The standardized post-vote surveys are the result of the harmonization of the Vox surveys. The long history of these surveys made a large-scale standardization effort necessary so that comparisons between two very different Voxes could be possible.
The VoxIt data combines information from several sources into one file. First, the data integrates and standardizes the most significant variables in the Vox surveys. A second type of variable includes specific characteristics of votes and items (i.e. popular initiatives or referendums) such as the date of the vote, the results of each item, participation rates, slogans of the federal government, and the principal political parties. Finally, the standardized surveys include a third type of variable, created specifically to synthesize data and/or to allow comparisons from across the whole range of the available surveys.
In the context of Vox surveys, the terms “scrutin” and “projet” are specific to the standardized surveys. In brief, all data related to a federal vote (a weekend of voting) are called scrutin. The term projet refers to a subset of these data, organized in relation to a specific item (such as a popular initiative, a referendum, etc.) of this vote.
As a general rule, a scrutin will therefore include as many projets as there were items in the vote data, but it is possible that some projets will only be partially covered. More specifically, the Vox standardized surveys offer, for each vote, data in two forms: a scrutin file dedicated to the vote as a whole and an individual projet file for each item submitted for a vote. The choice of file type is dependent on the analyses which the user would like to carry out.
Information and data from the standardized post-vote surveys is available free of charge. Access to the data is, however, determined according to file type.
Current Version: 7.0
The latest VoxIt update has principally focused on the integration of the surveys concerning the federal votes of 2010, that is to say 3 "scrutins" covering 7 "projets". In total, 85 "scrutins" and 245 "projets" are now available in this version of VoxIt.
Individual Files
Each scrutin or projet file can be consulted online via the Nesstar server. It is possible to access information on the frequencies of the variables and the original questions free of charge and without having to register. It is also possible to carry out online analyses and download datasets free of charge, but this requires a preliminary registration. The data files are available in eight different file formats.
FORS Nesstar Server
Cumulative Files
The cumulative scrutin and projet files cannot be consulted online, but can be downloaded free of charge by means of a username and password registered with Nesstar. It is, therefore, essential to register with Nesstar to access these files. The files are available in the formats of the three most widely used statistical software programs (SPSS, Stata and SAS).
Nesstar Registration
Download the cumulative files: french, german
