Improving on the basis of experience: implementation of the third wave of the ESS in Spain

Abstract

Created with the dual purpose of monitoring social change and bringing improvements into the creation and design of instruments for measuring that reality, the European Social Survey (ESS) has now completed its third round. This methodology paper expresses thoughts on the usefulness of analysing the accumulated data from the first two rounds in
the process for ongoing improvement of the survey. And so, in the case of Spain, the experience accumulated in the earlier rounds has been used to 1) validate the questionnaire, 2) finely tune the sampling design to the characteristics of the country, and 3) substantially improve the quality of the data obtained. The paper shows how the coordinated effort of the Spanish ESS team and the polling agency has resulted in a remarkable increase in the degree of compliance with the survey targets, which is a fact that guarantees the representativeness of the sample finally obtained.