Explaining attitudes towards the euro: Design of a cross-national study

The aim of this paper is to provide essential background material relating to the accompanying papers in this special issue. It presents a brief description of the `Psychology of the European Monetary Union' project. This involved a questionnaire study of attitudes towards the euro, which was fielded in each of the 15 member states of the European Union in the summer of 1997. We describe the development of the common survey instrument, and outline the rationale and methods pursued in sampling particular conceptual domains. The paper also details the sampling procedures used in each country, together with the response rates and sample sizes attained. Finally, it offers a brief cross-national comparison of overall attitudes to the euro.PsycINFO classification: 2229; 3920