data [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-24). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3149

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 Publications

Savasti, Henri (2017). Korruption bland politiker och tjänstemän. En undersökning om finländarnas uppfattning om förekomsten av korruption. Turku: Åbo Akademi. Julkishallinnon kandidaatintutkielma.

Kemppinen, Samu (2017). Yhteiskuntaluokka ja finanssipoliittinen mielipide: yhteisvaihtelututkimus yhteiskuntaluokan ja finanssipoliittisen mielipiteen välisestä yhteydestä. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto. Yhteiskuntapolitiikan kandidaatintutkielma

Gustafsberg, Harri & Nyman, Markku (2018). Yksilöresilienssi ja yhteiskunnan turvallisuus. Tampere: Mentoritiimi.

Young-hwan Byun (2019) Government Redistribution and Public Opinion: A Matter of Contention or Consensus?, International Journal of Sociology, 49:3, 204-221, DOI: 10.1080/00207659.2019.1605029

Ricardo Gonzalez, Bernardo Mackenna & Esteban Muñoz (2019) The experience and perception of corruption: A comparative study in 34 societies, International Journal of Sociology, 49:3, 222-240, DOI: 10.1080/00207659.2019.1605030

Joakim Kulin & Ingemar Johansson Sevä (2019) The Role of Government in Protecting the Environment: Quality of Government and the Translation of Normative Views about Government Responsibility into Spending Preferences, International Journal of Sociology, 49:2, 110-129, DOI: 10.1080/00207659.2019.1582964

Frédéric Gonthier (2019) Mixed Loyalties. The Middle Class, Support for Public Spending and Government Efficacy in Times of Welfare Retrenchment, International Journal of Sociology, 49:2, 148-168, DOI: 10.1080/00207659.2019.1582966

Nate Breznau (2019) The underlying Public Attitude Toward Government Responsibility to Intervene in Socioeconomics, 30 Years of Evidence from the ISSP, International Journal of Sociology, 49:3, 182-203, DOI: 10.1080/00207659.2019.1605028

Ferland, Benjamin. 2020.'Electoral Systems and Policy Congruence.' Political Studies, Online First. DOI: 10.1177/0032321719895428

Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola and Schündeln, Mathias. 2020.'The Long-Term Effects of Communism in Eastern Europe.' Journal of Economic Perspectives 34:2, 172-191.

Engler, Sarah and Weisstanner, David. 2021.The threat of social decline: income inequality and radical right support. Journal of European Public Policy 28:2, 153-173. doi: 10.1080/13501763.2020.1733636.

A., Edlund J & Lindh. 2021. Popular Support for Public Education in Global Perspective. Global Education Monitoring Report, Non-State Actors in Education. Paris: UNESCO.

Biolcati, Ferruccio; Molteni, Francesco; Quandt, Markus and Vezzoni, Cristiano (2022): "Church Attendance and Religious change Pooled European dataset (CARPE): a survey harmonization project for the comparative analysis of long-term trends in individual religiosity." In: Quality and Quantity 56 (3): 1729-1753. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135020-01048-9.