Opinion polling in Central and Eastern Europe under communism

Journal of Contemporary History

Volumn 33, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 229-240

  Henn, Matt ^a  

^a NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0002801248     PISSN: 00220094     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/002200949803300203     Document Type: Article

References (27)

1. P. Kwiatkowski, 'Opinion Research and The Fall of Communism', International Journal of Public Opinion Research 4, 4 (1992), 359
2. Hungarian News Agency, Results of Hungarian Public Opinion Research (Budapest 1947)
3. C. Adamec and I. Viden, 'Polls Come to Czechoslovakia', Public Opinion Quarterly (Winter 1947/48)
4. C. Adamec, B. Pospisil and M. Tesar, What's Your Opinion: A Year's Survey of Public Opinion in Czechoslovakia (Prague 1947)
5. D. Adams-Schmidt, Anatomy of a Satellite (Boston 1952)
6. C. Adamec, 'Fear and Hope in 1968', unpublished paper (Prague 1991), 1-2
7. Z.Y. Gitelman, 'Public Opinion In Communist Political Systems' in W.D. Connor and Z.Y. Gitelman, Public Opinion in European Socialist Systems (New York 1977), 2
8. R.M. Worcester, 'The Internationalization of Public Opinion Research', Public Opinion Quarterly, 51 (1987), S82
9. S. Kwiatkowski, 'The Study of Public Opinion in Poland,' unpublished paper (Warsaw 1989), 4
10. J.J. Wiatr, The State of Sociology in Eastern Europe Today (London 1971), 4
11. A.G.H. Attila, 'The Emergence of the Science of Democracy in Hungary and Its Impact on the Democratic Transition', paper delivered at the conference of the International Committee for the Study of the Development of Political Science (Barcelona 1990), 3
12. E.A. Ivanian, 'The Effect of Perestroika on the Development of Political Science in the USSR', paper delivered at the conference of the International Committee for the Study of the Development of Political Science (Barcelona 1990), 2
13. For a complete overview of the influence of political factors in Soviet society, see V. Shlapentokh, The Politics of Sociology in the Soviet Union (Boulder, CO and London 1987), chaps 1 to 4, and chap. 13
14. S. White, R. Gill and D. Slider, The Politics of Transition: Shaping a Post-Communist Future (Cambridge 1993), 180-3
15. D. Slider, 'Party-Sponsored Public Opinion Research in The Soviet Union', Journal of Politics, 47, 1 (1985), 209-27
16. V. Korobeinikov, 'Opinion Polls in the Soviet Union: Perestroika and the Public', European Research (1988), 160
17. See, for instance, J.A. Piekalkiewicz, Public Opinion in Czechoslovakia 1968-69 (New York 1972)
18. Connor and Gitelman, op. cit.; W.A. Welsh (ed.), Survey Research and Public Attitudes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union (Oxford 1981)
19. K. Lutynska, IFiS, Personal Interview (Lodz 1991)
20. Of course, considerable differences in terms of the development of sociology and sociological research did exist between these countries, especially between the Soviet Union and other Central and East European communist states. For instance, Jones claims that while in countries like Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary sociologists were often involved in subversive activities and organizations, the same could not be said for those in the Soviet Union (A. Jones, 'Soviet Sociology, Past and Present' in Contemporary Sociology [1989], 318-19). Other differences in polling developments, practices and conditions across these communist political systems occurred in terms of the degree of state interference and decentralization of planning, co-ordination and funding of the research; the extent of formal empirical sociology training among the practitioners; quality of methodological approaches and techniques, particularly in terms of sampling procedures and data analysis; the actual frequency with which such polls were conducted; and the role of polling data in policy development and review (see, for instance, W.A. Welsh, 'An Overview of the Status of Survey Research in Eastern Europe and The Soviet Union' in Welsh, op. cit., 5-12, and Gitelman, op. cit., 9-11). However, if compared to their counterparts in western liberal-capitalist societies, it is possible to see significant similarities in the experiences of pollsters in Central and East Europe to make such generalizations meaningful for analytical purposes
21. I. Przybylowska and K. Kistelski, 'The Social Context of Questionnaire Interviews', The Polish Sociological Bulletin, 3-4 (1986)
22. See, for instance, I. Crewe, 'A Nation of Liars? Opinion Polls and the 1992 Election', Parliamentary Affairs 45, 4 (1993), 475-95
23. R. Jowell et al., 'The 1992 British General Election: The Failure of the Polls', Public Opinion Quarterly, 57 (1993), 238-63
24. N. Sparrow, 'Improving Polling Techniques Following the 1992 General Election', Journal of Market Research Society, 35,1 (1993), 79-89
25. K. Lutynska, 'Questionnaire Studies in Poland in the 1980s: Analysis of Refusals to Give an Interview', The Polish Sociological Bulletin, 3 (1987), 47
26. J. Lutynska, 'Methodological Studies in Lodz Sociological Centre', unpublished paper presented to the author on a research visit to Lodz in May 1991 (year unknown)
27. K. Lutynska, 'Third Persons in Sociological Interviews and their Influence on the Respondents' Replies', The Sociological Bulletin, 3 (1969)