Operationalisation of European Identity, Cosmopolitanism and Cross-Border Practices

Abstract

In this document we explore how the three key concepts of the EUCROSS project can effectively be operationalised in survey research. We see this step as an essential precondition to the development of the survey instrument itself, and as a contribution to the operationalisation of these concerns by other researchers, including outside the EUCROSS project. On the former point, our survey is only a 20 minute phone interview, and this format will necessarily constrain our question range and depth. However, our pragmatic choices should still be guided by a wider recognition of what questions might ideally be asked in view of experiences and findings from other projects. On the latter point, all three concepts are ones that interest a great many social scientists, yet there remains a stand-off between theorists of these concepts and qualitative researchers on the one hand, and those who use such concepts in survey research. We hope our operationalisation document may usefully bridge this divide, to some extent at least.