"Demography at the threshold of the year 2000"
an International Survey

Questionnaire in English

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A. Some information on your personal and professional history

A1. What is your year of birth ? 1 9 Compete two figures

A2. Are you :

Male

Female

A3. Could you indicate...

1. Your country of birth ?
2. The country of your professional residence?
3. If appropriate, the country where you are living temporarily for professional reasons ?

A4. In which language(s) do you write your work? (several languages possible)

**You can indicate one language only in each text box**
1. Only in
2. Primarily in
3. And secondarily in	; in;
in	and in

A5. In which academic discipline(s) were you mainly trained ? In which did you mainly work during the last 5 years ?

Mutiple answers possible	Academic training	Practised during last 5 years
1. Demography
2. Mathematics and statistics
3. Actuarial science
4. Sociology
5. Political science
6. Economics
7. Business, marketing, management
8. Computer science
9. Psychology, social psychology
10. Law
11. History
12. Prehistory, paleontology
13. Geography
14. Social anthropology, ethnology
15. Urban planning, national and regional development
16. Medicine, epidemiology
17. Biology, biometry, physical anthropologie
18. Genetics
19. Environment, ecology
Other(s): please, specify

A6. Please state the year you started and ended your University/ College studies ?
(1) indicate 1900 as the second date if your studies are not yet completed ;
(2) if you stopped your studies and resumed them later, use the second line

Between 19 and 19

and Between 19 and 19

A7. In which country(ies) did you receive your academic training?

You may indicate several countries using semi-colon ( ; ) as a separator

A8. Please summarize your professional history

(One answer only)

1. You started in demography and moved to (an) other discipline(s)

2. You came to demography from (an) other discipline(s)

3. You have always essentially practised demography

4. You have always closely associated demography with (an) other discipline(s)

5. Demography has never been your main discipline

6. Other history : (please, specify):

A9. If your answer is 1 or 2 : in which year did you make this change ?

Around 19

A10. During the last 5 years did you have the opportunity to bring your expertise of demographer into a project which was not essentially centered on demographic issues ?

No Yes

A11. If yes, on which issue(s) ?

A12. ...and in which type(s) of organization(s)?
Multiple answers possible

Government statistical office
Research center
University
National or federal administration
Local administration
International organization
Non-governmental organization
Private foundation
Other type(s) of organization(s) (please, specify) :

A13. Would you define yourself as a demographer ?

Yes
No
No opinion

A14. If no : how would your define yourself ?

A15. Currently how do you divide your working time between the following activities ?
(in per cent)

1. Teaching	%
2. Research	%
3. Consultancy	%
4. Administration	%
Other activites : (please, specify)
	%
TOTAL	1 0 0 %

A16. In which type of organization(s) do you or did you work?

Multiple answers possible	Currently (1998-1999)	10 years ago (1988-1989)	20 years ago (1978-1979)
1. Government statistical office
2. Research center
3. University
4. National or federal administration
5. Local administration
6. International organization
7. Non-governmental organization
8. Private foundation
9. Private business
10. Retiree
11. Student
12. Is/was independent worker
13.Not applicable : not yet active

A17. On which region(s) of the world is your work centered ?

	Europe
	North America
	Japan
	Australia/New Zealande
	Latin America
	Africa
	Middle East
	Asia/ Oceania (except Australia and New Zealand)
	World as whole
	No regional specialization

A18. What is/was your field of research?

Multiple answers possible	Currently (1998-1999)	10 years ago (1988-1989)	20 years ago (1978-1979)
1. General population studies
2. Regional studies, local studies
3. Spatial distributions, internal migration
4. Population trends, projections
5. Mortality, morbidity, epidemiology
6. Fertility, fecundity
7. Nuptiality, family structure
8. Transition to adulthood, life cycles
9. International migration
10. Demography of less developed countries
11. Historical Demography
12. History of demography
13. Epistemology
14. Studies of minorities, ethnic groups
15. Cultural demography
16. Economic demography
17. Employment, labour force
18. Natural resources and population
19. Population policy
20. Methods, models
21. Data collection
22. Household surveys
23. Anthropological studies, monographs
Other(s) (please, specify)
24.
25.
26.

A19. If you work or worked in several fields, indicate one or two of the main fields of work

Indicate below the numbers corresponding to the answers given to the question A18

	Main field	Secondary field
Currently ? (1998-1999)
10 years ago ? (1988-1989)
20 years ago ? (1978-1979)

A20. Are you currently a member of the following demographic association(s)?

	IUSSP (International Union for Scientific Study of Population
	EAPS (European Association for Population Studies)
	PAA (Population Association of America)
	Other national or/and international associations (Please, specify) :

B. Demography and society : your views on current problems

N. B.: "Demography" in the broad sense, including " population studies "

B1. Listed below are some socio-economic phenomena which influenced world evolution during the last decades. To what extent did they also influence your personal practice of demography ?

Celecte from drop-down list one of the options: "no impact", "weak", "average", "strong" or "very strong".
a.	Suddenness of demographic changes
b.	Dissemination of modern methods of contraception
c.	Rapid population growth in less developed countries
d.	Low fertility in developed countries
e.	Decline of fertility in less developed countries
f.	Population ageing
g.	Increase in life expectancy at older ages
h.	Increase of non-marital unions
i.	Adolescent fertility in certain countries
j.	Medical assisted conception
k.	Development of health systems
l.	Exploration of human genome
m.	Aids epidemic
n.	Change in role/status of women
o.	Ethnic minorities issues
p.	Threat to the environment
q.	Development of international migration
r.	Economic and financial globalization
s.	Debt and restructuring in less developed countries
t.	Crisis of the Welfare State
u.	Decline in economic planning and in the role of the State
v.	Collapse of USSR
w.	Emergence of the European Union
x.	Development of education systems
y.	Increase in unemployment
z.	New forms of poverty
Other significant phenomena (please, specify):
1
2

B2. Among the phenomena listed which in your view has had the greatest impact on demography as a discipline, independent of your personal practice ? List no more than 3 without putting them in order.

Indicate below the letter or/and numbers corresponding to the phenomena listed in question B1

Listed below are certain choices or dilemmas that demographers may encounter. They are presented as neutrally as possible.
Could you indicate your position with regard to them ?

B3. Do you favour a strict definition of demography around the concept of formal demography or around the concept of population studies, whether or not carried out in co-operation with other disciplines ?

Rather formal demography

Rather population studies

No opinion

B4. Do you think that demographic phenomena should be explained mainly by demographic phenomena or mainly by non-demographic phenomena?

Mainly by demographic phenomena

Mainly by other phenomena

Both

No opinion

B5. In your view what is the contribution of other disciplines to demography ?

Multiple answers possible

1. Useful techniques

2. Stimulating analogies

3. Explanatory theories

4. Theoretical framework

5. Limited or no contribution

6. Other answer(s) specify:
7. No opinion

B6. Do you think that demography should be either a descriptive discipline or an explanatory one ?

Rather descriptive

Rather explanatory

Both

No opinion

B7. In your view does demography belong to natural sciences or to social sciences ?

Rather to the natural sciences

Rather to the social sciences

Both

No opinion

B8. What contemporary researcher(s) (active between the 1950s and now) whether demographer(s) or not, is (are) today...

a central reference in your field of research ?	a central reference in demography in general ? (even if mentioned in the 1st column)

B9. What paradigm(s) or theoretical framework(s) do you consider as central to demography today ?

	In your field of work ?	In demography in general ?
1. Demographic transition
2. Family life cycle
3. Relation population / resources
4. Sustainable growth
5. Epidemiological transition
6. Law of mortality at older ages
7. Transfers between generations
8. Change in gender roles
9. Social network analysis
10. Spatial analysis
11. New home economics
12. Relations macro/micro
Other paradigme(s)/framework(s) please, specify:
13.
14.

B10. What technique(s) or method(s) do you consider as central to demography today ?

	In your field of work ?	In demography in general ?
1. Life tables
2. Stable, quasi stable populations
3. Survival models
4. Age-period-cohorte analysis
5. Event history analysis
6. Markov models
7. Methods of data collection
8. Standardization
9. Regression methods
10. Indirect estimation
11. Econometrics
12. Multi-level analysis
13. Simulation
14. Model of proximate determinants of fertility
*Other techniques or methods (please, specify)* :**
15.
16 .

B11. From your point of view what has contributed most to the development of demography as a discipline during recent decades ?
(no more than four answers)

**You can select only one option in each column**.
	1°	2°	3°	4°
1. Progress of formal demography
2. Techniques borrowed from other sciences
3. Availability of individual/longitudinal data
4. Use of new concepts/theoretical frameworks coming from demography
5. Use of new concepts/theoretical frameworks coming from other sciences
6. Dissemination of computing capacity
7. Development of personal and financial resources
8. Availability and comparability of macro data
*Other factors (please specify):*
9.
10.

B12. In your field of work would you say that demography currently encounters?

	Do not know	Normal difficulties	Serious difficulties	Real crisis
A. At the conceptual level (categories, definitions)
B. In its explanatory power
C. At the level of data availability, computing facilities and training
D. At the financial and organizational level
E. At the ethical/political level

Your free comments on this question :

You have answered to 2 or 3 (serious difficulties or real crisis) :

B13. Indicate if they are specific to demography or shared with other social sciences in general ?

Specific to demography

Shared with other social sciences

No opinion

C. What are the prospects for demography ?

C1. At the institutional level what kind of relationship should demographers have with other disciplines ?

Multiple answers possible

1. Should collaborate more with non demographers in their demographic projects

2. Should increase their mobility toward environments not centered on demography

3. Should undertake joint projects with non demographers

4. Should encourage the creation of multidisciplinary institutions

5. Should maintain the specificity of demography

6. No opinion

C2. Do you think that the development of autonomous specializations (economic demography, mortality studies etc.) is inevitable ?

Yes
No
No opinion

C3. In your view, is it possible that demography could lose its unity and could be divided with other disciplines? (statistics, sociology, biology, etc.)

Yes, which ones?
No
No opinion

C4. Is there a possibility that in the future demography may become isolated as a discipline (through an excess of techniques, lack of explanatory theories, ignorance of other disciplines ,etc.) ?

No, there is no such possibility or it is unlikely
Yes, there is such possibility
No opinion

C5. What are the public or institutional sectors whose demand for demographic expertise are likely to develop most rapidly in the future ?

One answer only

1. State/central government

2. Local government

3. Welfare administration

4. Regional international organizations (EU, OAS, etc.)

5. Other international organizations

6. Non governmental organizations

7. Private foundation

8. Private business

9. Other type of organization
(please, specify) :

10. No opinion

C6. In your view what effect would the development of this type of demand have on demography ?

1. It might be mainly negative

2. It might be mainly positive

3. No effect

4. No opinion

C7. In your view, should demographer....

1. abstains as demographer from all public involvement in political debates?

2. intervenes in political debates only through his/her expert advice, given spontaneously or on request, on the consequences of political options ?

3. takes sides publicly in political debates in their personal capacity and as a demographer ?

4. No opinion.

C8. Do you think that demographers should themselves present the results or their research to the public (books for a large audience, textbooks, conferences, etc.)?

1. Yes

2. No

3. No opinion

C9. Listed below are some broad objectives which might in the final analysis determine the commitment of researchers to demography or associated disciplines. Which one(s) are the closest to your heart ?
No more than four answers

You can select one option only in each column

	1°	2°	3°	4°
1. Make a contribution advancement of knowledge through research and/or teaching
2. Satisfy your intellectual curiosity
3. Contribute to social integration
4. Reduce inequalities in health
5. Promote equality between men and women
6. Reduce North/South gaps
7. Raise public and official awareness of the dangers of low fertility
8. Raise public and official awareness about rapid population growth in less developed countries
9. Control migratory flows
10. Ensure the demographic basis of national identity
11. Ensure equity between generations
12. Raise public and official awareness of the effects of increased life expectancy
13. Oppose the perverted use of demography
14. Reduce racism and xenophobia
Other(s) (please, specify):
15.
16.
17. Sans opinion

C10. In your view, what are the broad themes of research that will develop in the coming 20 years ?

C11. To conclude, do you have any comments on the current state of demography and its prospects in the coming 20 years?

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"Demography at the threshold of the year 2000" an International Survey

Questionnaire in English

"Demography at the threshold of the year 2000"
an International Survey