Round 9 Survey Specification published

Following the first official day of the ESS Round 9 biennial period (1 June 2017), the European Social Survey (ESS) has now published the latest Survey Specifications.

The ‘Survey Specification for ESS ERIC Member, Observer and Guest Countries’ for Round 9 (2018) outline the tasks and responsibilities required to conduct the international survey.

Notable additions to the specifications for this round include improved fieldwork monitoring through the introduction of computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) in all countries and details of how to comply with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

These tasks and responsibilities will be undertaken by the coordinating team and by any survey agency appointed in each participating country.

The specifications are adapted before each new round of the survey and list all activities that should be undertaken with a timetable for implementation.

The aim of the specifications is to ensure that high quality data are collected in a comparable way in each participating country.

Data collected should represent both the populations of the participating countries and the concepts under study. The four key elements in the specifications with regard to the survey itself are:

• Preparing the national questionnaire, including translation;
• Preparing the data collection, including sampling;
• Conducting the data collection, including the collection of process data;
• Data processing and data delivery.

Round 9 fieldwork is due to be undertaken at the end of 2018.