Developing a COVID-19 Module for the European Social Survey

Authors

  • Tim Hanson Orcid
    European Social Survey ERIC, City, University of London, London
  • Marc Helbling
    University of Mannheim, Mannheim
  • Rahsaan Maxwell
    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • Richard Traunmüller
    University of Mannheim, Mannheim
  • Kostas Gemenis
    Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne
  • Levente Littvay
    Central European University, Vienna

Abstract

This short report describes the development of a COVID-19 module for Round 10 of the European Social Survey (ESS). The module is formed of 20 items, including 10 agreed with ESS National Coordinators and 10 developed by two academic teams following an external call for content. The majority of ESS participating countries will field the module for Round 10 fieldwork in 2020–2021. This report provides the rationale for the module, presents challenges of developing such a module for ESS, and gives an overview of the question development and testing process. The two external sub-modules—Government authority and legitimacy in the age of a pandemic and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and government rule compliance—are also introduced.