Levada Omnibus Survey

Levada Center holds monthly omnibus surveys that generate results within a week’s time. These are Russia-wide polls of urban and rural populations, over 18 years old, based on a representative sample of 1,600 people from 137 settlements in 50 regions of the country. The statistical error does not exceed 3.4%. The omnibus survey is based on the nationwide, multi-stage, stratified and probability sample (N=1600) that represents the adult population in Russia over 18 years of age.

For any inquiries about the omnibus survey contact:
8 (499) 755-40-30, [email protected]

Sample Design Description

In the first stage, urban settlements and rural administrative districts which are primary sampling units are selected.

The nationwide sample (N=1600) is divided among:

–  8 large geographical macro regions (Federal Okrugs) – North-West, Central, Volga, South, North Caucasus, Ural, Siberia, Far East — the proportionate size of the local population aged 18+ of each macro region, including Moscow as a macro region and a self-representative stratum.

– 5 types of settlements in each macro region in proportion to the size of the local population aged 18+ of each type:

1. cities > 1 000 000 inhabitants;
2. cities 500 000 – 1 000 000 inhabitants;
3. cities 100 000 – 500 000 inhabitants;
4. urban settlements < 100 000 inhabitants;
5. rural administrative districts.

In the North-West region there are no cities of 500-1,000 thousands of residents, in the Far East region there are no cities of more than 1,000 thousands of residents, and Moscow is considered a separate stratum. The total number of strata is 38. (Table 1)

Table 1

Selection of primary sampling units (PSUs):

All cities over 1,000,000 inhabitants are included in the sample as self-representative units. The number of interviews in each of these cities is determined proportionally to its size in the adult population of the Russian Federation.

Other urban settlements and rural districts are considered as primary sample units (PSUs). In each stratum (except a stratum of cities over 1 000 000 inhabitants) the number of PSUs is calculated with the limitation of 10 interviews on average per PSU (but not more than 12). The PSUs are also selected with the probability proportional to the size (PPS). The total numbers of interviews calculated for a stratum are distributed approximately equally among selected PSUs.

In total, 137 PSUs are selected including 97 urban and 40 rural PSUs.  (Table 2)

Table 2

The sample includes:

• 15 cities over 1,000 000 inhabitants;
• 15 cities with 500 000 – 1,000 000;
• 31 cities with 100 000 – 500 000;
• 36 urban settlements less than 100 000;
• 40 rural administrative districts.

In the second stage, the secondary sampling units (SSUs) are selected from the lists of electoral districts (blocks, streets) in urban settlements and villages in rural districts. The number of surveyed SSUs is defined by condition of 5-12 interviews per SSU (at least 2 SSUs per PSU); 14 SSUs are selected in Moscow, 6 SSUs – in S.-Petersburg. In total, about 163 SSUs are selected.

In the third stage, the households are selected by a random route method.

In the fourth stage, one household member is selected by the nearest birthday (with the control by soft quotas). Once a person has been selected as the respondent in a particular household, this person may not be substituted with another person of the same household. One person is selected in a household.

Soft quotas (sex and age) are used only in a respondent selection stage (the latest stage). They are applied after 75% of the sample is collected and when the deviations after the next birthday method are +/- 15%.  Usage of quotas for the selection of respondents is taken to increase accessibility of some problem groups (younger persons, males) and to decrease some groups that often are oversampled (for example, women 55+).

If nobody is at home or a selected member of a household is absent, an interviewer is required to visit this household again. In order to reach those who work late hours and those who leave for the weekends, interviewers are required to visit households in a different time of a day and in different days of the week.

 Groups excluded from sample

The following population groups are excluded from the gross sample on principals of sample designing:

• persons, carrying out their military service by conscription (around 1% of total adult population);
• persons under imprisonment before trial proceedings or convicted (around 0.8% of total adult population);
• persons living in remote or difficult to access regions of Siberia and Far North (around 2,0 % of total adult population);
• homeless people (up to 1,5% of total adult population);
• persons, residing in rural settlements with not more than 50 inhabitants (around 1,0% of total adult population).

Source of data

1. Russian Federal State Statistics Service. Population Census 2010 (gender/age/education distribution)
2. Federal State Statistic Service. Resident population of the Russian Federation by municipalities on January 1, 2018 (rural/urban population, gender/age distribution)
3. Lists of electoral districts (blocks/streets in urban settlements or villages in rural districts) with located buildings in each of sampled settlements.

CONTROL OF INTERVIEWERS

To control the work of interviewers, the following is carried out:

1. control of compliance with polling points by GPS location
2. selective 30% control of audio recordings of interviews conducted
3. logical control of the data file with the help of special computer programs.

DATA PROCESSING

Research data is entered, encoded, and cleaned of random errors, data omissions and/or inconsistencies. The cleaned data set is weighed by sex, age, level of education, and type of settlement. Weighing is carried out for each federal district independently. As a basis for weighing, Federal State Statistic Service‘s data as of January 1 of the previous year “Number of the resident population of the subjects of the Russian Federation by municipalities”, “Population by age groups, sex and level of education by subjects of the Russian Federation”, “Population by age groups, sex and level of education in cities of the Russian Federation with a population of 100 thousand people or more” is used.