In today’s fast-paced digital era, the realm of market research and data collection has undergone a revolutionary transformation. Traditional survey methodologies have given way to more efficient and far-reaching approaches, with online surveys emerging as a dominant force in the field. Among these cutting-edge techniques, the push-to-web survey methodology has garnered significant attention for its ability to harness the vast potential of the internet and engage diverse populations from around the globe.
In this article, we embark on a cross-cultural journey to delve into survey results obtained through the push-to-web methodology, specifically in three unique and captivating countries: Macedonia, Malta, and Germany. These three nations, each boasting a distinctive historical, cultural, and socio-economic landscape, present a fascinating opportunity to discern the diverse perspectives and attitudes of their populations.
The survey was administered as SMS-to-Web or Email-to-Web, where a certain number of panelists received the invitation via SMS instead of via Email, depending on the country. The panelists that were invited to participate were chosen randomly without any stratification or propensity scores. The fieldwork duration was 2 weeks, and 2 reminders were sent (first one 4 days after the initial invitation, second one 9 days after the initial invitation). The questionnaire contained 16 questions with an average duration of 20 minutes. Incentives were offered for a completed survey.
We will share insights and comparison for these three countries for three topics: viewpoint on current world events, national situation and climate change, through a selection of questions for which the answers across the three countries were most polarizing. All the data has been weighted for age, gender, education, employment status and region.
Questions on current world events
Question: Given the current economic crisis, we cannot afford to continue to support Ukraine financially.
From the graphics presented it is evident, even after weighing the majority of the respondents from North Macedonia think that their country can’t afford to support Ukraine financially, while for Germany and Malta the majority think they should keep the financial support.
Question: Ukraine’s problems are none of our business and we should not interfere further.
The next question dealt which the topic to which extent a country should get involved into the conflict.
The charts show a similar correlation between the three countries, with Malta and Germany having the opposite stance of North Macedonia, with Malta and North Macedonia having a similar percentage of respondents for “Yes” as Malta for “No”.
Clearly Germans tend to strongly disagree with that statement, just like the Maltese population while respondents from N Macedonia rather tend to agree with the statement.
Questions on the National situation
We then asked several questions related to the national situation with regard to its position in Europe, opinions related to the EU and issues in their own country.
Question: Should your country take on a political leadership role in Europe?
For this question, the majority of German respondents answered with Most likely yes, while for Malta and Macedonia the opinion seems to be more evened out, with close percentages for “Most likely yes”and “Most likely no”.
Question: Do you support global Leadership from the EU?
Looking at the results from this question, the gap between the countries seems to be a lot smaller, with Germany having the most respondents that answered positively, and the least respondents that responded with “Don’t know”.
Question: Do you support global Leadership from Russia
No surprises here in the responses received when split up by country: Strongest rejection of the statement coming from Germany, followed by Malta and then N Macedonia.
Question: Which of the following issues are you most concerned about in your country?
Shown above are the top three issues by country. The only issue that is common for all three countries is inflation, followed by poverty and social inequality in Germany and North Macedonia and immigration in Malta and North Macedonia. For Malta and Germany we can see issues regarding the environmental changes in the top three as well.
Questions on Climate change
The last batch of questions conern climite change and the view of respondents on how it is being dealt with within the country.
Question: Do you think the following entities are taking initiatives to reduce pollution in your country? (Option: Government)
The greatest difference between the three countries can be seen in the “Never” answer, where for Germany is the lowest and in comparison with North Macedonia, it is eight times lower and for Malta it is approximately between the two extremes.There are no significant differences in the “Always” and “Sometimes” options, as for “Mostly” and “About half of the time” we can see Germany has the largest distribution, followed by Malta and North Macedonia at the end with only 10.7% of the respondents.
Question: How environmental pollution affects your personal health and safety where 1 affects you the least and 5 affects you the most.
From the graphics above, for North Macedonia it can be seen that the majority of the respondents said environmental pollution affects their health the most, compared to the lower percentages for Germany and Malta. Comparing the options 4 and 5 together for the three countries, Malta and North Macedonia have close to the same distribution, in comparison to Germany where it’s 14 points lower.
Question: Which of the following do you think are the biggest causes of environmental pollution in your country?
For this question, the top 4 causes of environmental pollution are displayed by country. Most frequent options that are present in more than one country are plastic consumption, industrial activities, transport modes and rapid urbanization.
Conclusion on the survey
To conclude the findings of our survey, which revealed some intriguing patterns and insights which portray a comprehensive picture of each country’s population. For German respondents, across all questions regardless of the topic, there was evidently a smaller percentage of “Don’t know” answers in comparison to the other two. They also seem to be more decisive on the topic of assuming political leadership and continuing helping Ukraine in the conflict. They have an overall more positive attitude towards the Government taking initiative in reducing pollution and choose the less extreme answer options as evident from the scaling rate on the question of pollution effect on health.
Macedonian participants seem to have a contrasting opinion to the German ones, especially on the topic of aiding Ukraine, assuming political leadership and believing the government is taking initiatives to reduce the pollution, where they displayed notably more negative attitudes towards these topics. They also seem to be more indecisive about accepting global leadership from the EU, but being the most concerned about poverty and social inequality in the country. The percentage of “Don’t know” answers was also the highest for North Macedonia across all questions.
Maltese respondents seem to have a more middle ground stance for these topics, as it is shown that they are not as extreme in their answers and often would have a distribution for an answer option between Germany and North Macedonia, most apparent for the question of EU leadership support and the environmental questions. For some questions they seem to showcase similar attitudes as the Macedonian respondents, such as assuming political leadership in Europe and expressing concerns about inflation and immigration in the country.
While our investigation provided a comprehensive snapshot of the three countries, it also serves as a testament to the interconnectedness of our global community. As we confront shared challenges like climate change and grapple with the ramifications of current world events, understanding the viewpoints of diverse nations becomes indispensable in crafting collaborative solutions.
As we conclude this cross-cultural journey, we are reminded that every data point represents a human voice, a unique story, and an opportunity for positive change. By embracing the diversity of perspectives offered by North Macedonia, Malta, and Germany, we lay the foundation for a future where international dialogue and cooperation thrive, ultimately steering us towards a more sustainable, equitable, and harmonious world.
