The Swedish National Election study 2018 was conducted in collaboration between the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg and Statistics Sweden (SCB). The Swedish election studies have been conducted at all parliamentary elections, referendums and European Parliament elections since 1956.

For the first time, the study was carried out as completely postal and web mixed mode, but with the same basic design: rolling long-term panels, campaign panel with pre-election and follow-up survey and voter validation. Respondents had the option of completing the survey by filling in a paper questionnaire sent by post or by completing the survey online.

The Swedish National Election study 2018 consisted of three stages: stage A (pre-election survey), stage B (post-election survey) and stage C (separate post-election survey as part of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)).

The sample (23,398 persons in total) is representative of the Swedish population aged 18-85 and eligible to vote in the parliamentary election. Swedish citizens living abroad or with a protected identity are not included in the sample. Of the total sample, 15,398 were included in stages A and B. This sample is drawn jointly for both stages and is set up as a rolling two-stage panel. Half of the sample already participated in the 2014 Election Survey and will participate again in the 2018 Election Survey. This incoming panel was added with respondents from the 2014 European Election Survey. The other half of the sample will participate for the first time in 2018 and will be contacted again to participate in the 2022 Election Survey. The stage C sample consists of 8000 people, is drawn separately and not part of the long-term panels.

Fieldwork for stage A, the pre-election survey, started on August 2 and ended on September 13. By September 10, Stage A respondents had received a short follow-up survey. Fieldwork for stage B, the post-election survey, started on the day after election day on September 10 and ended on November 6. The fieldwork for stage C, the CSES-survey, started at the same time as Stage B, on September 10, and was also completed on November 6. Show less..

Data contains personal data

Yes

Sensitive personal data

Yes

Type of personal data

Names of politicians, candidates and political leaders and risk of re-identification in original data

Language

English

Swedish

Method and outcome

Unit of analysis

Individual

Population

Swedish citizens of ages 18-85 years living in Sweden and eligible to vote in the parliamentary election.

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Longitudinal: Panel

Time series

Sampling procedure

Probability: Simple random

The 2018 Swedish National Election Study includes a representative sample of 23,398 Swedish citizens aged 18-85 eligible to vote in the election. Swedish citizens living abroad and persons with protected identity are not included in the sample. Of the total sample, 8,000 persons were included in the CSES survey and the remaining 15,398 were included in the Swedish National Election Study stage A and B.

The Swedish National Election Studies contain rolling long-term panels between elections. Part of the sample belongs to the 2014-2018 panel and was included in the sample for the 2014 Election Study. Part of the sample belongs instead to the 2018-2022 panel and is again included in the sample for the 2022 Election Study.

The stage C sample is drawn separately and is not part of the long-term panels.

Time period(s) investigated

2018-08-02 – 2018-11-06

Variables

1400

Number of individuals/objects

23398

Response rate/participation rate

47%

Data format / data structure

Numeric

Text

Data collection

Data collection 1

Mode of collection: Self-administered questionnaire
Description of the mode of collection: Mixed mode, mail/web
Time period(s) for data collection: 2018-08-09 – 2018-11-06
Data collector: Statistics Sweden
Sample size: 15398
Number of responses: 7058
Non response size: 8340
Cause of non response - No contact/refusal: 8079
Cause of non response - Respondent unable to participate: 261
Source of the data: Registers/Records/Accounts: Administrative, Population group, Registers/Records/Accounts

Data collection 2

Mode of collection: Self-administered questionnaire
Description of the mode of collection: Mixed mode, mail/web.
Time period(s) for data collection: 2018-09-10 – 2018-11-06
Data collector: Statistics Sweden
Sample size: 8000
Number of responses: 3784
Non response size: 4216
Cause of non response - No contact/refusal: 4048
Cause of non response - Respondent unable to participate: 168
Source of the data: Registers/Records/Accounts: Administrative, Population group, Registers/Records/Accounts