IRELAND

Underpinning all of this work are rigorous methodologies and principles
of easy, free and open access; indeed, the only stipulation concerning
usage is that it is not for commercial purposes. Transparency and
thoroughness are guiding rules throughout the process: in terms of
sampling and field work, every variable is documented and published,
from the day of the week the survey was carried out to the differences in
the weather on survey days in each of the countries covered. A similar
concern with methodological rigour is also evident in the great care taken
to ensure that questions translate accurately across the spectrum of
languages used to cater for such a diverse cohort of respondents. This is
a far from straightforward matter. There are, for instance, difficulties
translating ‘well-being’ into Russian, which is particularly problematic in
framing a questionnaire whose very aim is to measure personal and social
well-being. Furthermore, for the module on immigration, first carried out
in Round 1, Brereton points out that ‘ethnic minority’ is mainly
understood as a synonym of Roma in languages in Central East European
countries, but of course the purpose of the survey is gather information
on all migrant experience, not just the Roma people.
Economic and Social Research Institute, whose work has centred on the
relationship between family, work and well-being; and Dr. Edel Walsh of
University College Cork, who has attracted widespread media attention
for her reports on the quality of life of older people and those in rural
Ireland.
And then there is Brereton himself, who, alongside colleagues Peter
Clinch and Tine Ningal, has made novel use of the ESS to explore the
influence of environmental issues on subjective well-being. Specifically,
what they, as part of an international consortium, have done is to take the
series of European surveys on life satisfaction, available across twentythree
countries, and link them with regional data on sulphur dioxide
(SO 2 ) concentrations that were collected from a network of monitoring
stations across Europe and accessible through a public air quality
database system known as Airbase.
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Navigating these linguistic minefields is just one part of the practical
challenge involved in designing surveys, the wide availability of which,
Brereton insists, has proved ground-breaking in terms of academic
research and public knowledge.
The series of surveys already carried out have, he says, ‘allowed
innovations in research that couldn’t have occurred without it’. Notable
examples include the work of Irish academics Dr. Helen Russell of the
‘The surveys have allowed innovations
in research that couldn’t have occurred
without it.’