Study title

Finnish Expatriates' National Identity and Political Participation 2014

Dataset ID Number

FSD3463

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3463

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Peltoniemi, Johanna (Tampere University)
• Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (Tampere University)

Abstract

The study examined the national identity and political participation of Finns living abroad. The study received funding from the Unit for Democracy, Language Affairs and Fundamental Rights at the Ministry of Justice, the Migration Institute of Finland and the Finnish Club of Tampere.

Questions surveying national identity examined, among others, how long the respondents had lived abroad, their reasons for moving abroad, languages spoken with different people, contacts and visits to Finland, importance of different places (e.g. place of birth, Finland, country of residence, Europe) and the most important characteristics in terms of their identity (e.g. occupation, citizenship, gender, religion, country of residence). Further questions charted the importance of various things when considering who is a Finn (e.g. being a citizen of Finland, having lived in Finland most of one's life, having Finnish heritage), feeling of Finnishness, feelings of national pride in different things (e.g. international political influence, achievements in sports), and things the respondents felt they had had to change or give up when moving abroad (language, cultural traditions, opinions or habits).

Political participation was surveyed with questions about interest in politics, following politics in the media, forms of political participation engaged in (e.g. signing a petition, participating in a demonstration), participation in citizens' initiatives and membership and participation in associations and organisations. A number of questions about voting were asked, such as the most important things affecting the low voter turnout of Finnish expatriates, ways to increase voter turnout, the usefulness of introducing mail and internet voting and a separate constituency for expatriates, frequency of voting in Finnish elections, distance to the closest polling station, reasons for not voting, political party preference, and voting in the elections of the country of residence.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, year of birth, marital status, Finnish citizenship, education, economic activity and occupational status as well as the Finnish citizenship of parents and type of the place of residence.

Keywords

culture; expatriates; national identity; political participation; politics; voting; voting behaviour

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Cultural and national identity (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Peltoniemi, Johanna (Tampere University)
• Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (Tampere University)

Time Period Covered

2014

Collection Dates

2014-09-15 – 2014-12-15

Nation

Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Canada, USA

Geographical Coverage

Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Canada, USA

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People of Finnish origin aged 18 and over living outside of Finland

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Cluster: Stratified random

A sample of 3,600 Finnish citizens who had the right to vote in Finnish elections was randomly selected from the Population Register Centre. Finnish citizens living in Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Canada and the USA were selected in the sample, 600 people from each country. The invitation to participate in the study was sent by mail and the data was mainly collected via internet questionnaires. Some respondents contacted the researcher to ask about the possibility to respond on paper questionnaire or by telephone and both of these ways were allowed. 185 invitation letters were returned to the sender, leading to the assumption that 3,415 invitations reached their recipients. The number of respondents was 1,067, 67 % of whom were women.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

29.6

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

Related Datasets

FSD3575 Political Participation of Finnish Expatriates 2019

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Open-ended responses in the data were anonymised (variables q17, q18, q37). Alterations made at FSD are marked with [square brackets].

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

Peltoniemi, Johanna (Tampere University) & Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (Tampere University): Finnish Expatriates' National Identity and Political Participation 2014 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2021-06-03). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3463

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 Materials

Peltoniemi, J., 2015, Äänen pitkä matka: Ulkosuomalaisten matala äänestysaktiivisuus ja joustavien äänestysmenetelmien merkitsevyys [It's a long way to voting booth: emigrant voters and the significance of convenient voting methods], Politiikka 57:4, 208-225.

Related Publications

Peltoniemi, J. (2015). Äänen pitkä matka: Ulkosuomalaisten matala äänestysaktiivisuus ja joustavien äänestysmenetelmien merkitsevyys. Politiikka 57(4), 208-225. URN:NBN:fi:ELE-1763264

Peltoniemi, J. (2016). Overseas Voters and Representational Deficit: Regional Representation Challenged by Emigration. Representation 52(4), 295-309. DOI:10.1080/00344893.2017.1300602

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].

Peltoniemi, J. 2018, On the Borderlines of Voting. Finnish Emigrants' Transnational Identities and Political Participation, Doctoral dissertation (monograph). Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 2403. Tampere: Tampere University Press. URN:ISBN:978-952-03-0810-0

Peltoniemi, J., 2019, From mother to emigrant? Perspectives to dual citizenship, teoksessa Johanna Leinonen ja Auvo Kostiainen (toim.) "Transnational Finnish Mobilities: Proceedings of FinnForum XI", 236-253. hdl:10138/310583

Peltoniemi, J., 2018, Transnational political engagement and emigrant voting, Journal of Contemporary European Studies. DOI: 10.1080/14782804.2018.1515727

Peltoniemi, J., 2016 Distance as a cost of cross-border voting, Research on Finnish Society 9 (2016), 19-32.