University of Tokyo

Abstract
Survey Number 0657
Survey Title Asian Barometer 2 + CSES3 Panel Survey, 2007
Depositor Ken'ichi Ikeda
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Summary This survey was conducted as the Japanese portion of the "Report on the Japanese part of comparative studies on democratic legitimacy, participation, and social capital" (issue number 18203033, Principal Investigator: Kenichi Ikeda), supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

This research was carried out with the collaboration of social psychologists, political scientists and political sociologists. In this research, we collected the Japanese data for two comparative studies which have been collecting data globally, the Asian Barometer and CSES (The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems). These studies seek to investigate the relationship between participation in society and politics, social capital, and democracy. By conducting the Japanese portion of this research, we fulfill Japan's obligations and at the same time clarify Japan's relative position, and exploit the benefits of collecting panel data for two different surveys from the same respondents.

The CSES and Asian Barometer research projects each have an international project committee, and the Japan team coordinated closely with each of them.

CSES has one global project committee with its headquarters at the University of Michigan Survey Research Center. The Japanese data for the first round (1996) comparative survey was collected in JEDS1996 (SSJDA survey number 0093), while data for the second round was collected in the 7th wave of JES3 Research (SSJDA survey number 0530). These have already been published. The Japanese data for the third round of the CSES survey was collected in the 2007 survey included in this data set.

The purpose of the CSES comparative survey is to investigate the kind of relationships that exist between political systems and information environments that define political participation including voting, people's political awareness, recognition of political options and political activities, and how they are linked to the support of democracy, rise in feeling of political empowerment and the refinement and increase of political participation. It is a rule to conduct the CSES survey immediately following major national elections.

The Global Barometer Project Study (GBS), by coordinating data collection for the Euro-barometer (16 countries), Latino-barometer (18 countries), and Afro-barometer (15 countries), and adding the New Euro-barometer (16 countries) and the East Asia-barometer (12 countries) (now the Asian barometer), has amassed comparative data from more than 70 countries making it possible to analyze data regarding the universality of democracy such as the correlations between democracy and social capital and between political participation and culture by integrating nationally representative samples without being biased by each country's urban data. The focus of this research is country-to-country comparisons of participation in society and politics, the transformation of values and social capital, and democracy and advances in democratization. Though such comparisons it will be possible to empirically examine what is brought about by democratization and transformations in democracy and what relationships there are between people's cultural awareness and social capital. Barometer research was first carried out in Japan by Professor Ikeda, and the first data was collected in Japan in 2003. The Japanese data for the second round of the Asia region was collected in the 2006 survey as a part of this study.

The most important feature of this study is the very important contribution of Japanese data that is directly comparable to that of other countries. In addition, the Japanese data provided through this research is important for three reasons. First, Japan is a non-western country which has been a democracy for over 60 years. Second, it will be a basis for comparison for other modernizing Asian countries. Finally, it plays an important role in internationalizing Japanese research.

Moreover, there are benefits to collecting data for both the barometer and CSES from the same Japanese respondents simultaneously as part of a single panel survey. On the one hand, the barometer study has insufficient data for political participation, political choices and political systems. On the other hand, CSES has insufficient data relating to democracy. By combining them, at least with regards to the Japanese data, it is possible to gain a much deeper understanding of the relationship between democratization and political behavior. Finally, there is a single data set containing the data from both surveys.

Japanese data is being collected according to a three-year plan. As a part of a 2006 nationwide survey, Barometer 2 data was collected, and in 2007, shortly after the Upper House elections, CSES3 data was collected from the same survey respondents. These are at the micro data collection stage. In 2008, by analyzing and examining the micro data, associating data from a variety of related databases, and editing it to conform to global standards, it was transformed into comparative data that conformed to both micro and macro data standards. The data transformation work is directly linked to efforts to merge the data with that of other countries as well as for the preparation of the data for public release. Finally, in order to clarify the significance of the data from the CSES survey conducted after the Upper House elections under the Abe administration, a political awareness survey was conducted on an internet sample in March 2009, thereby creating a base rate for comparison to data collected under the Aso administration, etc.

Each of the two surveys contains three data subsets. The first is time series data serving as indices collected on a regular basis in each country (time series data). The second is data related to the theme of the research of that particular round of research (theme related data). The third is data upon which researchers in each country can perform their own additional analyses (value-added data).
Data Type quantitative research
quantitative research: micro data
Universe Male and female individuals at least 20 years of age, residing in Japan
Unit of Observation Individual
Sample Size 2006 Survey
*Sample Size: 2,500 effective responses (including 709 from reserve subjects) from a sample of 3,111 such individuals (including reserve subjects 611 )
*Number of valid responses: 1,067 (regular subjects: 891 people, reserve subjects: 176 people)
*Percentage of valid responses: 42.7%

2007 Survey
*Sample Size: 2,500 (subjects continuing from previous year: 1,006, new subjects: 1,494)
*Of the 1,067 valid responses received in the 2006 survey, 61 respondents clearly stated that they did not wish to participate in future surveys. These responses were eliminated from the analysis.
*Number of valid responses: 1,373 (subjects continuing from the previous year: 752, new subjects: 621)
*Percentage of valid responses: 54.9%
Date of Collection 2007-02-23 ~ 2007-08-16
2006 Survey: Thursday, February 23rd, 2007 to Saturday, March 10th, 2007

2007 Survey: Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 to Thursday, August 16th, 2007
Time Period 2005 ~ 2007
Spatial Unit Japan
All of Japan
Sampling Procedure Probability: Stratified
Probability: Multistage
2006 Survey
Two-stage stratified random sampling using Basic Resident Register or voter registration list

Sample size: 2,500 (reserve subjects: 709)

Stratification: Municipalities of all sizes stratified with consideration given to city size and regionality

Stratification was achieved as follows:

Separated by block:
1) Hokkaido 2) Tohoku 3) Kanto 4) Hokuriku 5) Tosan
6) Tokai 7) Kinki 8) Chugoku 9) Shikoku 10) Northern Kyushu 11) Southern Kyush

Separated by urban scale:
1) The 16 metropolises 2) Cities with population over 200,000
3) Cities with population over 100,000 4) Cities with population under 100,000
5) Towns and villages

Survey sites: 203 sites

2007 Survey
Two-stage stratified random sampling using Basic Resident Register or voter registration list

Sample size: 2,500 (subjects continuing from previous year: 1,006, new subjects: 1,494 people)

Stratification: The same as in the 2006 survey
Mode of Data Collection Face-to-face interview
2006 Survey
Survey workers conducted individual interviews
*1 week before the interviews, survey subjects were sent postcards requesting their cooperation.

2007 Survey
Survey workers conducted individual interviews
*1 week before the interviews, survey subjects were sent postcards requesting their cooperation.
Investigator Principal Investigator: Kenichi Ikeda (University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology)

Research Members: Yoshitaka Nishizawa (Doshisha University), Masahiro Yamada (Kwansei Gakuin University), Naoko Taniguchi (Teikyo University), Satoko Yasuno (Chuo University), Gill Steel (University of Tokyo), Tetsuro Kobayashi (National Institute of Informatics) Kazunori Inamasu (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and University of Tokyo) (all information was current at the time of research), the company conducting the survey: Central Research Services, Inc.
DOI 10.34500/SSJDA.0657
Sponsors (Funds) Grant for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Related Publications (by the Investigator) Kenichi Ikeda, "Report on the Japanese part of comparative studies on democratic legitimacy, participation, and social capital," 2009, (electronic medium)
Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis)
Documentation [Asian Barometer 2]
[CSES3]
Major Survey Items 2006 Survey (Asian Barometer 2)

Time Series Data
* Free response regarding the meaning of democracy

* Approval of, support, and degree of satisfaction with democracy and democratization. Feeling of superiority or inferiority compared with other political systems. Attitude regarding the relative priority of economic activity.

* Trust in systems (electoral system, the Diet, political parties, the courts, central government agencies, regional government, police, military, newspapers, television etc.)

* Political participation (voting, appeals and petitions, contact with politicians and government officials, contact with the media, donations, participating in demonstrations, etc.)

* Participation in society (degree of proactive participation in all kinds of associations and organizations)

* Ordinary conversations about politics or interest in politics

* Political party they voted for, political party they support, ideologies

* General confidence

* Opinion of economic outlook (personal economic status in the immediate past, present, near future, and awareness of the current economic state of society)

* Media contact (television, newspapers, radio, internet, etc.)

* Religious beliefs and practice of religious activities

Theme Related Data
* Developing principals of equality, fairness and tolerance in the course of everyday work with others

* Beliefs and awareness of the fundamental safety of society

* Awareness of the quality of the rule of government

* Awareness of equality and tolerance of heterogeneous groups and races in society

Value Added Data Japan-specific survey items


2007 Survey (CSES3)

Time Series Data
* Degree of satisfaction with democracy and the feeling of empowerment to participate in politics

* Group of questions related to voting preferences (political party support, political feeling thermometer, awareness of the respondent's own ideologies and those of the major political parties)

* Degree of political knowledge

* Participation in associations and organizations (such as unions and churches which relate to political preferences)

Theme Related Data
The theme for the third round of the survey was "Meaningful Political Choices."

The focus of this data is to answer questions such as whether or not each countries' political systems, political parties and political groups are able to provide voters a legitimate set of choices, whether that range of choices is adequate, considering the distribution and variation of such factors as ideology and political inclinations, and the diverse range of opinions of groups in society, whether voters are able to feel empowered through their choices, whether the political system, parties and groups are able to sufficiently respond to the peoples' assessment of their past records and expectations for the future of their past and future choices, and similarly whether or not the political parties that voters can choose from and the political systems that support them are able to gain voters' trust.

Value Added Data Japan-specific survey items
Date of Release 2010/04/22
Topics in CESSDA Click here for details

Political behaviour and attitudes
Political ideology
Social behaviour and attitudes
Topics in SSJDA International Comparison/Diplomacy
Politics/Administration/Election
Society/Culture
Version 1 : 2010-04-22
Notes for Users In order to reproduce the original sample as accurately as possible, supplemental sampling was carried out for this panel survey. In addition, in order to reduce nonsampling error, weights have been prepared and included in the data set. Analysts can choose to use them if they wish.