The European Social Survey (ESS) is an academically-driven multi-country survey, which has been administered in over 30 countries to date. Its three aims are, firstly to monitor and interpret changing public attitudes and values within Europe and to investigate how they interact with Europe's changing institutions, secondly to advance and consolidate improved methods of cross-national survey measurement in Europe and beyond, and thirdly to develop a series of European social indicators, including attitudinal indicators. In the fifth round, the survey covers 28 countries and employs the most rigorous methodologies. During ESS Round 5 Year 1 there was no suitable EC funding vehicle available for ESS coordination. A group of national ESS funders therefore provided funding for the coordination of Round 5 Year 1. These included: UK (Economic and Social Research Council), Germany (Federal Ministry of Education and Research), Sweden (Swedish Research Council), Switzerland (Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)), the Netherlands (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research), Finland (Academy of Finland, Research Council for Culture and Society), Norway (Research Council of Norway) and Austria (Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour). Supplementary funds are being provided by the European Science Foundation (ESF) for scientific liaison. City University in the UK also made a financial contribution for Year 1 of Round 5 of the ESS. The survey involves strict random probability sampling, a minimum target response rate of 70% and rigorous translation protocols. The hour-long face-to-face interview includes questions on a variety of core topics repeated from previous rounds of the survey and also two modules developed for Round Five covering Trust in the Police and Courts and Work, Family and Wellbeing (the latter is a partial repeat of a module from round 2).
