The aim of the "Democratic Governance and Citizens" (DemGovCit) survey was to get insights on citizens' perceptions of democratic governance beyond the state. One research focus of the project were citizens' perceptions of international and global governance. A second research focus were citizens' perceptions of metropolitan governance. The two research foci demanded two different sampling strategies. The research on international governance demanded nationally representative samples of respondents, whereas the research on metropolitan governance needed samples tailored to a selection of metropolitan areas in the four countries and not to the full country. To accommodate these different needs, two separate, but closely related, surveys were conducted.
The national survey on international governance draws on random samples representative of the national population between 18-75 years. In Switzerland, the Federal Statistical Office provided a random selection of individuals' postal addresses. These individuals were then contacted by mail and invited to participate in an online survey (a paper questionnaire was sent to respondents with the second reminder). The survey was implemented by the survey institute MIS Trend. In France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, respondents were recruited through CATI-Screening and given the choice whether they want to participate in the survey online or via a questionnaire sent to them on paper. The survey was implemented by the survey institute TNS Infratest (details in additional materials).
The questionnaire and concept of the national survey served as the basis for the regional survey. The regional survey draws on random samples of the Bern and Zurich metropolitan area population (18-75 years) in Switzerland and on quota samples of the metropolitan populations (18-75 years) of Berlin, Stuttgart, Lyon, Paris, London, and Birmingham. The sampling and contacting procedure for the Swiss metropolitan areas was the same as in the national survey. In the other three countries, respondents were recruited via online-access panels with quotas for age, gender, education, location, and employment status. (details in additional materials).
