We contribute to learning about the Czech society, how it changes, and the problems that Czech households are facing

Our goal is to contribute to learning about the Czech society and how it changes, and the problems that Czech households are facing. We focus on realization of vast sociological surveys and data analysis which provides our clients and the general public a detailed view of the current state the Czech society is in and and understanding of attitudes and processes that occur in it.

As part of a political and social research MEDIAN Ltd. focuses on, among others, the following types of research:

• Realization of major international studies (e.g. ESS, ISSP, MIDIS, Roma Survey 2011, VAW, etc.)
• Internal strategic research for NGOs, government institutions and universities
• Independent election polls implementing an optimized long-term methodology
• Research for major forms of Czech media (topical, flash, pre-election polls for e.g. Czech Television, Czech Radio Broadcast, MF DNES)
• Secondary analysis of sociological data (data analysis from socially excluded areas, perception of foreigners and immigrants and such.)
• Research into specific professions and populations (e.g. A Czech journalist in a comparative perspective)
• Social campaigns monitoring (e.g. Hate Free)
• Research into education, job opportunities for university graduates, research in schools)
• Qualitative research with experts (e.g. In forming public political activities)

Throughout the years 2015 to 2018 MEDIAN and STEM/MARK realized a major panel survey of Czech households called Changes in the Czech Society (link to the actual webpage).

Changes in the Czech society

Changes in the Czech Society is one of the most major social studies ever conducted in history. The study is organized by the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Masaryk University and the Institute of Economics CERGE-EI.

The objective of this study is to learn about Czech households, how their life and attitudes change over time and which problems they face. Similar studies are being carried out abroad and help scientists understand how society works and evolves.

The acquired information proves useful not only to scientists, but also to lawmakers and public authorities during a decision-making process. It ensures journalists are well-informed and will be available to the general public. The study can also help improve life in the Czech Republic. One of the areas could be how the family is supported:

The study will run for 4 years. Throughout the year 2015, 5000 households will participate. The survey is conducted by interviewers from MEDIAN and STEM/MARK from 7th of July to the end of October 2015.

The study Changes in the Czech Society is conducted with a system of enquiries in selected households all over the Czech Republic. The households which willingly participate in the study will receive a financial reward of a few hundred Czech crowns for an hour of interviewing.

Where the study might help:

Mothers of small children are in an unfavourable position in comparison to their childless peers. They face a higher risk of unemployment, and once their maternity leave ends, finding a job is a much greater problem. Motherhood is also negatively reflected in low incomes and subsequently low pension funds.

The information gathered form the study can help to find out what the biggest obstacle is for women returning to work after maternity leave (day-care and kindergarten options, part-time job contracts, flexible working hours, tax relief and social benefits from the state). It can show the current weaknesses in the system of job support for mothers and what companies should focus more on to help women successfully combine childcare and their careers.

Due to the long-term view on households, the study will also show which types of families and households and most severely affected by the economic crisis, what negatively impacts their living standards and what leads them into the debt cycle and what the consequences are. The results could bea base for the improvement of social politics and support to families at risk.

There are dozens of other similar examples that the Changes in the Czech Society study explores and can help to learn about and improve the lives of pensioners, increase the quality of living environments and health, family life and problems regarding starting a family, work mobility and so on.

We hope that in case you are asked to kindly participate, you will help in learning about the Czech society and its problems.

For further information please visit the website www.promenyceskespolecnosti.cz

You can contact the MEDIAN realization team with your questions at:
Tel: (+420) 225 301 300
Email: promeny.spolecnosti (at) median.cz

Election polls

MEDIAN has been monitoring the political and election attitudes in the Czech population. We focus on ONGOING ELECTION POLLS and AD HOC POLITICAL and THEME-BASED STUDIES.

Ongoing election polls

MEDIAN has been monitoring the support of political parties. The results of the research including the ELECTION MODEL provide information about declared election turn-up, the development of support of parties, stability of political preferences and ELECTION POTENTIAL and CORE of parties, which can be found in the following reports:

House of Parliament model MEDIAN available for download:

Archive: House of Parliament model MEDIAN - 2015

Archive: House of Parliament model MEDIAN - 2014

Archive: House of Parliament model MEDIAN - 2013

Archive: House of Parliament model MEDIAN - 2012

Presidential election model available for download:

METHODOLOGY OF ONGOING RESEARCH

Field data gathering is conducted by in person questions asked by trained interviewers in households. The respondents are selected by multi-stage stratified random sampling.

When employing this method, the interviewer is obliged to conduct the interviews in pre-selected places and knows how to randomly select a respondent. This decreases the influence of the interviewer on the selection of the respondent who, in different circumstances, might diverge the research.

The sample of legitimate voters is representative for the population aged 18 and over in regard to sociodemographic indicators (region, gender, age, education, size of municipality) and other socioeconomic and other indicators influencing political preferences.

House of Parliament election model

ELECTION MODEL is an estimation of the most probable results of hypothetical elections into the House of Parliament in the Czech Republic, if they were held at the time of interviews. It cannot be considered as a prediction of elections held in the future. It stems from the respondents’ preferences who would take part in the elections and knew who they would vote for. It also takes into account the preferences of voters who are indecisive and to the past behaviour of voters. The outcome of this ELECTION MODEL concerns exclusively the elections into the House of Parliament and no other.

Ad hoc political and theme-based studies

MEDIAN usually manages ad hoc research in co-operation with major Czech media regarding topical political, economic a social issues and help to explain the attitudes of the Czech society towards these topics. In January 2013, MEDIAN processed a study that took place in the 2^nd round of the presidential elections conducted in an exclusive co-operation with the Czech Television*. You can find the results in the research report.

The research objectives were to describe:

• Determinants of the final result of the second round of the presidential elections
• Motivation of respondents in participation in the elections
• The electorate structure of both candidates
• Their acceptance as president
• Expectation about the president among voters
• Perception of the presidential elections
• Influences that affected the decision-making process among voters during the last two weeks of elections
• And other aspects of the presidential elections

* Data gathering took place on Friday 25.1.2013 and Saturday 26.1.2013 using the CATI and CAPI method.