Social, interpersonal or generalised trust is an increasingly important concept in the study of social capital, democracy and civil society. Often taken to be a key indicator of a political system's health, the concept readily lends itself to comparative research.

The Survey Question Bank now includes a range of cross-national survey documents - currently documentation from the Afrobarometer, European Quality of Life Survey and the European Social Survey - in its questionnaire search. For the questionnaires from these surveys, ESDS International has added http links from many of the questions on social trust to the online results where they are made available.

Key survey questions on trust

>> Retrieve cross-national questionnaires that include any questions on 'trust'

Retrieve questionnaires containing these key questions on social trust:

• 'Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?'
• 'Do you think most people would try to take advantage of you if they got the chance, or would they try to be fair?'
• 'Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful, or that they are mostly just looking out for themselves?'

Retrieve questionnaires containing these key questions on trust in institutions:

• 'Please tell me how much you personally trust each of the (following) institutions ... (country)'s parliament? ... the legal system? ... the police? ... politicians? ... political parties? ... the European Parliament? ... the United Nations?'

Links to selected external resources on trust

• ESS EduNet: Social and Political Trust
• Social and Political Trust Programme (ESRC)

Publications on trust with a cross-national/comparative focus

• Google scholar search - ["generalized trust" cross]
• Google scholar search - ["social trust" cross]