Eurofound, The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
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10/12/2019
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10/12/2019
The European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) was carried out in four waves: 2003, 2007-2008, 2011-2012 and in 2016. This unique, pan-European survey is carried out every four years and examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. It looks at a range of issues, such as employment, income, education, housing, family, health and work-life balance. It also looks at subjective topics, such as people's levels of happiness, how satisfied they are with their lives, and how they perceive the quality of their societies. By running the survey regularly, it has also become possible to track key trends in the quality of people's lives over time.
Further information about the series, including downloadable reports and other publications can also be found on the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website.
Unless stated otherwise, the indicators are expressed as percentages within (or share of) the population and breakdowns are given by sex and sometimes also other respondent characteristics
The EQLS results are produced in accordance with the relevant international classification systems.
For more details on the classification systems, please consult this website: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/index.cfm?TargetUrl=DSP_PUB_WELC&StrLanguageCode=EN
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Most of the indicators are expressed as percentages within (or share of) the population that chose a particular answer to each question. The breakdowns are given by sex and sometimes other respondent characteristics. Most of the concepts and definitions are straightforward and are clear from the name of the variable (that corresponds to a specific question in the EQLS).
Other concepts and definitions used (such as main job, employment sector, occupation, etc.) are standard and can be found in EU LFS.
The unit of analysis is individuals aged 18 and over.
The target population is all residents of a survey country, aged 18 or older.
28 EU Member States and 6 non-EU countries (Iceland, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey)
The coverage of the EQLS over the years is:
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Unless stated otherwise, indicators are reported as percentages, or a share of population, that selected each answer category to a given question. In some cases, the mean of respondents’ answers is given (for example, the mean in the population of the usual weekly work hours, partner’s usual work hours, preferred work hours, etc.).
The reference period is the current situation. Some variables refer to the situation in the past 12 months. These cases are clearly indicated in each variable name.
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EQLS microdata do not contain any administrative information such as names or addresses that would allow direct identification. Anonymity is preserved in the aggregate data.
Usually, the questionnaire for each wave is made available on completion of the fieldwork. The overview report, data visualisation tool and information on methodology are published at the end of N+1 (where N = year of data collection). Survey datasets are made available no later than two years after fieldwork completion.
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It is Eurofound policy to make the questionnaires and datasets freely available to the public. Questionnaires are made available upon completion of the survey fieldwork. Survey datasets are made available no later than two years after fieldwork completion. Links to the questionnaires for earlier editions of the survey can be found on the pages for the specific survey waves:
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/about-eurofound-surveys/data-availability
The Eurofound datasets and accompanying materials are stored with the UK Data Service in Essex, UK and promoted online via their website. For access please see http://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/
Approximately at 4-year intervals
No regular news releases
There are no regular publications based on the EQLS. Eurofound research reports based on the 2016 EQLS data are available at this link: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/series/european-quality-of-life-survey-2016
The report of findings from the EQLS 2016 entitled “Quality of life, quality of public services, and quality of society” was published in 2017 and is available on the Eurofound website at this link:
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef1733en.pdf
The EQLS data can be accessed online at: http://nesstar.ukdataservice.ac.uk/webview/index.jsp?v=2&mode=documentation&submode=abstract&study=http://nesstar.ukdataservice.ac.uk:80/obj/fStudy/7348&top=yes
Selected data tables from the 2003, 2007-2008 and 2016 waves can be found in the Eurofound’s data visualisation, survey mapping tool: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/data-visualisation
The Eurofound datasets and accompanying materials are stored with the UK Data Service in Essex, UK and promoted online via their website. For access please see http://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/
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Information on methodology for each wave can be found online under the “Methodology” section on the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website.
Information on all aspects of data quality is available in the technical reports related to each wave.
For 2016, the technical and fieldwork report is available here: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/wpef18016.pdf
To ensure high quality of the data, each stage of Eurofound surveys is subject to detailed planning, close monitoring and documentation. Eurofound surveys subscribe to the quality criteria of the European Statistical System (ESS) as well as other quality frameworks, such as the Cross-Cultural Survey Guidelines and the Total Survey Error Approach. Quality control measures are included in the technical specification of the survey, and a specific quality control plan is developed and adopted with the fieldwork contractor. This ensures the application of the best practice and establishment of specific quality control targets encompassing all survey phases.
More information can be found in the data quality reports available for each survey on the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website. For 2016, information on quality control is included in the Technical and fieldwork report.
Information on all aspects of data quality is available in the quality assessment reports related to each wave and available on the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website. The quality assessment report for the latest wave is available here: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/wpef18059.pdf
The users of the EQLS data include EU policy makers, National governments, and international organisations. The main function of the Foundation is to provide with information and knowledge that assists policy makers and social partners in social dialogue and policy making. The EQLS has a high relevance since it covers quality of life issues, which are on the political agenda of the European Commission and on the working agenda of Eurostat. Researchers and students use the findings of the survey and they are usually interested in detailed data and metadata. Finally, media and the general public use the findings as an input to public dialogue and the democratic process.
The main user needs are to provide results of high accuracy appropriate for policy making purposes at a European Level and to produce highly comparable data based on harmonised methodology across member states of the EU, candidate countries and other European countries. Stakeholders and experts are consulted during the review and consultation process. Their suggestions are considered in the survey planning and the questionnaire drafting.
Eurofound aims to retrieve feedback from users through a short online survey. It is fundamental for this function to be working in order to gather and evaluate the feedback coming from the user.
The geographical coverage of the EQLS by year is explained above under 3.8.
The sample used in the EQLS is representative of all those persons aged 18 and over whose usual place of residence the country that is being surveyed. In each of the countries, a multi-stage, random sampling design was used. Depending on the availability of high-quality registers, sampling was carried out using individual-level, household-level and address-level registers or through enumeration using a random-walk approach. Country-level samples were stratified by region and degree of urbanisation. In each stratum, primary sampling units (PSUs) were randomly selected proportional to population size. Subsequently, a random sample of individuals or households was drawn in each PSU. Finally, unless individual-level registers were used, in each household the respondent was randomly selected.
For the 2016, 2011-2012 and 2007 studies, the target number of interviews was 1,000 in most countries, with some exceptions:
For EQLS 2003, around 1,000 interviews were conducted in larger countries and around 500 in smaller ones.
Accuracy of the statistical output is calculated in the post-assessment phase, through the quality assessment reports. For more information please see the quality assessment reports related to each wave, available on the on EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website. For the latest wave, information on quality assessment is contained in the 2016 Technical and fieldwork report (Section B.2) and in the 2016 Quality assessment report.
The EQLS is a random probability survey of people aged 18 and over living in private households. In order to be representative in terms of gender, age, urbanisation level, region and household size, weighting was performed for the EQLS. The final national weight is the product of the selection probability weight (accounting for the fact that adults living in households with more adults in them have a smaller probability of being selected for an interview than people living alone) and the post-stratification weight (correcting for under-sampling of certain types of populations, by comparing the EQLS to Eurostat data on adult population by age and gender, urbanization and region, and with EU-SILC data on households by household size).
A revision of the weighting strategy for the EQLS took place in 2014 and a new methodology was developed to calculate post-stratification weights. The results of this research are available in the report Revision of the weighting strategy in the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), published in 2015. This new methodology was applied in the latest wave of the EQLS (see the 2016 Technical and fieldwork report, Section A.7, for further details).
Weights were applied when constructing indicators for each survey wave to ensure that results based on the EQLS data can be considered representative for the adult population of each survey country.
Non sampling errors cover:
Under-coverage of the random route process is usually small although its actual extent was not measured. Most of it refers to institutionalised persons (e.g. prisoners) and/or those not having a place of residence (i.e. homeless, travellers etc.). The omission of the former group of persons is a design choice while the omission of the latter is a common feature of all area sample surveys. Bias introduced by coverage problems is alleviated by weighting which adjusts the distribution of the sample among main variables (age, gender, occupation, economic activity and region) according to a universe description (the EU-Labour Force Survey).
Measurement errors occur during data collection and cause the recorded values of variables to be different than the true ones. They are distinguished in three types of errors: errors due to the questionnaire, the respondent or the interviewer. Measurement errors were alleviated when experienced, well-trained and not overworked field force is employed in the survey.
The coding procedure was thoroughly checked, and all problems were reported in a coding report. Ambiguities due to inadequate textual descriptions were resolved by re-contacting the respondents. Data entry error rate remained limited, and data entry was of high quality. Checks were performed for inconsistent and/or illogical values before and during data entry with the help of appropriate software so as to ensure that records not pose any apparent empirical contradictions.
The unit non-response arises from three reasons:
The difference in survey characteristics between respondents and non-respondents creates the non-response error. Nonresponse error can affect the quality of survey statistics.
The cut-off point was chosen as 40%, which is stricter than the rule that Eurostat applies for his surveys: “Any questionnaire containing more than 50% item non-response must be rejected”. The response rate varied greatly across countries. The average response rate was similar to other social surveys.
For further information, see the quality assessment reports for each wave, available on the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website.
Findings based on the EQLS data are published on the Eurofound website soon after its delivery and acceptance. In general, first publications and reports are disseminated in the course of year N+1 (where N = year of data collection).
The release calendar published by Eurofound is only indicative and does not permit the calculation of an accurate punctuality indicator. However, it should be noted that the envisaged dates have generally been met, which demonstrates the smooth development of survey process phases.
For further information, see the quality assessment reports for each wave, available on the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website.
Harmonisation is a main priority in the EQLS and therefore the variables have been implemented in a harmonised way based on a common master questionnaire and an elaborate process of translation. The methodology used in the different stages of the survey process was quite harmonised.
Changes made to the weighting strategy introduced in the 4th EQLS could limit comparability with previous waves. According to the conclusions of the 2016 Quality assessment report, the effect of the weighting changes needs to be investigated to determine whether resources should be directed to revising the weights from past waves to maintain the trend. This has been assessed in detail in the 2016 Quality assessment report.
Many of the questions asked in the first EQLS in 2003 were asked again, on such issues as employment, income, education, housing, family, health, work–life balance, life satisfaction and perceived quality of society. Being in possession of several sets of data will allow the research team to gauge how people’s lives have changed in the intervening years. In a few cases minor improvements were introduced to improve the relevance or the accuracy of results and some new questions were added.
See for more information original questionnaires and quality reports the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website.
The EQLS examines subjective well-being, something that no other European survey provides. The OECD has started to measure well-being and progress and the European Social Survey (ESocS) provides some information. However, these sources do not cover such an extensive list of indicators as the EQLS, and they do not provide this information for all EU countries, making it impossible to perform comparisons.
Comparability with other European surveys such as EU-SILC and the EU LFS is only possible with certain objective variables such as working hours, education, work status and household size. The output of the EQLS data is in general coherent with the official data in the ESS as regards the core social variables. Detected deviations on some variables such as employment status, occupation or sector for specific countries apply only for a small part of the EQLS sample.
The quality assessment reports related to each EQLS wave contain information on comparability with other European Survey. For the latest wave, see the 2016 Quality assessment report.
The estimates based on the EQLS data for a given reference period have full internal coherence, as they are based on the compatible microdata and they are calculated using the same estimation methods.
Questionnaire-based interviews were conducted face to face, at the respondent’s home in the national language(s) of the country; average duration of the interview was 40 minutes in the EU28 and 35 minutes in the candidate countries.
Variables are being edited and corrected based on set of logical edits at data entry stage. No revisions are done after the publication for the data.
There is no fixed revision schedule.
The EQLS data is survey data. In each wave a random sample of individuals over 18 years of age have been interviewed face to face.
Approximately at 4-year intervals
The contractor conducting the interviews on behalf of Eurofound changes over time.
The interviews were carried out face-to-face. In 2016, the interviewing was supported by CAPI (Computer Aided Personal Interviewing) in all 33 countries covered.
Quality control was ensured by the contractors. For 2016, the Technical and fieldwork report (Section B.2) describes the data validation process and outcomes. Data validation included: consistency checks, eligibility checks, contact procedure analysis, checks of the length of the interview and checks for duplicates.
Data validation procedures for previous waves are described in the technical reports available on the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website .
For information on sampling design and weighing please see the methodological reports relating to each wave, available on the EQLS webpages of the Eurofound website. For the latest wave, information on sampling design and weighting is provided in the Technical Report (Section A).
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