The Afrobarometer is, alongside the Latinobarómetro, the Arab Barometer and the Asian Barometer, part of the Globalbarometer network. The project represents the first ever systematic, comparative survey of African social and political attitudes. Four rounds of data have so far been collected: First round in 1999-2001: 12 countries Second round in 2002-2004: 16 countries Third round in 2005-2006: 18 countries Fourth round in 2008: 19 countries Survey interviews take place face-to-face and are conducted in the respondent’s preferred language. The countries covered now include most of Africa’s democracies - new and old - but note that the Afrobarometer does not claim to be a representative sample of Africa or Africans as a whole: authoritarian regimes and countries in conflict are not surveyed.

The Afrobarometer surveys have gathered information on a wide range of subjects:

• Political: partisanship, voting, attitudes to democracy; opinion of current leaders and government performance; political knowledge and interest; policy priorities; corruption; citizen rights and responsibilities; media consumption
• Social: employment, poverty, health, AIDS, attitudes to women, experience of public services, social trust, values
• Demographics: age, sex, race, ethnicity, class, urban/rural, local conditions

Another Globalbarometer partner, the Arab Barometer, is a project managed by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. In common with the other barometers, the Arab Barometer has a strong focus on social and political attitudes measurement and employs a survey instrument comparable with the other Globalbarometers. The survey also contains questions and modules with a specific Arab flavour, including relations between religion and politics, interpretations of Islam, attitudes towards terrorism and violence and attitudes towards Middle East international relations.

The survey began in 2005 and all interviews conducted are face-to-face with representative national samples of adults. Sample sizes range from 750 to 1300.

The Asian Barometer Survey (ABS), initially the Comparative Survey of Democratization and Value Change in East Asia Project, has been in operation since the early 2000s and currently covers 18 East and South Asian countries. Planning and survey methodology protocols are agreed centrally to ensure data reliability and comparability across the participating countries.

The survey’s protocol involves issuing national probability samples with a size of around 1200 respondents per country. A core module of identical or functionally equivalent questions is asked in order to ensure cross-national comparability. Interviews are conducted face-to-face and topic coverage is broadly in line with the other Globalbarometer surveys with modules on economic evaluations, trust, social capital, political/electoral participation/partisanship, democracy, social values/norms and the role of the state.

AsiaBarometer is another comparative survey in Asia, covering East, Southeast, South and Central Asia. The survey has a focus on social and political attitudes and is conducted annually via face-to-face interviews using harmonised instruments. The questionnaire is formulated in English and then translated into the local language by the local data collection agency. National sample sizes of the adult population aged 20-69 number around 1,000.

Different countries are covered by different sweeps: for example the 2007 survey covered Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand. Topics also vary annually. For 2007, topics included: governance, democracy, social virtues, happiness, quality of life, international alignments, new middle class, religiosity, mass media, identity and globalisation.

Afrobarometer data and documentation are freely available and can be requested via www.afrobarometer.org/data.html. Alternatively, registered ESDS users at UK institutions may place an order with the ESDS requesting access to the data via the UK Data Archive’s reciprocal links with ICPSR.

In addition, Afrobarometer data can be explored online using the JDSurvey tool at www.jdsurvey.net/jds/afrobarometer.jsp.

Data from the Arab Barometer have not yet been made available, though the questionnaire can be downloaded from arabbarometer.org/survey/survey.html.

For the Asian Barometer Survey, users may apply for access via www.asianbarometer.org/newenglish/surveys/DataRelease.htm.

Online analysis, via JDSurvey, of the data and documentation for the East Asian component of the Asian Barometer Survey can be undertaken at www.jdsurvey.net/bdasepjds/easiabarometer/eab.jsp.

For the AsiaBarometer, access is via www.asiabarometer.org/en/data.

Afrobarometer www.afrobarometer.org/results.html www.afrobarometer.org/publications.html Arab Barometer arabbarometer.org/reports/reports.html Asian Barometer Survey www.asianbarometer.org/newenglish/publications/ AsiaBarometer www.asiabarometer.org/en/publications

Afrobarometer: www.afrobarometer.org/newsupdates.html

Asian Barometer Survey: www.asianbarometer.org/newenglish/whatsnew/

Globalbarometer network: www.globalbarometer.net/news.htm