ProTrust: Status and trust in occupational groups

The database (ProTruSt) is based on a large survey of the Norwegian people and provides information on occupational prestige, what prestige / status the professions should have and confidence in various professions and professions.

The database (ProTruSt) is based on two large cross-sectional surveys of the Norwegian population and provides information on the respondents’ assessments of occupational prestige, what prestige / status different occupations have and ought to have, and confidence in various occupations and professions.

The database provides information on occupational prestige and confidence in professionals in a selection of different occupations, including:

Doctor, judge, professor, lawyer, graduate engineer, CEO, police, principal in primary school, IT consultant, pharmacist, physiotherapist, nurse, teacher, priest, journalist, electrician, carpenter, social worker, preschool teacher, farmer, hairdresser, daycare assistant, taxi driver and cleaner.

This provides opportunities to investigate how people perceive these different groups. In addition, the database has information about which factors can affect status and trust (for example, salary and career opportunities can affect a professional's status / prestige).

Both data collection was carried out by TNS Gallup using a web form sent to a representative sample of the population between 18 and 80 years. To the first survey 4,007 people responded, (response rate 41%), and to the second survey 4,235 people responded (response rate 33 %). Both surveys are weighted according to public statistics.

Description of questions:

The questions are to some extent inspired by the European Social Survey. This gives the opportunity to compare with previous findings where the questions overlap, but also to add new knowledge where we have collected extra info for professional status / prestige, what status the professions should have, and confidence in professions.

All these three variables are new in the Norwegian context. 

Example questions:

• Different occupations have different status. Here is a scale ranging from 1 denoting lowest status to 7 denoting highest status. How do you think most people will consider the status of the profession?
• What status do you think each of the following occupations should have?
• Different people have different degrees of trust in professionals. Here is a scale ranging from 1 which denotes no confidence, to 7 which denotes very high confidence. How much confidence do you have for the following professional groups?

Additional questions include confidence in the public education sector, health sector and confidence in several central institutions (eg. judiciary, police, parliament, universities).

The data also include background variables such as gender, social background, age, marital status, place of residence, occupation and occupational activity, education, the position generator which informs about respondents' social networks, and several questions about their political preferences