2008/2

The electronic version of the second number of the sixth edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The following text outlines some aspects of people‘s decision making process during elections in modern mass democracies. Particularly, the aspect of (in)competence of electorate or, as the case may be, the problem of rationality of the political audiance that creates the public opinion. The arguments proving the discrepancy between the normativ and the empiric character of public opinion are purposly disbalanced based on the evaluation of reality.

The above was the front page slogan under which the periodical Public Opinion appeared in the years 1946 - 1948. Its publisher was the Czechoslovak Institute for Public Opinion Research. The monthly was intended for both the professional as for the general public. It was published with 15 to 34 pages. It contained theoretical and methodological articles by foremost Czech sociologist as well as by international representatives of the field.

The article stands as the fourth part of a series about the question answering process during standardized surveys and elaborates the phase of editing the response. Major moments and processes are explained that affect the shape of final answer at this stage and the narrow relationship of these facts to the nature and quality of survey data is pointed out. Step by step those phenomenons like rounding of numerical answers, the effect of answering scales in terms of its range, frequency, polari…

Smoking becames the important and relevant health and social problem in the Czech republic as well as in the world. Tobacco together with alcohol is the first habit forming substance, which the child contacts or which somebody offers to him. The aim of the research is to map the situation of using of legal drugs, tobacco and alcohol, by the children in the basic schools of the region of South Bohemia.

The article pursue how the concept of „social cohesion“ is understood by the Czech public. Firstly, the respondents predominantly do not know the concept; in addition spontaneous answers to the open-ended questions show that different meanings are associated with this concept. The second part analyses the battery of statements “what creates a cohesive society”. Three latent dimensions were identified: values of reciprocity and equality, collective identity and European liberalism.