1. health inequalities module
Social inequalities in health
health inequalities module
Institit d’Etudes Avancees de Paris
October 24th 2016
Thank PROGEDO colleagues for organising the event with us and Jacques Dubucs for his efforts for social science and humanities in Europe and his support for ESS in particular.
Thank Terje Eikemo and colleagues for their scholarship and commitment when developing the module along with input from CST colleagues and of course ESS National Coordinators. Will provide a unique perspective on health inequalities in Europe and beyond eg SA comparisons.
Dr. Rory Fitzgerald, Director of ESS ERIC
ESS ERIC HQ, City, University of London

2. ESS Aims
Chart stability and change to interpret how Europe’s social, political and moral fabric is changing
Achieve and spread higher standards of rigour in cross- national research
Introduce soundly-based indicators of national progress
Undertake and facilitate the training of European social researchers
Improve the visibility and outreach of data on social change

3. ESS Background
Academically led cross-national survey measuring attitudes
Data available for everyone to use for free
Face-to-face interviews every 2 years (since 2002)
Over 350,000 interviews completed
7 rounds completed; undertaking fieldwork for 8th
Won 2005 Descartes Prize
Became ERIC in 2013 / landmark in 2016
3,140 English language academic publications used ESS data ( )
Survey measures attitudes in each participating country about the media, politics, health and wellbeing, gender, demographics, immigration, citizen involvement, economic morality, family work, welfare, ageism, justice, democracy and health inequalities
Almost 100,000 data users - around 75% students
Won 2005 Descartes Prize for Research & Science Communication
The European Social Survey ERIC was recognized as an ESFRI Landmark Research Infrastructure by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) in March 2016
There are actually well over 3k publications on the ESS Bibliography

4. ESS Quality Highlights
Leading social scientist appointed as NC in each country
Probability samples in all countries (no substitution)
Effective sample size of 1500
Extensive questionnaire design and pretesting
Committee translation procedures
Same data collection mode in all countries
Best fieldwork agency selected
Detailed data collected about response process
Detailed data processing and post hoc assessment

5. Use of ESS infrastructure
Social Indicators Research 68
European Sociological Review 59
European Societies 29
Journal of European Social Policy 24
International Journal of Public Opinion Research 20
Comparative Political Studies 17
Survey Research Methods
West European Politics
International Journal of Comparative Sociology 16
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 14
Social Science & Medicine
International Journal of Sociology 13
Public Opinion Quarterly
Comparative European Politics 12
Social Science Research
European Journal of Political Research 11
Portuguese Journal of Social Sciences
Revue D'Épidémiologie Et De Santé Publique
ASK, Research and Methods 10
International Political Science Review
Political Studies
3140 EL publications overall
1442 articles in 602 journals
494 books & chapters
414 working papers
618 conference papers
Soon start work looking at use in other languages

6. Use of ESS infrastructure
As at 17 June 2016, the number of registered users of ESS was 94,617.
At this rate should have 100,000 by the end of the calendar year.
Of these 94,617 users, 63.7% (60,317) are students; 19.2% (18,199) faculty and research; 7.6% (7,176) PhD thesis; 2.7% (2,574) private individuals; 1.8% (1,682) Organisation (NGO); 1.7% (1,604) Government; 1.4% (1,312) Private enterprise; and 1.9% (1,753) listed as Other.

7. Socio-economic impact
Presentations at European, Italian and Lithuanian parliaments, OECD, UK Cabinet Office
Policy impact eg UK policing, Bulgarian immigration legislation, EU Justice indicators
Media coverage
Key data source for teaching (data driven age)
Other surveys adopting ESS procedures and standards
Participating national teams knowledge exchange in RI
Fieldwork agency contract / interviewers
Impact case study
Social sciences are excellent value for money

8. Core question topics Trust in institutions Political engagement
Socio-political values
Moral & social values
Social exclusion
Immigration
Ancestry
Security and terrorism
National, ethnic, religious ID
Well-being, health, security
Demographic composition
Education and occupation
Financial circumstances
Household circumstances

9. Readers can ignore the core topics stuff (see bottom left)

10. Commitment to the ESS 17 countries ESS ERIC Members (4 R8 Guests)
36 Countries have taken part in at least one round of the survey:
27 EU states (not Malta)
+ 9 others:
Norway, Switzerland, Israel, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Iceland, Kosovo, Albania
Austria
Poland
Belgium
Portugal
Czech Republic
Slovenia
Estonia
Sweden
France
Switzerland*
Germany UK
Hungary
Ireland
Finland
Lithuania
Iceland
Netherlands
Israel
Norway
Russia

11. Questionnaire design
Romania not been in recent rounds so go back a little

12. 4. Revised proposals from question designers
Stages 1, 2 and 4 repeated
2. Expert review of questions
1. Proposals from question designers
18. Mainstage Fieldwork
3. Use of Survey Quality Predictor Program (SQP)
5. Consultation with ESS National Coordinators
9. Split ballot MTMM experiments developed
10. Large-scale two-nation quantitative pilot & Advance Translation
13. Consultation with ESS National Coordinators
11. Pilot analysis & results of advance translation
15. Translation & Translation Verification
12. Expert review & revised proposals from question designers
14. Final source Questionnaires produced
6. Omnibus Testing & Cognitive Interviewing
7. Omnibus Analysis & CI Analysis
8. Revised proposals from question designers
16. SQP coding
17. Country pre-tests

13. Alcohol
Please think about the last time you were drinking alcohol on a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday or a Thursday. INTERVIEWER PAUSE TO ALLOW RESPONDENT TO CONSIDER THE SHOWCARD. How many of each of the following drinks did you have on that occasion? Use this card to guide your answer. INTERVIEWER PROBE: any other drinks?
Asked about weekday, weekend and binge drinking

14. Adaptation: Source Showcard

15. Adaptation: France

16. Adaptation: Norway

17. Methods notes
Romania not been in recent rounds so go back a little

18. Methodological Notes
Sociological background variables provide rich context
Module measures self-reported health (gender differences?)
Mental health items challenge to ask cross-nationally
High quality sampling, translation and fieldwork
Reasonable coverage of Europe (except for South)
Small samples for those with certain conditions (grouping required)
Exclusion of institutional population from samples
Specific items a challenge cross-nationally eg GPs

19. ESS Round 7 Response Rate
Try as far as possible to keep one survey design but there are inevitably differences in inputs and outcomes (see RR here).

20.
@ESS_Survey
european-social-survey