CRONOS Panel

The CRONOS-2 project, otherwise called Opinion Study, is an international online panel coordinated by ESS-ERIC.

It aims to produce surveys that complement the standard ESS survey in order to provide researchers with data that offer a more in-depth perspective on citizens’ opinions and behaviours.

This project has been set up in 12 countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal, Czech Republic and Serbia. It follows on from an initial project called CRONOS 1 conducted between 2016 and 2018 in three countries: the UK, Slovenia, and Estonia.

Methodological contributions

At a time when it is increasingly difficult to conduct in-person surveys (cost, changes in habits post-pandemic, etc.), the CRONOS-2/Opinion Study project explores alternatives to the face-to-face method of collecting data. In particular, it seeks to assess the effects of a “mixed mode” (i.e. surveys conducted in parallel online and face-to-face) with respect to a set of criteria such as participation rates, sample representativeness, data quality and the costs of conducting surveys.

This project provides a way for all the participating institutions and members of ESS-ERIC to gain more experience experience of survey practice via an alternative to the face-to-face mode, while maintaining the most rigorous methodological standards.

This panel relies on the sample management application WPSS designed and put into operation by CDSP.

Methodology

The panellists in the CRONOS 2/Opinion Study project were recruited following the tenth round of the European Social Survey (ESS). The sample used to recruit the participants was drawn randomly.

The questions and topics tackled by CRONOS-2 were obtained through an initial Europewide call for projects, from which a final selection was made by ESS-ERIC and the participating countries.

CRONOS-2/Opinion Study uses the TRAPD (Translation Review Adjudication Pretest Documentation) method for the translation of the questionnaires, to ensure that the data are comparable from one country to another.

Likewise, the protocol used to contact the panellists is the same in all the participating countries. Each panellist receives 5 euros without conditions following each new wave of the survey.

In all, one preliminary survey and six full rounds of surveys have been carried out for the CRONOS-2/Opinion Study project since 2021. Four of the full surveys and the preliminary survey are common to all the countries taking part in the project. Calls for projects were issued for these surveys, then the final selection was made by ESS-ERIC and the participating countries. They ask the panellists about a wide range of subjects relevant to them, such as well-being, values and beliefs, religion, work, living conditions and family structure, consumption, the environment.

The two remaining rounds of surveys are decided by the individual countries.

The survey in France

CDSP contributes to this project as the entity responsible for collecting the data in France, and for deciding on the content of the national surveys.

The topics chosen for France have included questions on participation in the 2022 parliamentary and presidential elections, global warming, perceptions of inequalities, trust among French people in universities, in scientists and in their fellow citizens.

The data from the first 6 waves of the CRONOS survey, anonymised and processed in accordance with current regulations (RGPD), as well as the documentation relating to the collection and archiving process, are freely accessible.

For France, 1023 people were recruited. The response rate for each wave was around 70%, i.e. a rate of around 35% compared with the ESS sample for France.

The CRONOS 2/Opinion Study project was able to achieve this high level of participation thanks to the application of a contact protocol consisting of an invitation email and three reminders, as well as an incentive (in the form of a gift token) sent to each wave with the invitation to take part in the survey. In order to increase the response rate, everyone who did not respond to the survey received an individual phone call to remind them.