Since 2005 the Open Society Institute – Sofia has conducted surveys and collected data on a variety of topics. Since then of team of sociologists and statisticians has carried out a considerable number of socio-economic surveys, independently or in cooperation with other national and international organizations.
Surveys
The social research and statistical analyses team specializes and carries out research in the following fields:
- political and economic attitudes;
- civil society and civil rights;
- inter-ethnic relations;
- social distances;
- public policies;
- early child development;
- school education;
- university education;
- public health;
- media environment;
- public order;
- judicial reform etc.
The team has extensive experience in developing information systems of quantitative indicators measuring the performance of the objects studied in a certain socio-economic context. Some examples of that are the Bulgarian University Ranking System and the Catch-up Index.
Tools
Each research methodology is developed according to the individual needs of the Contractor. The methodology is an original product combining sociological and statistical approaches for obtaining the data needed by the contractor. The methodology could be a mixture of different qualitative and quantitative tools, such as:
- Standardized face-to-face interview;
- Self administrative questionnaire
- Online surveys;
- Desk research;
- Content analysis;
- Direct observation;
- Participant observation;
- Mental mapping;
- Focus group discussion;
- In-depth interview;
- Exit poll;
- Quick count, etc.;
- Specially developed tools for early child development observation (the team is trained to work with the IDELA tool);
- Specially developed tools for researching cognitive and non-cognitive skills.
Open data
Open Society Institute – Sofia Foundation (OSI-S) believes that the road to open democratic societies goes through accessing information and sharing research results, data and methodology with everyone who wants to obtain them. The open data policy creates a community of seeking and informed people, who are the main guarantee of a society’s civil development.
On these grounds, in 2010 the Open Society Institute- Sofia Foundation created a specialized website Оpendata.bg. This website was prompted by the necessity to organize a space where the results of the numerous surveys carried out by the Institute could be published. The Institute also provides the files with the primary data and methodologies of the respective surveys, which are available to use for research purposes only. The Open society Institute- Sofia Foundation publishes research methodology and data only with the Contractor’s permission. The Opendata website also contains analyses of changes in public opinion since 2010. You could find more information about the content and objectives of Opendata.bg in Initiatives.