The Citizens' Pulse surveys, conducted by the Prime Minister's Office and Statistics Finland, examine Finnish views on current issues. The surveys explore views on the activity and communication of authorities, compliance with regulations, future expectations, and trust, as well as the respondents' own state of mind, health and well-being, livelihood, and concerns relating to everyday life. Central themes of the surveys include, for instance, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Most questions are repeated in each survey. The group of respondents changes for each round. Data were first collected in the beginning of April 2020. The data archived at FSD have been collected from the beginning of 2021 onwards.
The Citizens' Pulse surveys examine Finnish attitudes and opinions in the context of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Main themes in the surveys include the activity and communication of authorities, compliance with regulations, future expectations, trust, and the respondents' own state of mind.
The first collection round of 2021 surveyed the respondents' trust in other people and in various institutions, such as the Finnish Government, the health care system, and the media. The respondents were asked to evaluate how well Finnish authorities (including the Government, Ministries, and other authorities such as the police and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare) had been prepared for disease outbreaks such as the coronavirus epidemic. The respondents' state of mind was examined with questions on various matters relating to health and well-being. The questions covered, for example, whether the respondents were worried about their own risk or the risk of people close to them of falling ill with COVID-19, the availability of health care for them and people close to them for issues unrelated to COVID-19, and their own mental well-being. Additionally, the respondents' concerns were charted with questions regarding livelihood and everyday life (e.g. whether they were worried about the adequacy of their income or the income of people close to them, the uncertainty regarding how long the exceptional circumstances would last, and their children's schooling).
Next, the respondents' trust in their future and experiences of stress were surveyed. The respondents were asked to evaluate whether an atmosphere of crisis prevailed amongst Finns. Household loans and the financial burden caused by them were also examined, and the availability and findability of relevant information on the coronavirus crisis was charted. The respondents were asked whether they thought the communication of authorities had been impartial, reliable, valid, clear, swift, and open. Compliance with coronavirus restrictions was examined by asking the respondents whether they had observed the restrictions and recommendations set by authorities for preventing transmission of the virus, including maintaining safe distances, washing hands regularly, wearing a face mask, avoiding touching the eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands, using a hand sanitiser when available in public places, and minimising contacts with people outside immediate family and friends. Finally, the respondents' views on the coronavirus vaccine were surveyed.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, age group, NUTS3 region of residence, highest level of education, household composition, and perceived financial situation of household.
The sample for the first collection round of 2021 was formed of the target persons aged 15 to 74 living in mainland Finland who had responded to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey between 30 November and 12 December 2020 and for whom a current telephone number could be found. The sample size was 2,428 persons. The persons included in the sample for Citizens' Pulse had expressed their willingness to respond to an additional survey when responding to the Labour Force Survey. The Labour Force Survey samples are drawn as a stratified random sample from Statistics Finland's population database, which is based on the Central Population Register.
An invitation to participate in the study and a personal direct link to a Webropol survey were sent to the respondents by text message. The text message also contained a link to the Statistics Finland data collection webpage, where the participants were informed about, for instance, data protection. The data collection page includes a link to the privacy notice. Reminder messages were sent to those who had not yet responded two days after the first text message and on the last day of data collection. Most of the responses were received in the first three days after data collection began.