The ArabTrans project is coordinated by the University of Aberdeen (UK) and delivered by a multi-disciplinary team made up of six partners from five Middle Eastern and five partners form European countries. The teams include experts in comparative survey research and policy analysis with disciplinary backgrounds in Politics, Sociology, Public Policy, Middle East studies, International Relations, and Development Studies.
Geographical representation of countries taking part in the ArabTrans project.
The consortium of ArabTrans has wide and deep experience in comparative survey research on political and social transformations in general and on processes of democratization in particular since many years.
Some of the ArabTrans partners started their cooperation as early as 1991, introducing or taking part in major comparative survey projects, including Arab-, Afro- and Eurasia Barometer, New Democracies Barometer, World Values Survey.
All these surveys on social and political transformations in general and on democratization in particular in many new democracies of within the 3rd wave of democratization on the one hand and in many countries of the Arab World constitute an unique track record of academic survey research on political change and democratization, represented by the Arab Trans Consortium.
The project includes six partners from Arab countries. In each country the partner is a person or institution competent in survey analysis and in most cases represents the main experts in this field of research in those countries. The relationship between partners has been established through many years of collaboration on different projects and also through discussion and meeting in the context of a network of Arab- and AfroBarometer groups, as well as multiple international scientific bodies.
The partners represented in this project represent some of the main experts in this field and are drawn from major national academic institutions in each country. The co-ordinators have extensive experience of comparative research in this region.
The University of Aberdeen was founded in 1495, has been involved in European projects since Framework 3 and has, to date, been successful in participating in more than 600 grants funded by the European Commission. The University has also begun plans which include £240 million investment on infrastructure and facilities over ten years.
The ArabTrans project is located in the School of Social Science, which combines departments of Sociology, Political Science and Anthropology. The School's staff is cosmopolitan, with degrees from ten EU countries plus the United States. Its staff are accustomed to managing multi-national research projects involving millions of euros and funded by intergovernmental bodies such as the European Commission, European Science Foundation, European Foundation for Living & Working Conditions, UN agencies and national scientific foundations in the UK, Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United States. Three members of the School are Fellows of the British Academy.
Analisi Sociologicos Economicos y Politicos (ASEP)
ASEP is a private consulting firm, established in 1982, whose main purpose is social, economic and political research. Its founder and president, Prof. Dr. Juan Díez Nicolás, is a full-tenured Professor of Sociology since 1971 and was co-founder (1963-69) and last Director General (1976-77) of the former Instituto de la Opinión Pública, as well as the first Director General (1977-1979) of the present Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS).
ASEP has always maintained an academic and scientific orientation, politically neutral, non partisan, having gained a great prestige within the academic, political and entrepreneurial realms, as its large number of clients (some continuously since 1986), both in the private and the public sector, demonstrate. Its independence has deserved respect from the two major national political parties, even when analyses have not been favourable to them. Its independence and neutrality guarantee that there are no conditionings to its analyses, and still more important, nor even in the elaboration of the questions, as frequently happens in other surveys. ASEP has carried during 25 years a monthly survey on Pubic Opinion with a national representative sample of 1,200 persons through face-to-face personal interview at the respondent's home. ASEP's monthly reports, and especially the FLASHES, are usually on top of the desks of most main actors of Spanish life, both economic and political. A majority of the firms included in the IBEX have been subscribers of ASEP's Monthly Survey.
ASEP also conducts ad hoc surveys on a variety of topics. One of the most recent ones has been on the causes and consequences of LONLINESS. But, since more than a decade, and as part of the interest on Values Studies, a great interest has been given to the study of SECURITY in a very wide sense, from daily city security and national defence, to economic, environmental, energy, food, and health security, etc., both at the national and the international levels.
ASEP has also maintained an intensive international presence, having been ahead of other public and private research organizations in becoming the representative of Spain in some of the main comparative international social research projects. Thus, it has conducted all waves (1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010) of the World Values Survey, a project in which around one hundred countries participate, and is at present preparing the 2015-18 wave. ASEP's President has been a member of the WVS-Executive Committee since 1993, and is at present Vice-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee since 2013. Also since 1993 he joined the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) which conducts an annual survey on a monographic topic in about forty countries. ASEP and JDSystems are the official Data Archive for the World Values Survey Association, and they also cooperate with GESIS for the archiving of the ISSP surveys. In 1994ASEP was part of the group of institutions that founded the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES), which now integrates around fifty participant countries, having applied the post-electoral module after each legislative election since that of 1996. ASEP has also conducted the 2004 European Elections Study, and belongs to other international organizations as NESSIE (Network of Economic and Social Science Infrastructures in Europe), and CSDI (Comparative Survey Design and Implementation). At present he participates in a Consortium of 12 countries that has received an important research grant (FP-7) from the European Commission to conduct a research on Social and Political Transformation in the Arab World (more specifically on seven countries of the MENA region: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq).
The Centre is specialised in dealing with all technical and methodological aspects of quantitative and cross-national survey research in the social sciences. Its main task within the ArabTrans project is to coordinate, implement and conduct nationwide random sample surveys in 7 Arab countries.
The Centre for Survey Methodology is responsible for the training and quality supervision of the fieldwork directors from all 7 countries, where the survey takes place. Furthermore, the Centre for Survey Methodology is also responsible for the design and writing of the technical documentation of the survey fieldwork before its commencement.
The CSM is in charge of the procedures of internal and external control of the fieldwork in all 7 countries. The Centre for Survey Methodology is directed by Dr Victoria Guzun, who has many years of experience of organising and managing qualitative and quantitative as well as cross-national social and political research since 1994.
The Centre for Survey Methodology (CSM)is located in Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova. Concluzia-Prim is a consulting and research-oriented SME with solid experience of provision administrative and methodological support and technical assistance to international organisations active in the region, such as US AID, UNDP and the World Bank.
Mariana Crismaru - Scientific Lead Moldova, Secondary Concluzia Contact
Dublin City University
DCU has developed its own research specialisations, creating a number of national centres of excellence that collaborate with other universities and industry internationally, including the Centre for International Studies. These research centres have transcended traditional boundaries and have been extended to include combinations of academic disciplines.
One of the objectives of the university is the strengthening of the campus as a vibrant social and learning environment and the pursuit of a holistic approach to student development.
Dublin City University was initially set up to fulfil the national requirement for a highly-trained workforce with skills in the areas of business, science and electronics, computer technology, communications and languages and as an agent for change in its local community.
The first students came through the door in 1980 and the university is now recognized nationally and internationally as a centre of academic excellence. It was awarded university status in 1989 and was considered at the time to be an 'unconventional' university. It broke with the traditional mould and introduced a number of ideas, which had enormous impact on the Irish education system. DCU was the first university in Ireland to introduce work placement (INTRA) as part of its degree programmes.
The aim is for students to put their academic skills into practice in the work environment. Its degree programmes were also the first to be interdisciplinary, with, for example science students taking business courses, business students taking languages and language students taking computing. Many DCU students study at universities in Spain, France, Germany and Austria as part of their degree programmes under Erasmus exchange agreements.
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI)
ISPI also publishes volumes and essays including: the Yearbook on Italian Foreign Policy (since 2000); a biannual review Quaderni di Relazioni Internazionali.
ISPI also is a forum for discussion, analysis and debate at a high level by organizing international conferences; bilateral dialogue forums with Argentina, Egypt, France, Germany and Russia; instant events on topical issues; round tables international career days; closed-door meetings for specific target groups; research seminars.
Furthermore, ISPI train people for international careers through a wide range of programmes: 3 Masters (Diplomacy, Development and Emergencies); Winter and Summer Schools; Diplomas in International Cooperation and Development, Humanitarian Emergencies, European Affairs, Microfinance, Africa; Advanced Diplomas run in collaboration with national and international institutions (UNICEF, the European Commission, etc.).Established in 1934, ISPI is the oldest research centre on international studies in Italy.
ISPI has developed a long-standing experience in providing policy-oriented studies and guidance on international scenarios as well as analyses on international politics and economics. Specific research areas include: Africa; Argentina and Latin America; Caucasus and Central Asia; China and East Asia; European Union; Mediterranean and Middle East; Russia and EU Eastern Neighbours; South Asia and Iran; Economic Governance; Energy Security; Human Rights; Security and Strategic Studies. ISPI is member of GREEN - Global Re-ordering: Evolution through European Networks (FP7). ISPI produces a series of publications on the international scenario, all of which are available online: Policy Briefs; Analysis; Scenario Reports; Working Papers; ISPI Commentary; and ISPI Dossier.
The University's international networking in the fields of teaching, research, organisational and HR development has increased considerably in the context of building the European Higher Education Area. The profile of the University of Graz includes cooperation programmes with excellent European and non-European universities. As a comprehensive university, the University of Graz regards itself as an international institution for education and research committed to research and teaching for the benefit of society. It is the University's policy to maintain freedom in research and teaching, which permanently commits it to social, political and technological developments.
Teaching has the same value as research and is developed according to high-quality standards. The students are trained to become autonomous and, as graduates with great technical and social skills, to acquire interdisciplinary and critical thinking.
The University of Graz, which was founded in 1585, is Austria's second oldest university and one of the largest in the country. Many excellent scientists, amongst them six Nobel laureates, have taught and researched here. With some 31,500 students and 3,900, employees the University of Graz contributes significantly to the vibrating life of the Styrian capital. Its location in Europe encourages a lively scientific, economic and cultural exchange with South-East Europe, from which not only the city benefits, but also its educational institutions.
After the revolution and since its establishment, Social accountability as a mean to achieve good governance and increased public participation for improved public service delivery became one of the most ASSF priority. The ASSF realizes ten waves of political opinion polls per year. Each barometer targets a sample of 2300 respondents. The objective is to identify new actors, political and civil elite.
The barometer measure popularity ratings of political leaders, voting intentions and the level of citizen's satisfaction. The Applied Social Science Forum (ASSF) is an independent NGO established in 2011 in Tunis, called to contribute through its direct application as a think tank and intellectual platform, to resolving concrete social problems, aiding reform initiatives, informing public policy, influencing legislation and changing institutions.
Therefore, based on its Political trust Barometer, ASSF has launched the Local Governance Barometer (LGB-Tunisia), a research tool designed to understand the aspect of good governance using indicators and to help local governance improve public services and effectively respond to citizen's needs. The Local Governance Barometer is considered as an institutional answer to this demand which designed as a civil expertise and a kind of citizen research. This LGB was called, in a pilot phase, and as an excellent tool, to evaluate the performance of Public Services and Local Governance and provide recommendation, specific reports and policy briefs for political parties and decisions' makers.
Since 2011 the ASSF seeks to enhance public awareness on social policy through enhancing the culture of” voice” within local governance participation using the following mechanisms: Social Barometer, citizen conferences, documentary films, and Mass media. It provides quantitative measurements, and follow-up capacity-building and action planning, based on the quality of local administration and the efficiency of the public service. The objective determined of the Local Governance Barometer is to measure, in a participative and quantitative and comparative manner, the level of good governance and public services quality in the local and national level.
The main concern of ASSF is to help young researchers in the Arab World, to bridge the gap between social sciences know-how and the marketplace and to influence policy discussions and debates and enhance the quality of scientific work among the new generations of scholars in the new democratic context, Through direct applications and its role as a think tank and an intellectual platform, ASSF seeks to resolve concrete social problems, inform public policy, influence legislation and change institutions. Within the context of its new work plan, ASSF aspires to become a resource institution for regional scholars and will seek to initiate new steps to enhance the sense of network and community among them with the support of new partners. Among its projects: The Arab Democratic Barometer; the Local Governance Barometer and the Political trust Barometer.
Centre De Rechereche en Economie Appliquee pour le Development (CREAD)
The CREAD undertakes other activities such as: periodic organization of internal study sessions, organization of international and national events such as seminars, workshops and others, active participation of the researchers of the Centre in international and national conferences, round tables, expert panels and others.
The CREAD publishes a quarterly review (Les Cahiers du CREAD) with international reading panel and regular quarterly publication including, in each number, 10 to 20 papers produced by the permanent and associated researchers having research projects financed by the Centre as well as other academics institutions.Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquee pour le Development is a public entity of scientific and technical nature, established in 1985.
The CREAD is located in Bouzaréa (district of the Western periphery of Algiers) from approximately 20 km of the Algiers airport. It has a building of an about sixty offices within the Bouzaréa Social Sciences University. 30 permanent researchers and about 60 associated researchers, located mainly in the Algerian universities but also in the companies and the institutions of State, work with the CREAD.The Centre has 24 on-going research projects and some 20 others in different phases of negotiation.
The CREAD carries out also several studies concerning the technical responsibilities of the Centre in the field of research for national and foreign institutions within the framework of agreements and contracts.
Baseera - Egyptian Centre of Public Opinion Research
The Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research (Baseera); is an independent and nonpartisan organization for evidence based public opinion research. Established on April, 2012 in the aftermath of the 25th of January revolution, Baseera is committed to providing researchers, policy makers, business leaders, and the general public with reliable information on public attitudes and trends concerning influential policy matters.
Baseera offers public opinion research relying on a variety of data collection and data processing tools including field, telephone, and focus groups services. Our vision is to provide high quality, reliable research based on robust data in both a timely and cost- effective manner. At Baseera, there is a serious dedication to provide insightful advice and rigorous data for all our beneficiaries.
Baseera provides a comprehensive toolbox of outputs on both a supply and demand driven basis. For the demand driven polls, Baseera can design tailor-made polls to any of its beneficiaries or clients based on the condition that the funding of the poll is publically announced to ensure transparency and credibility of the center. In its endeavor to advance the use of public opinion research, Baseera abides by the ethical practices governing the public opinion research worldwide. Adherence to these principles is deemed necessary to maintain confidence and credibility of the organization.
As a maturing organization, Baseera brings together a working team of eleven; including both research and supporting staff. It can also rely on non-permanent staff and experts whenever needed after providing such staff with the necessary trainings. Baseera enjoys a well-equipped premise providing its staff with easy access to auxiliary services, including mail services, printing services, telecommunications services, audio visual services, necessary statistical packages including SPSS in addition to a training room for delivering necessary trainings to its permanent and non-permanent staff.
Additionally, Baseera has a strategic alliance with one of the well-established call centers with around 50 working stations to undertake telephone opinion polling in the case of telephone polling. This allows the center to gather all data on the same day accomplishing an average of 2000 calls per day.
Furthermore, Baseera maintains a strategic alliance with "Al-Masry Al-Youm Foundation", a prominent independent daily newspaper that allows a room for Baseera to publish its findings in a way that informs citizens about main policy issues.
Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies (IIACSS)
IIACSS has invested its experience in working in hot zone areas of Iraq to do research in the most difficult countries in the Arab region, it has the experience and capacity to conduct Quantitative and Qualitative research in Syria, Jordan , Yemen and Libya. IIACSS has dedicated teams that can cover both Urban and Rural areas in all these countries. IIACSS conducted number of surveys in Libya and was amongst the first firms which conducted public opinion surveys in this country.
IIACSS is the pioneer public opinion and marketing research company in Iraq and among the biggest Arab companies. IIACSS's leading team conducted the first ever public opinion survey in Iraq history. Since May 2003 IIACSS has conducted hundreds of public opinion surveys, 200 focus groups and other research for international professional clients. IIACSS covers all Iraq provinces, cities and rural areas through its widespread network and through its 5 regional offices in Baghdad, Basrah, Babylon, Sulaymania and Erbil.
The team leaders, researchers, interviewers, moderators and data processing workers are very well trained and of excellent experience who have been trained both inside and outside Iraq to meet the highest international standards in the field. Since then, IIACSS has conducted 1,500,000+ interviews in Iraq - most polls conducted nationwide (both urban and rural). IIACSS has also developed a qualitative research team that conducts focus groups for marketing, social, and political research. US department of state, US department of defense,USAID,UN ,UK ministry of defense , UK FCO , EU,University of Maryland, Yale University and many other international institutions are among those who received and appreciated IIACSS research.
Since 2014, IIACSS focused more on investigating the reasons behind the sudden apprise of ISIL in Sunni's areas in Iraq and the public opinion toward it. Four public opinion surveys plus qualitative research have been conducted in ISIL controlled areas. Some of these research have been published and presented in the Washington Post, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Center of Strategic and International Studies (Washington), Freedom House (Washington) and King's College.
IIACSS has the membership of Gallup international since 2005, IIACSS is the sole representative of Iraq in the esteem association of Gallup International, ESOMAR, Arab Barometer and World Values Surveys.
MEDA Solutions is a SME research company based in Mohammedia, Morocco. It specialises in conducting sociological and psychological studies. Its activities also include wide range of market research and human resources audits. The company has a track record of projects completed for local and regional authorities in Morocco, including population censuses and municipal development plans. It is a part of Arab Barometer group. In the past, it conducted studies in cooperation with Hassan II University of Casablanca, especially its Sociology Department.
MEDA Solutions operates throughout Morocco, with a team of social scientists, economists and econometricians, statisticians and lawyers. Although the company is based in Casablanca area of Morocco, it has capability to conduct studies and audits in the remote desert and mountainous areas of the country. It has an established network of well-trained interviewers that guarantees high efficiency and quality of conducted surveys. The office staff includes data coders and data punchers.
Its role in the ArabTrans study is to conduct a national survey, by collecting data from a representative sample of 2000 adult population from both urban and rural areas of Morocco. Data will be then coded and entered into a SPSS data base file.
The Centre is a member of the Arab Barometer and the World Value Survey networks. It has actively participated in previous series of studies conducted for the organisations since 1999. In addition, since 1993 the CSS has been conducting large-scale annual opinion polls on democracy in Jordan.
The polls aim to define the position of citizens on the democratization process in launched in Jordan in 1989, and the level of their knowledge of its development and participation in it. It also aimed to define the political frameworks for public participation in the democratization process and the awareness of citizens of the changes introduced, in addition to discerning citizens' satisfaction with the performance of the legislative authority. Yet another long-term project run by the Centre are the series of governments approval ratings surveys.
Operated in regular intervals since 1996, these surveys offer a unique insight into changing political preferences of the Jordanian people. The polls are intended to measure both opinion leaders' and the general public's initial expectations and then their perceptions of the prime ministers' and their teams performance. Founded in 1962, it is the oldest university in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. With 1400 members of academia and over 37000 students it is also the largest. It has been ranked among most successful higher education institutions in the Middle East.
The university comprises of 19 faculties, including Medicine, Humanities & Social Sciences, Arts, and the King Abdullah II School for Information Technology. It has also 5 institutes and 8 centres, including the renown Center for Strategic Studies (CSS).
The University of Aberdeen was founded in 1495, has been involved in European projects since Framework 3 and has, to date, been successful in participating in more than 600 grants funded by the European Commission. The University has also begun plans which include £240 million investment on infrastructure and facilities over ten years.
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