Methodology
The eUser population survey 2005 was conducted from 17th January to 4th March 2005 in 10 selected EU member states including: Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom as old and Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia from the new member states. It consisted of 1,000 successful interviews per country (in Ireland: 800)
All interviews were carried out using CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) techniques. Shortcomings referring to telephone penetration, non-pub-numbers and random dialling techniques have largely been overcome in recent years. Telephone interviews offer the advantage of quick and reliable data collection from a central telephone unit for each geographical area selected and hence avoid the disadvantages of spatially clustered surveying. CATI also offers best field control, automated sample administration, simultaneous data entry and permits a complex branching of the interview flow depending on filter questions and thus allows to apply follow-up questions finely tailored to respondents' previous answers, e.g. to the firm's ICT equipment status.
The sampling universe consisted of all persons in the above mentioned countries with a sufficient proficiency in the respective country's language, aged 18 years and older, living in private households, and who can be contacted by at least one fixed line telephone in the household.
Out of this universe, for each country an independent, representative, multiple stratified random sample was drawn. The respective samples were drawn on the basis of national telephone directories plus generated telephone numbers (Random Digit Dialling) to account for non-listed numbers. Except for Germany, the numbers were screened for disconnected numbers, that filters most of the non-working numbers. Except for Germany, samples were obtained from Survey Sampling International, LLC. Within each household identified by the so obtained telephone number, the actual respondent aged 18 years and older was chosen by applying a random procedure ("Birthday key", i.e. the person with the next birthday was interviewed). In order to achieve an interview with the determined target person the target household had to be contacted up to 12 times. If nobody could be reached, the household was re-contacted after 60 minutes, if the line was busy, again after 15 minutes.
The survey work was coordinated and executed by IPSOS GmbH, Mölln (Germany) and IPSOS, Warsaw (Poland).
