Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Country-Specific Methodology

Pew Research Center’s international surveys are largely conducted via telephone or face-to-face interviews, depending on the country. (The exceptions are the United States and Australia, where surveys are fielded via probability-based multimode panels.) Face-to-face designs are implemented via computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), but historically pen-and-paper interviewing (PAPI) was used in some countries. Phone designs are implemented via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). The results are based on national samples, unless otherwise noted. The table below includes detailed information – such as mode of interview, sample design, margin of error and design effect – for each country we survey, organized by survey, country and year. 

More general information on how we conduct our international survey research is also available. 

The margin of sampling error reported is based on all interviews conducted in a country. The margin of error takes into account the design effect due to clustering and weighting, where applicable. For results based on the full sample in a given country, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus the margin of error. The margin of error is larger for results based on subsamples in the survey. Sample sizes and sampling errors for subgroups are available upon request. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls. 

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