Data
Each year the SOM surveys generate large amounts of research data. These different datasets are made available for secondary research to anyone in academia. The data is cleared of any potential personal identifiers and no connections remain between those who have answered the surveys and the responses in the datasets.
Data from the SOM surveys
Every year since 1986 the SOM surveys have collected data about the values, attitudes and habits of the Swedish population. Needless to say, these data sets are unique in their longevity, reliability and amount of information.
We encourage scholars to use these research data in their own studies. There should always be a way to review and evaluate our own findings. Furthermore the more researchers working with our data the better for science and society in general, as there is just no way for us and our collaboration partners to cover every variable for each year.
At the SOM Institute we believe in long term usefulness and preservation of data, as a service not only to the research community but also to the general public that lend us of their valuable time each year. In line with these policies, data from the SOM surveys are made available for anyone connected to academia to order from the Swedish National Data service (SND) - a national repository for research data located at the University of Gothenburg.
The SOM Institute Cumulative Dataset (SICD)
As our SOM surveys are conducted in Swedish language, our data sets including variable names, labels and code books, are generally in Swedish as well. This means working with our data sets pretty much require at least a basic understanding of the Swedish language.
There is one notable exception however: the SOM Institute Cumulative Dataset. This is a large data set comprised of a great number of questions from our National SOM Surveys 1986 and onward. These question texts, variable names and response scales are carefully and in a consistent way translated into English with each yearly update to the dataset. This makes the SICD not only an incredible research resource for studying the Swedish society over time, but also a very welcome option for non-Swedish speakers.
Link to The SOM Institute Cumulative Dataset (at SND)
Please note that in order to work with quantitative research data you will need some form of statistics software such as SPSS, Stata or R.
The SOM student essay award
Each year in around October, the SOM Institute present a stipend to the best student essay based on data from the SOM surveys. Even English language essays are considered. The award sum is 8 000 kronor.