allup regularly surveys Ukraine as part of its World Poll. In September 2022, Gallup interviewed 1,000 adults across Ukraine to get a glimpse into what their lives were like more than six months after Russia’s invasion, and to get their thoughts on the war.
Galina Zapryanova, Gallup’s regional director for research in Eastern Europe and former Soviet states, provides insights into the research – and what Ukrainians told interviewers.
Q: Gallup surveys Ukraine every year, but 2022 was obviously different. You had to survey people about their lives in the middle of war. Was there a risk you couldn’t do the survey at all?
Zapryanova: Before the war, we planned to survey Ukraine in 2022 doing face-to-face interviews. We realized right after the invasion that this would of course no longer be possible and immediately began strategizing about how to continue our work. Canceling the survey was a last resort. We were determined to avoid this, and so was our local partner in Ukraine who does the interviewing.
We joined forces to make the World Poll happen despite the war. Sometimes the most difficult years and unprecedented circumstances for a country’s people are precisely the most important times to ensure their experiences, hopes and opinions are widely heard around the world.
Q: Tell me about some of the challenges you faced. For example, a lot of people were on the move because of the war – and some areas were even under Russian control. How did you reach them? Did you reach them? What did you have to do differently?
Zapryanova: We had to carefully review and revise our screening procedures to account for the massive displacement of people both inside and outside Ukraine. Our target survey population included adults living inside the country, so we screened out any respondents currently residing abroad.
We did reach and interview internally displaced people. For analytical purposes, we collected both their current place of residence and where they lived before the war. As expected, the majority of internal migration was occurring from the East and South regions toward the rest of the country.
All areas where Russia’s military forces seized control in 2022 were still reachable by Ukrainian mobile operators, so we were able to survey those populations as well, including the Donbas Territories under Russian control since 2014, such as Crimea, were not included in the sample. All Ukrainian mobile operators ceased operations there by 2015.
Q: So, Gallup partners with a local company to do the telephone interviews. This means Ukrainians are interviewing other Ukrainians about their lives – everyone is in the middle of a war. What was that like for them? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Zapryanova: We are extremely grateful to our interviewers for their resilience. While the daily practical aspects of their workday were not significantly different yet (World Poll fielded before the frequent power outages and renewed attacks on Kyiv began), the interviews took a psychological toll on them.
Supervisors noticed during listen-ins that respondents would often share snippets of their life stories and their experiences of trauma and war. If you are an interviewer working many hours per day calling people from across the country, by the end of the day you may have heard some very difficult stories of people fleeing war, being prisoners, getting hurt or losing loved ones, being anxious about the future.
Survey interviewers are usually pre-selected on certain traits like being “good with people” and further trained to be approachable and friendly to convince people to take their surveys. This approachability makes respondents eager to talk and answer questions, but also more likely to share emotional comments about what they are going through.
In the middle of all that, there were also stories of hope and laughter. Supervisors collected and shared these stories to keep up the team’s spirits.
Q: Let’s discuss the findings. What was the general mood of the country? What did Ukrainians think about the war? Tell me about what stood out most to you.
Zapryanova: Despite the hardships or maybe because of them, we saw a remarkable sense of unity and determination take hold among Ukrainians. Confidence in the country’s leadership, government and institutions sky-rocketed. Large majorities agreed that Ukraine should continue fighting until full victory. People were also hopeful of NATO and EU acceptance, while attitudes toward Russia plummeted to historic lows.
What I also found very interesting is that, among people who remained in Ukraine, the appetite for leaving the country decreased – fewer people expressed a desire to migrate than in 2021.
Overall, the data painted a picture of a nation gearing for a long fight but still hopeful about the future and the outcome of the war. Our fieldwork occurred right around the time of Ukraine’s first surprising successes in recapturing Russian-occupied territory. The data reflected that victorious sentiment, I think. We are very much looking forward to seeing whether it continues to dominate the public’s mood in 2023.
Q: The plan is to go back to Ukraine and do it again in 2023. Any concerns with that? Is the situation more dangerous now? What do you expect to find this time?
Zapryanova: The main difference from 2022 right now is the widespread attacks on infrastructure and renewed bombings of Kyiv. Our primary concern is the safety of the interviewers so they should always prioritize seeking shelter when/if an attack is occurring or suspected.
In addition, we will need to adjust our procedures to the frequent power outages to maximize calling during times when electricity is working. People are trying to save as much power as possible for their daily heating, cooking and technology needs, so answering unfamiliar telephone numbers during an outage will be unlikely.
Overall we are gearing up for a potentially longer timeline of data collection because of these disruptions. Our Ukrainian partners are already adjusting the system, however, and we are optimistic that 2023 World Poll fieldwork will proceed.
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Ukraine Speaks: Gallup Listens to Voices Inside a War Zone
Photo by Maksym Pozniak-Haraburda on Unsplash
February 8, 2023
Gallup has continued its survey activities in Ukraine despite the ongoing conflict, in a bid to get insights into what Ukrainian's lives are like amid the invasion. Gallup Regional Director for Research Galina Zapryanova talks about how they carried out the research and what they've learned.
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allup regularly surveys Ukraine as part of its World Poll. In September 2022, Gallup interviewed 1,000 adults across Ukraine to get a glimpse into what their lives were like more than six months after Russia’s invasion, and to get their thoughts on the war.
Galina Zapryanova, Gallup’s regional director for research in Eastern Europe and former Soviet states, provides insights into the research – and what Ukrainians told interviewers.
Q: Gallup surveys Ukraine every year, but 2022 was obviously different. You had to survey people about their lives in the middle of war. Was there a risk you couldn’t do the survey at all?
Zapryanova: Before the war, we planned to survey Ukraine in 2022 doing face-to-face interviews. We realized right after the invasion that this would of course no longer be possible and immediately began strategizing about how to continue our work. Canceling the survey was a last resort. We were determined to avoid this, and so was our local partner in Ukraine who does the interviewing.
We joined forces to make the World Poll happen despite the war. Sometimes the most difficult years and unprecedented circumstances for a country’s people are precisely the most important times to ensure their experiences, hopes and opinions are widely heard around the world.
Q: Tell me about some of the challenges you faced. For example, a lot of people were on the move because of the war – and some areas were even under Russian control. How did you reach them? Did you reach them? What did you have to do differently?
Zapryanova: We had to carefully review and revise our screening procedures to account for the massive displacement of people both inside and outside Ukraine. Our target survey population included adults living inside the country, so we screened out any respondents currently residing abroad.
We did reach and interview internally displaced people. For analytical purposes, we collected both their current place of residence and where they lived before the war. As expected, the majority of internal migration was occurring from the East and South regions toward the rest of the country.
All areas where Russia’s military forces seized control in 2022 were still reachable by Ukrainian mobile operators, so we were able to survey those populations as well, including the Donbas Territories under Russian control since 2014, such as Crimea, were not included in the sample. All Ukrainian mobile operators ceased operations there by 2015.
Q: So, Gallup partners with a local company to do the telephone interviews. This means Ukrainians are interviewing other Ukrainians about their lives – everyone is in the middle of a war. What was that like for them? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Zapryanova: We are extremely grateful to our interviewers for their resilience. While the daily practical aspects of their workday were not significantly different yet (World Poll fielded before the frequent power outages and renewed attacks on Kyiv began), the interviews took a psychological toll on them.
Supervisors noticed during listen-ins that respondents would often share snippets of their life stories and their experiences of trauma and war. If you are an interviewer working many hours per day calling people from across the country, by the end of the day you may have heard some very difficult stories of people fleeing war, being prisoners, getting hurt or losing loved ones, being anxious about the future.
Survey interviewers are usually pre-selected on certain traits like being “good with people” and further trained to be approachable and friendly to convince people to take their surveys. This approachability makes respondents eager to talk and answer questions, but also more likely to share emotional comments about what they are going through.
In the middle of all that, there were also stories of hope and laughter. Supervisors collected and shared these stories to keep up the team’s spirits.
Q: Let’s discuss the findings. What was the general mood of the country? What did Ukrainians think about the war? Tell me about what stood out most to you.
Zapryanova: Despite the hardships or maybe because of them, we saw a remarkable sense of unity and determination take hold among Ukrainians. Confidence in the country’s leadership, government and institutions sky-rocketed. Large majorities agreed that Ukraine should continue fighting until full victory. People were also hopeful of NATO and EU acceptance, while attitudes toward Russia plummeted to historic lows.
What I also found very interesting is that, among people who remained in Ukraine, the appetite for leaving the country decreased – fewer people expressed a desire to migrate than in 2021.
Overall, the data painted a picture of a nation gearing for a long fight but still hopeful about the future and the outcome of the war. Our fieldwork occurred right around the time of Ukraine’s first surprising successes in recapturing Russian-occupied territory. The data reflected that victorious sentiment, I think. We are very much looking forward to seeing whether it continues to dominate the public’s mood in 2023.
Q: The plan is to go back to Ukraine and do it again in 2023. Any concerns with that? Is the situation more dangerous now? What do you expect to find this time?
Zapryanova: The main difference from 2022 right now is the widespread attacks on infrastructure and renewed bombings of Kyiv. Our primary concern is the safety of the interviewers so they should always prioritize seeking shelter when/if an attack is occurring or suspected.
In addition, we will need to adjust our procedures to the frequent power outages to maximize calling during times when electricity is working. People are trying to save as much power as possible for their daily heating, cooking and technology needs, so answering unfamiliar telephone numbers during an outage will be unlikely.
Overall we are gearing up for a potentially longer timeline of data collection because of these disruptions. Our Ukrainian partners are already adjusting the system, however, and we are optimistic that 2023 World Poll fieldwork will proceed.
