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Professor Rory Fitzgerald

Director of the European Social Survey

School of Policy & Global Affairs European Social Survey HQ

Contact details

Address

Professor Rory Fitzgerald DG18, Rhind Building [D]
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Professor Rory Fitzgerald became Director of the European Social Survey (ESS) in 2013 having been a Senior Research Fellow at City, University of London since 2004. In November 2013, the UK and 14 other European governments established the European Social Survey as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS ERIC) – an independent international research organisation hosted at City, University of London. ESS ERIC now has 27 Members (November 2021).

Rory is the first Director of ESS ERIC and oversees the ESS Core Scientific Team (CST) and the ESS National Coordinators Forum. In addition to these committees he works closely with the General Assembly as well as the Scientific and Methods advisory boards.

The ESS is a rigorous comparative biennial survey of changing attitudes and values in up to 34 European countries. With other members of the CST, he was awarded the Descartes Prize in 2005 for 'excellence in collaborative scientific research'. In 2016 the ESS was declared to be a landmark infrastructure by the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures in Europe (ESFRI). There are more than 185,000 registered users of ESS data and almost 4,500 publications that analyse the data available online.

Rory is an Associate Editor of the Survey Research Methods Journal.

Enterprise

Rory worked with other ESS colleagues on the successful transition of the survey into a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in 2013. ESS ERIC has an annual budget for central costs of €2.4 MILLION.

In 2015 he was the Coordinator of two Horizon 2020 awards totalling over €10 million. This included a grant to promote the sustainability of the ESS and another - SERISS - which supported pan-social science infrastructure collaboration in Europe. In 2019 he was awarded a €5 million grant to further support the sustainability of the ESS including the launch of a 12-country probability based, input harmonised web panel.

Qualifications

  • DPhil Sociology, City, University of London, United Kingdom, 2016
  • MSc (Econ) European Politics, University of Wales, United Kingdom, 1996
  • BSc (Econ) Politics, University of Wales, United Kingdom, 1995

Employment

  • ESS Director (ESS ERIC from 2013), City, University of London, Oct 2012 – present
  • CCSS Acting Director, City, University of London, Jan – Oct 2012
  • CCSS Deputy Director, City, University of London, Oct 2007 – Jan 2012
  • Senior Research Fellow, City, University of London, May 2004 – Oct 2007
  • Researcher/Senior Researcher/Research Director, NatCen Social Research, London, Oct 1999 – May 2004
  • Research Executive, The Gallup Organization, Nov 1996 – Oct 1999

Memberships of professional organisations

  • Vice President, UCU City, University of London Branch, 2010 – 2013
  • Member, ESRC Peer Review College, 2010 – present
  • American Association for Public Opinion Research, 2010 – present
  • Member, NORFACE Data Collection Expert Panel, 2009 – 2010
  • Member, World Association of Public Opinion Research, 2009 – present
  • Invited member, Comparative Survey Design Implementation Workshop, 2008
  • Member, European Survey Research Association, 2008 – present

Research

Professor Fitzgerald's key area of expertise cross-national survey methodology with a focus on questionnaire design and pre-testing as well as non-response issues. In addition, he has an increasing interest in the use of web surveys and web panels in cross national surveys. He also played a leading role in the ESS preparatory phase and the establishment of the ESS as an ERIC.

Rory Fitzgerald was included in the most recent REF and wrote an impact case study based on the ESS.

Rory also co-organises a Methods Seminar Series with NatCen social research which brings together academics and practitioners to discuss issues related to quality in survey research and quantitative social science more generally.

Prior to joining City, Mr Fitzgerald was a Research Director at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), having previously worked at Gallup where specialised in political opinion polling.

Publications

Publications by category

Books (2)

  • Stoop, I.A.L., Billiet, J., Koch, A. and Fitzgerald, R. (2010). Improving survey response: Lessons from the European Social Survey. John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 978-0-470-51669-0.
  • Jowell, R., Roberts, C., Fitzgerald, R. and Eva, G. (Eds.), (2007). Measuring attitudes cross-nationally: Lessons from the European Social Survey. SAGE. ISBN 978-1-4129-1981-4.

Chapters (10)

  • In Beatty, P., Collins, D., Kaye, L., Padilla, J.L., Willis, G. and Wilmot, A. (Eds.), (2020). Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing. In Wiley. ISBN 978-1-119-26362-3.
  • Winstone, L., Widdop, S. and Fitzgerald, R. (2016). Constructing the Questionnaire: the Challenges of Measuring Views and Evaluations of Democracy Across Europe. In Ferrin, M. and Kriesi, H. (Eds.), How Europeans View and Evaluate Democracy (pp. 21–42). UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-876690-2.
  • Butt, S. and Fitzgerald, R. (2014). Critical consensus? Britain’s expectations and evaluations of democracy. In Park, A., Bryson, C. and Curtice, J. (Eds.), British Social Attitudes 2014 ed. 31st report (pp. 1–24). London: NatCen Social Research. ISBN 978-1-907236-33-4.
  • Fitzgerald, R., Harrison, E. and Ryan, L. (2013). The ESS: a social science research infrastructure for Europe and beyond. In Kleiner, B., Renschler, I., Wernli, B., Farago, P. and Joye, D. (Eds.), Understanding Research Infrastructures in the Social Sciences Seismo Verlag. ISBN 978-3-03777-133-4.
  • Fitzgerald, R., Harrison, E. and Steinmaier, F. (2011). Age identity and conflict: Myths and realities. In Park, A., Clery, E., Curtice, J., Phillips, M. and Utting, D. (Eds.), British Social Attitudes SAGE. ISBN 978-1-84920-666-2.
  • Fitzgerald, R. and Jowell, R. (2010). Measurement Equivalence in Comparative Surveys: The European Social Survey – From design to implementation and beyond. In Harkness, J.A., Vijver, F.J.R.V.D. and Mohler, P.P. (Eds.), Cross-cultural survey methods Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 978-0-471-38526-4.
  • Harrison, E. and Fitzgerald, R. (2010). ‘A chorus of disapproval? European attitudes to non-traditional family patterns. In Park, A., Curtice, J., Thomson, K., Phillips, M., Clery, E. and Butt, S. (Eds.), British Social Attitudes SAGE. ISBN 978-1-84920-387-6.
  • Jowell, R., Kaase, M., Fitzgerald, R. and Eva, G. (2007). The European Social Survey as a measurement model. In Jowell, R. and Britain, C.F.C.S.S.G. (Eds.), Measuring attitudes cross-nationally Sage Publications Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4129-1981-4.
  • Harrison, E., Jowell, R. and Fitzgerald, R. (2007). Non-respondents in the European Social Survey: in a class of their own? In Loosveldt, G., Swyngedouw, M. and Cambré, B. (Eds.), Measuring meaningful data in social research Leuven: Acco NR. ISBN 978-90-334-6829-2.
  • In Breen, M.J. (Ed.), Values and Identities in Europe. In Routledge.

Datasets (4)

  • Fitzgerald, R. and Harrison, E. (2018). European Social Survey Cumulttive dataset Rounds 1-8.

    [publisher’s website]

  • Butt, S. and fitzgerald, R. (2016). ADDResponse: European Social Survey Round 6 (UK) Plus Auxiliary Data, 2010-2014: Secure Access.

    [publisher’s website]

  • Fitzgerald, R. and ESS Core Scientific Team, (2015). ESS Round 7: European Social Survey Round 7 Data (2014). Data file edition 1.0. Norwegian Social Science Data Services, Norway – Data Archive and distributor of ESS data for ESS ERIC.

    [publisher’s website]

  • Paskin, N. (1999). Toward unique identifiers.

    [publisher’s website]

Internet publications (3)

Journal articles (10)

Poster

Report

Thesis/dissertation

Other (3)

  • Fitzgerald, R., Butt, S., Harrison, E., Ryan, L., Douhou, S., Salini, L. … Lynn, P. (2018). ESS Round 9: European Social Survey Round 9 Data.

    [publisher’s website]

  • Fitzgerald, R., Harrison, E., Ryan, L., Villar, A., Butt, S., Douhou, S. … Lynn, P. (2016). ESS Round 8: European Social Survey Round 8 Data.

    [publisher’s website]

  • Fitzgerald, R., Harrison, E., Ryan, L., Villar, A., Butt, S., Widdop, S. … Malnar, B. (2016). ESS Round 7: European Social Survey Round 7 Data (2014). Data file edition 2.1. NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data, Norway – Data Archive and distributor of ESS data for ESS ERIC.

    [publisher’s website]

Professional activities

Editorial activity (2)

  • International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Editorial Board, 2013 – present.
  • Survey Research Methods, Associate Editor, 2013 – present.

Keynote lectures/speeches (10)

  • A decade of attitudinal measurement: What the European Social Survey tells us about the people of Europe. Dublin (2013). Keynote Talk, International Conference on the ESS, June 10-11
  • Acculturation and attitudes towards homosexuality: Moving from East to West Europe. Boston (2013). World Association of Public Opinion Conference, 14-16 May.
  • A Versatile Tool? The Cross National Error Source Typology (CNEST): An Application to Triangulated Pre-test Data. Boston (2013). American Association of Public Opinion Research Conference
  • From East to West: the impact of intra-European emigration on
    social attitudes.     Cyprus (2012). ESS International Conference
  • Translation Verification in the European Social Survey – a comparison of rounds 5 and round 6 and implications for the future. Cyprus (2012). ESS International Conference
  • Mode Effects in Complex Questions. Cyprus (2012). ESS International Conference
  • Challenges in comparative questionnaire design: Illustrations from the European Social Survey. Lausanne, Switzerland (2011). 5th ESRA Conference
  • Inputs and Outputs in Comparative Studies. Gothenburg, Sweden (2010). Invited paper, World Congress of Sociology
  • Responding to cross-national diversity and change over time. An analysis of possible revisions to the ESS Partnership and Life Course Questions. Lausanne, Switzerland (2010). Invited Paper, 7th CSDI workshop
  • Facilitating triangulation of pretesting techniques through improved documentation of (cross-national) questionnaire development. Warsaw, Poland (2009). 3rd ESRA Conference