RUSSIAN SOCIAL SURVEY (RSS) ON ESS SPECIFICATION AND PROGRAM
ABOUT PROJECT
Russian social survey (RSS) is comparable to European Social Survey (ESS) following the same specifications and standards of ESS – questionnaire, sampling method, data collection method and data presentation. This academic project studies attitudes, opinions, values and behavior of residents of “large Europe”. The surveys are conducted bi-annually using face-to-face interviews on national probability random samples of population 15 years old and over in about 30 countries (the number of countries in each round is slightly different depending on financial and organizational resources of each country).
The project employs the most advanced methods and procedures for cross-national surveys. The survey is conducted by the most reputable research institutions in each country qualified to follow highest standard of data quality. ESS data, as well as methods and procedures, serve as a baseline and reference source for many academic projects, policy decisions and evaluations.
Russia participates in ESS since year 2006 (3rd round of ESS was the first round of RSS). Since then six rounds of data collection were implemented and data released to public access.
Round 3 (ESS), Round 1 of RSS – September-December 2006, sample size of 2427 interviews
Round 4 (ESS), Round 2 of RSS – November 2008-January 2009, sample size of 2512 interviews
Round 5 (ESS), Round 3 of RSS – January-April 2011, sample size of 2595 interviews
Round 6 (ESS), Round 4 of RSS – October-December 2012, sample size of 2484 interviews
Round 7 (ESS), Round 5 of RSS – December 2014-Febrary 2015, sample size of 2445 interviews
Round 8 (ESS), Round 6 of RSS – October 2016-Jarnuary 2017, sample size of 2430 interviews
Round 9 (ESS), Round 7 of RSS – November 2018-February 2019, sample size of 2416 interviews.
The next round of ESS is planned for year 2021.
ESS, started as a join volunteered association of researchers from European countries, was turned out into legal form of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in 2014. As Russia is not part of ERIC, it continued the project as independent related study to ESS following research program and specifications and supporting partner relations with ESS
https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/data/related_studies/
Information about the survey:
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CESSI leads ESS in Russia since 2006. Since then, the survey was conducted 6 times based on representative national sample of Russian population 15 years old and over by face-to-face interviews in respondents’ homes.
Organization of the survey: first rounds of the survey were conducted within the group of European social survey. Data is available in separate and cumulated format in and www.ess-ru.ru. Since 2018 it runs as separate Russian Social Survey based on the program of European Social survey ERIC and the data can be found under the “related studies” in or in www.ess-ru.ru.
The survey is coordinated from the City University, UK (director of the project Prof. Rory Fitzgerald). Russian part of the survey is managed by Russian Scientific Team (prof. N.I. Lapin, Dr. V.S. Magun, Prof. L.M. Drobizheva, Dr. V.G. Andreenkov, Prof. L.A. Belyaeva). National coordinator of ESS in Russia is Dr. Anna Andreenkova (CESSI).
Data
Data documentation and databases are allowed for free access and can be used for academic, educational or informational purposes without any restrictions or embargo.
Survey materials in Russian including raw data can be found in website www.ess-ru.ru. International materials and documentations for all other countries (except of Russia round 7 and round 9 of ESS) in English are located in www.europeansocialsurvey.org
Financing


RSS is financed from multiples sources within Russia – it is supported by the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (RFBR), Highest School of Economics (HSE) and other funding institutions.
Content
ESS is the largest and the most reputable cross-national comparative project in social science in Europe. The purpose of the project is to study stability and change of social attitudes and values of population in European countries, to chart and explain changes in Europe’s social, political and moral climate and to achieve and spread standards of rigor in cross-national attitude measurement. The survey includes indicators of political values, political behavior, social structure, inequality, social mobility, household composition, labor values, wellbeing, quality of life, religious beliefs and practices, national identity, attitudes toward migration, social capital and general life values.
In 2005 ESS first in social sciences won the Descartes Prize, the highest European scientific reward for the excellence of quality in cooperative cross-national survey.
PUBLICATIONS AND THE USE OF RESULTS
Analytical report prepared on the base on first rounds of ESS in Russia by leading Russian researchers and scholars in different research fields in sociology, political sciences and demography can be found here.
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Results of first rounds of RSS are published in the book “Russia in Europe” (eds. A.V. Andreenkova, L.A. Belyaeva), Academia, 2009.
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Results of the survey was highlighted in many articles in Russian press:
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Results of the survey on rotating modules are described in several topline brochures produced by leading European experts in relevant fields and can be found in English or in Russian:
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Брошюра «Личное и социальное благополучие в странах Европы» (авторы К. Джеффри, С. Абдалла, А. Квик)
Bibliography of academic publications based on RSS data is located on the website www.ess-ru.ru