EQLS 2016 – Questionnaire

A high-quality questionnaire is a key element of a successful survey. Therefore, Eurofound invests heavily in the development and translation of its questionnaires.

A total of 104 questions and 262 items are available in the EQLS 2016. The questionnaire from the previous survey was reviewed in consultation with both policy stakeholders and experts in survey research. Some 66% of the EQLS 2011 questionnaire was kept as trend questions, while 51% of the EQLS 2016 questionnaire is comparable with earlier rounds.

The questionnaire for the EQLS 2016 has a considerable focus on public services: healthcare, long-term care, childcare and schools, and measuring different aspects of quality such as fair access, facilities, staff and information available to citizens. The questionnaire was also revised to improve the placement of subjective well-being items so that they were asked at the beginning of the interview before reflections on other topics could potentially affect responses.

Unique questionnaire items were reviewed and evaluated for their content validity, face validity, reliability, clarity and ease of use, risk of generating biased results, and overall relevance for quality of life research. As a result of the review, each item received a recommendation. They were recommended to be kept in their present form, to be modified or to be dropped. Several new items were also added to the questionnaire. The quality assessment of questions and subsequent recommendations can be found in the Quality analysis of the EQLS 2016 questionnaire.

The source questionnaire  of the fourth European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS 2016) was translated or adapted into 37 language versions across the 28 EU countries, and eight language versions in five non-EU countries.

Download the questionnaire in the language of each country below.

Download