Perspective Germany
Perspective Germany was an internet survey that was carried out regularly from 2001/2002 to 2005/2006. All interested citizens were able to fill out a digital questionnaire on various social and political topics. At the same time, a traditional written and identical survey with 2,400 selected participants was always carried out.
background
The survey was initiated by four partners: The consulting firm McKinsey , the Journal Star , the ZDF and the Web portal Web.de . For the first time, in autumn and winter 2001, they called for people to fill out the questionnaire on the Internet . The patron was former Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker . He stated the purpose of the survey on the official website with the words that the reforms that had started must be pursued consistently. However, they could only be successful if they were supported by the citizens. The opinions of the people should therefore be brought into the political discussion in this way.
170,000 people took part in the first edition of Perspektive-Deutschland . In the survey in autumn and winter 2005, more than 600,000 participants filled out the questionnaire. The aim of Perspektive-Deutschland is to obtain the most extensive possible opinion of the German population on political reforms in Germany and to use the results to achieve a public discussion in politics and society.
Critics considered the survey and the question wording to be suggestive and the result reports as one-sided and tendentious interpretations of the results.
Number of participants
The surveys always took place over a period of several months.
- 2001/2002: 170,000
- 2002/2003: 365,000
- 2003/2004: 450,000
- 2004/2005: 511,000
- 2005/2006: 620,000
Focus of the surveys
In terms of content, the surveys usually focused on one or more thematic blocks.
- 2005/2006: Where to Germany? - Questions about reforms and their support among the population; further focus areas: work & economy, family and children, social security and education; Questions about the new federal government .
- 2004/2005: Germany of the Regions - Questions about the labor market and educational situation in Germany ; Assessment of the regional situation; Need for reform and need for reform.
Similar polls
The Dutch version of a socio-political online survey , the so-called 21 minutes, is based on the German model . In the second survey in 2006, around 170,000 people took part there. This survey was initiated by McKinsey , Planet Internet, NRC Handelsblad, AD, MSN ( Microsoft ) and FHV BBDO. The Swiss online survey Perspective Switzerland is also based on the German model .
criticism
The weekly newspaper Freitag described a number of questions from the survey as suggestive. Neoliberal concepts would preferably be given as the only possible answer and alternative economic policy approaches would not even be discussed.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung criticized “black and white drawers” when deciding between “more market” and “more state” in one question and came to the conclusion: “A lot of effort for a little reinforcement effect”.
swell
- ↑ Friday: The April Fairy Tale by McKinsey and ZDF
- ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: More market? More social? Both!
literature
- Jürgen Kluge , Heino Faßbender: Perspective Germany - What the Germans really want. Econ, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-430-12671-7 .
Web links
- 21 minutes - online survey in the Netherlands, "offshoot" from Perspective Germany