Evaluating Survey Data from the former Soviet Union

Although many researchers and organizations conduct survey research in the countries of the former Soviet Union, the science of survey research is not well developed there. This essay assesses the status of survey research in these countries, illustrates a few tests of response validity that have been conducted, and provides some guidelines and cautions to consumers of survey research results from the region. The data used to illustrate the validity tests come from the Soviet Interview Project General Survey, the American National Election Studies of the Center for Political Studies of the University of Michigan, the Estonian Longitudinal Survey of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, and a Pilot Survey on Abortion in Estonia by the Estonian Inter-University Demographic Research Center.