Background

As eParticipation moves into a more mature stage of research, we need to move from conceptual ideas and models to more rigorous evidence-based explanations of eParticipation in practice. To achieve this end, participants in this workshop will discuss their strategies, current research, and developmental plans for constructing their survey instruments, disseminating their surveys, and collecting and analyzing their data.

We are also interested in initiating discussion on constructing a common schema for our questionnaires, which would, in effect, serve as a validated question bank for surveys for current and future surveys that concern DEMO-net research issues. A common schema would allow us to populate a shared database that researchers could use in their work. This will help to avoid duplication of effort and accurately target sample populations with questionnaires that address multiple issues, rather than survey the same sample multiple times.
Objectives

*Development of a common structure for collection of introductory and demographic data
*Establish survey objectives that are congruent with DEMO-net tasks
*Evaluate applicable theories and methodologies
*Discuss
    o Stakeholders
    o Target groups
    o Distribution methods
    o Variables of interest
    o Survey design
* Initiate plans for development of a common schema for instruments and data repositories

Contacts: Clive Sanford (ccs@cs.aau.dk), Solveig Svendsen (benner@cs.aau.dk)
Location: Aalborg University, Computer Science Department, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7, Aalborg, Denmark