Study title

Sociobarometer 2017

Dataset ID Number

FSD3183

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3183
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3183

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• SOSTE Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health

Abstract

The sociobarometer is a wide-ranging survey charting expert opinion on the welfare of Finnish citizens and on the present state of welfare services. Themes for the 2017 survey included current state and future of the services, inequality, social security benefits, customer fees, the health and social services reform (sote reform), social assistance benefit, and (un)employment. The respondents were managers of municipal health and social service offices, managers of employment offices, and management of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), as well as social workers and Kela employees.

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

The first questions studied the state of well-being in general. Managers of municipal health and social service offices and managers of employment offices were asked how well necessary services could be secured with the current resources. All respondents were asked about the influence of different factors on well-being in the coming years (e.g. unemployment, access to services, health issues, income disparity). Next, views were examined on inequality as well as the level of basic security. Respondents were enquired the minimum income that allowed decent subsistence for a person living alone in the municipality, and they were asked whether the level of different social security benefits should be increased or decreased. Assessments on the availability of fairly priced rental apartments in the area were also charted. The managers of municipal health and social service offices were asked about customer fees for health and social services and they were presented with attitudinal statements regarding customer fees.

The next theme concerned the regional government, health and social services reform, and questions were mostly presented to managers of municipal health and social service offices. They were asked to evaluate the reform in general as well as how different aspects the reform succeeded and what factors had affected its success. The survey also examined views on how costs of the reform could be kept down in the long run, and what effects the so-called freedom of choice for customers would have on e.g. the availability and quality of services.

The respondents were asked whether they thought it was the right call to transfer the responsibility from municipalities to Kela for granting and paying basic social assistance. Further questions were presented to social workers and respondents from Kela concerning the social assistance benefit. They were asked to evaluate the likeliness of a variety of effects caused by the transfer (e.g. whether the transfer would increase/decrease administrative costs, lower the threshold of applying for social assistance, speed up getting a decision for social assistance, or reduce bureaucracy). The respondents were also asked to what extent they agreed on a set of statements regarding the implementation of the transfer (e.g. whether the respondent's own organisation had informed people sufficiently about changes, whether preparations had been sufficient, and whether employees knew how their work would change). Their experiences during the transition period were also charted.

Finally, managers of municipal health and social service offices, employment offices and Kela offices were asked about employment and unemployment. The respondents were asked to evaluate different factors affecting employment negatively as well as the effectiveness of different political actions in increasing employment (e.g. stimulus policy, enhancing employment services, decreasing the level of unemployment security). Questions for managers of employment offices also covered long-term unemployment, youth unemployment, employment of immigrants, and factors affecting the employment of these groups. Questions were also asked about the effectiveness of cooperation between different unemployed groups and organisations promoting employment.

Background variables included, depending on the respondent group, time spent in current role, educational background, qualification, and major region, service department or insurance district.

Keywords

employment; employment services; health policy; health services; social inequality; social security benefits; social services; social workers; unemployment; well-being (health)

Topic Classification

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

Series

Sociobarometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• SOSTE Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health

Time Period Covered

2017

Collection Dates

2017-01-01 – 2017-02-28

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Organization/Institution

Universe

Managers of municipal health and social service offices, employment offices, and the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), as well as social workers and Kela employees (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

Each respondent group had their own questionnaire. Questionnaires were sent to all managers of municipal health and social service offices, social workers, managers of employment offices, management of Kela, and a sample of Kela employees. A total of 991 filled questionnaires were returned. The questionnaire sent to Kela employees was sent later than the other questionnaires (March 2017), because the executive management of Kela wanted to let their employees work in peace during the beginning of the year.

Contact details for the managers of municipal health and social service offices were collected from websites of all municipalities or joint municipal authorities in December 2016. Municipal mergers that took place in 2017 as well as new social welfare and health care regions were accounted for in data collection. Multiple respondents were selected from larger municipalities. 297 questionnaires were sent and 145 were received (response rate 49%, share of total data 15%). The questionnaire for social workers was sent to registry offices of each municipality or joint municipal authority with a request to forward it to all social workers. 370 social workers responded (37% of total data). Response rate for social workers cannot be calculated because the total number of social workers is not known.

The questionnaire for Kela management were sent to managers of the business units of Customer Relations, Benefit Services and Development, as well as Directors of Customer Service Units, and Heads of Customer Service Sections. 196 questionnaires were sent and 95 were received (response rate 49%, share of total data 10%). The questionnaire for Kela employees was sent to the randomly selected sample of approximately half of benefits processing and customer service employees. Contact details were received from Kela. The questionnaire was sent to 567 employees of whom 321 responded (response rate 57%, share of total data 32%)

The questionnaire for managers of employment offices were sent to directors, supervisors and managers of the service departments of employment services, business services, competence development services and services for supported employment. Contact details were received from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland. 151 questionnaires were sent and 60 people responded (response rate 40%, share of total data 6%).

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

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

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Questionnaires are not included in the data. Different respondent groups were marked according to the questionnaires in the previous datasets in the series: A = managers in social welfare and health care services; B = Kela management; C = management of employment offices; F = social workers; G = Kela employees.

The researchers removed identifying background variables such as specific regional variables and variables concerning the organisation. The following anonymisation measures were taken at FSD during archiving: variable q14 (accepted living expenses for social assistance) was categorised; q43 (unemployment rate) was categorised; the alternatives 'public administration' and 'economics' were grouped together in the variable indicating the educational field of management [koulutau], as well as alternatives 'medicine'/'health science' and 'education sciences'/'other or multiple degrees'; the regional variable for management of employment offices [tealue] was categorised according to major region (NUTS2) with the South-East Finland region included in Southern Finland; open-ended responses were removed from the archived data.

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

SOSTE Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health: Sociobarometer 2017 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2018-12-13). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3183; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3183

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

Näätänen, Ari-Matti & Londén, Pia & Peltosalmi, Juha (2017). Sosiaalibarometri 2017. Helsinki: SOSTE Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry.

Related Publications

Näätänen, Ari-Matti & Londén, Pia & Peltosalmi, Juha (2017). Sosiaalibarometri 2017. Helsinki: SOSTE Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry.

Näätänen, Ari-Matti & Ylikännö, Minna (2017). Kaikkia toimeentulotuen haasteita ei ole ratkaistu [verkkodokumentti]. Kela: Sosiaalivakuutus. https://sosiaalivakuutus.fi/kaikkia-toimeentulotuen-haasteita-ei-ole-ratkaistu/ [viitattu 17.5.2019].

Ylikännö, Minna & Näätänen Ari-Matti (2017). Toimeentulotuen Kela-siirto esimerkki tiedon ja poliittisen valmistelun kohtaamattomuudesta [verkkodokumentti]. Tackling Inequalities in Time of Austerity (TITA). https://blogit.utu.fi/tita/2017/09/11/toimeentulotuen-kela-siirto-esimerkki-tiedon-ja-poliittisen-valmistelun-kohtaamattomuudesta/ [viitattu 17.5.2019].