Citizens' Opinion (in Finnish) is a survey panel focusing on society and politics. Members of the panel participate in different online surveys a few times each year. The panel is administered by Åbo Akademi University's Social Science Research Institute and is part of the Finnish Research Infrastructure for Public Opinion (FIRIPO) funded by the Academy of Finland. The recruiting of members for the panel began in 2019, and the panel currently has thousands of participants. The Citizens' Opinion panel offers possibilities to track developments in public opinion over time and makes it possible to react swiftly to current events and launch quick surveys that examine public opinion with a representative sample.
The survey charted attitudes between Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking Finns as well as the consumption of Swedish-language culture in Finland. The data were collected as part of the Citizens' Opinion Panel, which is part of the national infrastructure for measuring public opinion (The Finnish Research Infrastructure for Public Opinion, FIRIPO). The dataset also includes responses from the 2021 survey round.
The 2023 survey could be completed in Finnish or Swedish, and some questions differed slightly depending on the response language. At the beginning of the survey, the respondents were asked to take a stand on various statements concerning, for example, the status of the Swedish language in Finnish society, studying Swedish, perceptions of Swedish-speaking Finns, and relations between the language groups. In addition, depending on the response language, the respondents were asked to assess their own proficiency in Swedish or Finnish on the school grade scale. The survey also examined the respondents' views on the level of Swedish-language education compared to Finnish-language education.
Next, the survey charted the participation of Finnish-speaking respondents in Swedish-language cultural events as well as their engagement with Swedish-language culture in the home environment. They were asked, for example, how often they had participated in Swedish-language cultural events, which cultural sectors the events represented, and what kinds of Swedish-language cultural content they had consumed at home. The respondents without previous experience were asked about their willingness to participate in or familiarise themselves with Swedish-language culture in the future.
The survey then investigated experiences and attitudes related to the use of the Swedish language. The topics included opinions on so-called "pokkaruotsi", switching languages in conversation, and bilingual interaction. In addition, the respondents were asked about their views on Finland's future linguistic and cultural development and questions related to the status of Åland. Finally, the survey examined the respondents' attitudes, through various statements, towards the Swedish People's Party of Finland (RKP), its participation in government and perceived influence, and how the party's activities affect, or are perceived to affect, Finnish-speaking respondents' attitudes towards Swedish-speaking Finns.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, language, age group, type of neighbourhood, whether the respondent has children, the statistical grouping of municipalities, and language relation.
Approximately 70 per cent of the panel participants were recruited using various probability sampling methods. The remaining participants were recruited through non-probability sampling.