Six New SOM Surveys from Värmland and Other Regions

Published: 2020-04-02
Photo of Värmland cottage
Questions about the borderland living conditions are part of the Värmland SOM survey.

Six new SOM surveys from 2018 have been made accessible in the SND research data catalogue. Among them is the Värmland SOM survey, which has been conducted for a third time.

The Värmland survey has been carried out in four-year intervals (2010, 2014, and 2018), and the latest survey was sent to 5,000 people aged 16 to 85 in Värmland. A significant portion of the questions are asked in the national and regional western Sweden SOM surveys as well, but there are also specific questions about, for instance, local traffic projects and the relation to Norway.

The Norway questions that respondents in Värmland have been asked concern the conditions of living in a borderland, for example: ”Commuting to Norway contributes to Värmland losing important groups of professionals”; ”Housing prices are pushed up when Norwegians buy accommodation in Sweden”; and ”The proximity to Oslo makes Värmland a more attractive region” (translated). The SOM Institute website for the Värmland surveys has reports with analyses of the surveys from 2010 and 2014 for anyone who wants more background information to the attitudes from people in Värmland (in Swedish only).

Other research data from the SOM Institute that have now been made accessible are:

Among the news in the 2018 national SOM survey is that it was the first time that the Swedish population’s attitude to a mandatory child vaccination programme was surveyed. The support for mandatory vaccination was high: three out of four Swedes were positive to such a programme. A large number of the questions in the SOM surveys have been asked for quite a few years longer; many of the SOM Institute time series span about three decades and are part of the so-called cumulative datasets. Through them, you can follow the changes in attitudes to various political issues; confidence in institutions, politicians, and organisations; party sympathies; media habits, and financial and social situations.