The Finnish Opinions on Security Policy and National Defence series includes all surveys conducted by the Advisory Board for Defence Information (ABDI). Their focus is on security policy, foreign policy and national defence. The FSD collections cover data from 1992 onwards. The surveys contain a set of core questions repeated over the years.
The annual survey charted Finnish public opinion on foreign policy, defence policy, security, military alliances, military service, and international armed conflicts at the time of the survey. Some questions examined views on factors affecting safety and security.
Opinions were charted on the success of foreign policy in the previous few years, funds allocated to the Defence Forces, whether Finland should resort to armed defence in case of any sort of attack, whether the respondents would be prepared to participate in national defence according to their abilities, and how the global security situation would develop in the next five years. Views were probed on the current, conscription-based defence system and whether women should also participate in conscription. The respondents were asked whether Finland should form military alliances and whether Finland should apply for NATO membership.
Next, the respondents were asked how different issues affected the safety and security of Finland. These included, among others, Finland's EU membership, potential NATO membership, participation in the EU defence and in international crisis management, and military non-alignment.
Satisfaction with defence policy in the previous few years was investigated. Views were charted on Finnish military cooperation in the EU, with NATO, other Nordic countries, and the United States. The respondents were asked to evaluate what effect several countries and organisations, such as Russia, China, US, UN, and EU had on Finland's security. Views were also examined on the military situation in nearby regions during the next decade.
Concern caused by certain phenomena and issues was charted, such as withdrawals from arms controls agreements, climate change, various infectious diseases and epidemics, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, organised crime, international terrorism, fake news, cyberthreats, political extremism, racism, employment, and current developments in the EU, Russia, Middle East and Ukraine. The respondents were asked whether their trust in the future of the European Union had weakened, strengthened or stayed the same. They were also asked about their views on how Finland had succeeded in controlling the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic.
Next, the respondents were asked to evaluate Finland's preparedness for the prevention of various security threats, such as armed attack, energy supply issues, infectious diseases and epidemics, environmental hazards, political pressure from other states, economic crisis, terrorism, and attacks against information systems and networks.
Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, age, economic activity and occupational status, economic activity and occupational status of the household head, household composition, ages of children living at home (categorised), gross annual income of the household, level of education, type of accommodation, region of residence, number of inhabitants in the municipality of residence, political party choice in the previous parliamentary elections, and political party choice if the parliamentary elections were held at the time of the survey.
Respondents were drawn using quota sampling with quotas based on age, gender, region and type of municipality. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 57 municipalities, of which 33 were cities and 24 were other municipalities. The sample was weighted to represent the target population.
Because of the coronavirus epidemic, the study was conducted as a combination of face-to-face interviews and an online survey distributed to the Taloustutkimus internet panel. In total, 500 face-to-face interviews were conducted, of which 260 were held in larger halls rather than the respondents' homes. 669 responses were received for the online survey distributed to the internet panel.
The face-to-face interviews were conducted between 16 September and 6 October 2020. The 44 interviewers had been trained by Taloustutkimus in interviewing for research. The interviewers were given written instructions for conducting the interviews. The progression of the interviews was monitored with personal tables that were created for each interviewer and random checks carried out on the respondents. The online survey was open to members of the internet panel between 29 September and 1 October 2020. In total, 3,072 invitations to participate in the study were sent to the panel members.