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2.2.8 Cross-country comparison
Cross-country comparison of cultural statistics is one main focus of a great deal of literature on
the subject and the object of many efforts of international institutions in recent years. According
to Schuster (2007), the rise of trans-national governmental organizations that consider cultural
policy (or cultural development or cultural action) as their fields of action has boosted the issue
of cross-country comparison of participation studies, since comparative research and
information-sharing are the basis for collaborative, cross-national projects (although
responsibilities for cultural policies often reside at national government level). The literature on
cultural participation includes a fairly extended list of studies concerning trans-national
comparison. Years of discussion and analysis of the issue have led international institutions,
including UNESCO (UNESCO-UIS, 2009) and Eurostat (2000), to develop statistical frameworks
intended to be used in differing national contexts, aiming for international comparability of survey
results. These organizations acknowledge that international comparison is extremely difficult
when surveys are carried out independently and not designed at their outset to envisage or
facilitate comparison.
In his extensive analysis of cross-country comparison of cultural participation studies, Schuster
(2007) affirmed that the efforts so far undertaken by national and international authors did not
satisfy the theoretical rules which could mitigate the problem of international comparison. On the
other hand, comparing international cultural statistics could be more a question of analysis and
interpretation than a technical one (Bernard, 2002). Shifting from the statistical perspective to
the point of view of cultural policies, Laaksonen (2010) suggests that “At this point, it might not
even be too important to be able to carry out international comparisons but to know more about
the impact of domestic cultural policies and the needs of the users of cultural services.
Evaluating the effectiveness of cultural policies for the target group may prove to be more
successful in the long run than comparing different cultural realities”. As explained in Chapter 5,
comparison is important as it measures cultural participation in quantitative terms. Nevertheless,
we must be aware that an effective comparison can only concern itself with some major aspects
(e.g. rates of attendance at certain cultural events/venues). Equally important is to understand
as much as possible about the phenomenon in its holistic dimension, taking into account the
context (geographical, political, social and cultural) in which it happens and the meanings it
embodies.
The UIS (2009) in the 2009 UNESCO FCS emphasises that its tool aims to characterise national
cultures, bringing out their differences rather than reducing them to a common template. It
suggests applying common international statistical standards (ISIC, ISCO, ICATUS, etc.) to
identify and highlight some commonalities which countries may or may not see as part of their
culture (e.g. Sports, Gambling, Video Games) as well as shared conceptions (e.g. Arts,
Performance).
2.2.9 The state of the art: current cultural participation surveys, themes and directions
Chapter 2 includes a wide range of topics in cultural participation surveys, discussing the issues
that they present and mapping the questions that they use. It remains to summarise the current
state of questionnaire development. The following paragraphs will summarise elements of the
survey questions. The summary will be broadly limited to those surveys for which questionnaires
are publicly available (as opposed to those for which there is an analytic report that does not
include a questionnaire). Surveys can be identified in Annex I using their country and year of
implementation.
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