European Social Survey - Rounds 9 and 10 UK National Coordinator

The European Social Survey (ESS) is a unique cross-national study which, since 2002, has sought to measure and explain the relationship between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes, values and behaviours of its population.
The survey is run biennially. Each Round contains a set of core set of questions, which cover a range of topics including media use, social trust, political affiliation and engagement, subjective well-being, social exclusion, religion, discrimination, national identity citizenship, immigration as well as socio-demographic classification questions.

In addition, each Round contains two rotating question modules. Each module focuses on a particular topic in more detail. The topics for inclusion are selected by an open competition among academics organised by the ESS Central Strategic team. Academic teams submit their applications and justifications for their topics and details of what they seek to measure and how this will be achieved. The topics for Round 9 are Justice and Fairness in Society and Timing of Life, which repeats a module run in an earlier Round. The topics for Round 10 are yet to be finalised.

Each participating country appoints a National Coordinator, whose role is to oversee the implementation of the ESS in that country and a survey organisation which undertakes the fieldwork and prepares the data. This proposal relates to the role of the National Coordinator.

The aim of the National Coordinator (NC) is to oversee the implementation of the ESS in the UK, coordinating between the various different groups involved in ESS and promoting ESS data to analysts as well as other interested parties for example in government, or the third sector. The NC must ensure that the survey is conducted according to the high standards of the ESS at all stages, from sample design through to data collection and preparation of the final dataset for delivery to the ESS archive. These standards and requirements are set out in the ESS specifications prepared by the ESS Director and CST. The NC must also agree the necessary adjustments to the ESS questionnaire to ensure it is appropriate for the UK, whilst at the same time ensuring that the ESS data requirements are met. In addition, the NC provides advice to the CST and contributes to discussions about questionnaire design and the ESS methodology and attends the biannual NC Forum meetings.

The ESS is a high-profile and widely respected social survey with which NatCen has a long association. This can be traced back to the original inception of the ESS, which was driven by Professor Roger Jowell, SCPR's (as NatCen was known then) founder. In many respects, the ESS shares a lot of similarities with British Social Attitudes (BSA), NatCen's own attitudinal survey. We therefore share many of the values and objectives of ESS, in particular a commitment to rigorous methodology and a desire to shed light on the attitudes and opinions of the general population.

NatCen has undertaken the coordination of the first eight rounds of the ESS as well as the survey fieldwork in 2002, 2008, 2014 and 2016. We have also conducted a mixed mode experiment alongside Round 6 using a combination of face-to-face and online data collection. We also undertook the recruitment of the UK element of the CRONOS panel as part of Round 8.

The ESS will benefit academics in Britain and internationally, policy makers in government and other non-government organisations including organisations on both the third sector and private sector. It is envisaged that the main beneficiaries by volume will be academics.

They will benefit through the provision of high quality data on the attitudes of people in the UK and the rest of Europe, enabling both cross-national comparisons to be made and the ability to measure change over time.

ESS data will be made available through the ESS Data Archive, as well as from the UK Data Archive. Users can undertake their own analysis either using an online analysis tool or by freely downloading the raw data and conducting their own analysis. Extensive supporting documentation is provided

Our proposals include a range of activities aimed toward extending the reach and use of the ESS data across academia, governments, third sector organisations as well as journalists. These activities fall into two broad categories: ongoing dissemination activities and targeted influencing plans for each wave.

Ongoing activity will include:

- using Twitter to highlight key ESS variables that directly inform live debates, promoted through the @NatCen account and @whatukthinks as well as personal accounts of leaders and researchers at NatCen.
- using ESS data in blogs and comment pieces on public attitudes by NatCen staff or external contributors
- making use of our existing relationships across the mainstream media to foreground ESS both at launch and throughout the year as the data sheds light on current issues.
- integrating ESS into an ongoing programme of briefings and events focused on public attitudes. These events reach a wide audience, including leading academics, opinion formers and decision makers. Our goal is to disseminate research findings, engage stakeholders in using (and challenging) findings and stimulate further analysis
- working with UK Data Service to run seminars promoting the use of ESS to academics, particularly early career researchers
- showcasing ESS data through a chapter in NatCen's annual BSA report, which generates extensive media coverage
- stimulate and support a network of the main academic ESS users to gather feedback about what activities they would find useful.

We will also develop targeted influencing plans for each wave, focusing on the potential for ESS data to inform key policy decisions and public debates. These plans are likely to focus on the rotating modules, but we also propose integrating data from other sources including both BSA and NatCen Panel. Each plan will have two aims:
- to use ESS data to directly inform decision making,
- to ensure that key stakeholders see ESS as an important resource.

For each rotating module, we will review the questionnaire and map data structure onto forthcoming policy debates / decision points outside of government. This will enable us to start building contacts and appetite in advance of the data becoming available, stimulating demand for the key findings and for secondary analysis of data once archived. When the data are available we will co-ordinate a series of briefings for key audiences, including policy leads, leading academics, NGOs and other advocacy organisations, and large private companies.

In addition, we will commit to ensuring a chapter of NatCen's annual BSA report focuses on ESS data. The BSA report generates a great deal of media attention and is an excellent vehicle for showcasing the ESS as a major source of attitudinal data.

Finally, we propose to deliver question design workshops which will aim to assist the successful academic teams leading the development of rotating modules in the design of attitudinal questions.