[Eurobarometer] Data disparity in Eurobarometer or just illusion?

[Moschner, Meinhard]

Dear Waqas Ejaz,
thank you very much for your attentive and important question.

In general, the BASIC BILINGUAL QUESTIONNAIRE is the starting point for the translation into the different languages (and country contexts) which ends up in the national field questionnaires (which may again have more than one language version as for example in the case of Belgium). For a rough description of the translation process, please see: http://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer-data-service/survey-series/standard-special-eb/sampling-and-fieldwork/ (paragraph on “The questionnaire”).

Differences between basic bilingual (master) and final field questionnaires, even in the same language, may result from country specific language characteristics or from country specific institutional, social, cultural etc. contexts to which a question may refer. Functional equivalence is decisive, not necessarily identity.

In Eurobarometer 80.1 for example the first two items in QA2a differ insofar as the UK fieldwork institute obviously considered more adequate the use of the term “state” (of economy) instead of “situation”; the Irish institute applies “state” instead of situation only for the second item; the English language questionnaire for Malta keeps with “situation” for both items. Of course the parenthesis “Nationality” in the basic questionnaire is replaced by a reference to the respective country and QA2b does not appear in the UK questionnaire because it is only used for the Turkish Cypriot Community. Another good example would be item 7 of QA10 where the country specific name for the respective national parliament has to be applied.

Anyway, it is always advisable and good practice to have a look at the national language versions of a questionnaire (language knowledge provided), especially if one doubts about the plausibility of (differences in) results compared between countries. That’s the rationale for making available all language versions of a questionnaire!

Did you come across any translation/adaptation issue which might be suspicious to bias results?

With kind regards
Meinhard Moschner

--
GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
Dept. Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS)

Unter Sachsenhausen 6-8
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Germany
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Tel: +49 - 221 - 476 94 - 460
Fax: +49 - 221 - 476 94 - 199

meinhard.moschner at gesis.org<mailto:meinhard.moschner at gesis.org>
http://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer

Von: eurobarometer-bounces at icpsr.umich.edu [mailto:eurobarometer-bounces at icpsr.umich.edu] Im Auftrag von Waqas Ejaz M.A
Gesendet: Dienstag, 14. Oktober 2014 14:11
An: Eurobarometer at icpsr.umich.edu
Betreff: [Eurobarometer] Data disparity in Eurobarometer or just illusion?


Dear All,

I hope you are fine and I am using the appropriate email address to direct my question. I have started working with Eurobarometer survey data and recently I found out that the questions that are being mentioned in "BASIC BILINGUAL QUESTIONNAIRE" are bit different from the same series questionnaire asked from individual country. For example, the question that are in series 80.1 country series UK are not the same as in BASIC BILINGUAL QUESTIONNAIRE.

So, my question is that, it is so? if yes then why?

If not then what is the rationale behind the difference between two questionnaires of same series?

I would highly appreciate the response and thanks in advance for your time.

Regards,
--

Waqas Ejaz M.A



TU Ilmenau - Institut für Medien und Kommunikationswissenschaft

Fachgebiet: Empirische Medienforschung/ Politische Kommunikation



Ernst Abbe Zentrum (EAZ)



Ehrenbergstr. 29



D-98693 Ilmenau



Tel: +49-(0)3677 69 4685



http://www.tu-ilmenau.de/empk/<http://www.tu-ilmenau.de/empk>
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