conference programme book - European Survey Research ...

5A Welcome from the President of ESRADear ParticipantsI am looking forward, with great anticipation, to the fourth conference of the European Survey Research Association(ESRA). The first three conferences were already a big success but I think that this one in Lausannewill be the best so far. We started in 2005 in Barcelona with 200 papers. In Prague there were 300 paperspresented, in Warsaw 400 and now we jump ahead to nearly 600 presentations. This increase makes it clearthat the creation of ESRA was necessary in order to meet the demand for dissemination of survey research inEurope. It seems that there is a strong and growing need for this type of forum, which brings together surveyresearchers, methodologists, and users of survey research.There has been a discussion within the board of ESRA about the size of these meetings: should we keep itsmall or not. The problem is that it is very difficult to specify criteria for selection of the best papers. It isalso preferable, in many ways, for ESRA to be an open organization which gives a wide variety of people atall career stages, the opportunity to present their work in a friendly and welcoming environment. So far wehave been very fortunate that we have received very few weak papers at the submission stage. We hope andexpect this feature of our biennial meeting to continue in Lausanne.I would also like to mention the other major activity of ESRA: the journal Survey Research Methods (SRM).Like the conference, our journal has turned out to be a big success, with 60 paper downloads made from thewebsite every day – quite an achievement for a journal that is in only its fifth year of publication. We hopethat the journal contributes to improving the quality of your work and of survey research in general. I wouldlike to congratulate Rainer Schnell, Peter Lynn and the editorial board of SRM for their excellent achievementin establishing SRM as a key journal in the field in so short a space of time.I would like to finish this short note by paying tribute to the people who have realized this ESRA conference forus all. First, I must mention Patrick Sturgis, the Conference Chair, and his team who have organized the conferenceand compiled the scientific programme. I would also like to extend my gratitude to FORS (the SwissCentre of Expertise in the Social Sciences), particularly Peter Farago, Kathrin Kissau and Marieke Voorpostel,for the excellent job they have done in handling the unanticipated 30% increase in participants this year. I amalso grateful to the University of Lausanne, for providing such a wonderful venue for our conference. Togetherthe conference chair and the local committee have put together a varied and stimulated programme in thebeautiful location of Lausanne and I hope you will join me in congratulating them for their effort.Finally, I would like to thank all participants of the ESRA conference for their contributions in presenting papersand coordinating sessions. I wish you an interesting and enjoyable conference.Willem SarisPresident of ESRA