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The cases of the European Values Study and the European Social Survey - European constellations of social science knowledge production
[journal article]
Abstract This article is a comparative analysis of the European Values Study (EVS) and the European
Social Survey (ESS) using five analytical dimensions: agents, ideas, methods, institutions
and context. From the outset, both surveys were closely connected to national and European
social science instit... view more
This article is a comparative analysis of the European Values Study (EVS) and the European
Social Survey (ESS) using five analytical dimensions: agents, ideas, methods, institutions
and context. From the outset, both surveys were closely connected to national and European
social science institutions, had ties to the EU, and used survey techniques to address urgent
contemporary political and social problems. Despite their similarities, the surveys represent
two rather different constellations of social science knowledge production. The EVS emerged
from a coalition of Catholic-oriented agents from a diverse set of social institutions driven
by political and ethical concerns about social change in the 1960s and 1970s. The EVS used
its links to various social institutions to set up and run the survey, and its ethical and political
concerns and connections to Catholic Church organisations continued to play a significant
role in its constellation. The ESS grew out of a scientific and technical aspiration among well-
connected and recognised Western European social scientists. It emphasised rigourous
methods and drew on its founding agents' close relations with European institutions such as
the ESF and the European Commission.... view less
Keywords
European Social Survey; EVS; survey; data capture; social science; knowledge production; survey research
Classification
General Problems, History of the Social Sciences
Methods and Techniques of Data Collection and Data Analysis, Statistical Methods, Computer Methods
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 50-68
Journal
Serendipities: Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences, 2 (2017) 1
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0