Operatyvna Sotsiolohiia
Illustration by: operso.com.ua
Operatyvna Sotsiolohiia (abbreviated name — «OperSo») is one of the two Ukrainian coordinating institutions of the UKRAINETT+ project, which takes active part in the development of the research network between Norway and Ukraine. This year OperSo celebrates its tenth anniversary. Since the first joint projects with Norwegian partners started already back in 2017, this collaboration is without exaggeration part of the foundation of the company’s research experience.
Since its creation in 2014, the company has specialized in polling public opinion about social and political life in Ukraine. An important part of the activity, in addition to electoral research, has been the organization and management of election headquarters and the development of communication strategies. Moreover, the company has taken active part in research on participatory democracy and decentralization reform in Ukraine. Later, social and marketing research was added to the company’s scope of activity, and from 2021 on – research in the field of health care, protection of children and other socially vulnerable segments of the population has been included.
In its activities, OperSo uses a full range of sociological research methods: from online and offline focus groups, in-depth interviews and expert surveys to quarterly face-to-face surveys (PAPI, CAPI) and telephone surveys (СATI) with the help of interviewer operators and IVR technology.
Since 2017, we have had our own call center for telephone surveys. OperSo was one of the first in Ukraine to systematically conduct surveys using computer aided technology (СATI) technology. For the operation of the call center, we use a software and hardware complex built on the basis of IP technology, which allows us to process a large number of incoming and outgoing multimedia requests (calls and SMS messages) based on a software solution. Currently, there are 20 workplaces in the company’s call center. The call center can work for outgoing and incoming calls, which makes it possible to use it as a tool in projects where a hotline is needed. One such hotline was set up in 2022, at the start of a full-scale Russian invasion, to support Ukrainian displaced persons and provide them with advisory services on resettlement, transportation and humanitarian assistance.
In 2021, we developed our own application and now we also use CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interview) surveys in our work.
Over the years of its existence, Operativna Sotsiolohiia has implemented hundreds of research projects, and among its customers and partners are civil and religious educational institutions, scientific research institutions, public and charitable organizations, political parties, state and communal institutions, commercial organizations, international non-governmental organizations.
International cooperation
Here are some of the latest research projects that were implemented within the framework of international cooperation:
- Qualitative formative research of barriers and drivers of routine childhood vaccination among IDPs and the displaced population in Ukraine commissioned by the World Health Organization, which aimed to gain insight into the views and experiences of caregivers of children under 7 years of age regarding barriers and drivers for vaccinations. These results will be used to inform health authorities and other stakeholders about potential interventions to increase routine vaccination rates.
- Comprehensive research commissioned by the representative office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Ukraine within the framework of the project “Anti-crisis plan for the recovery of affected communities”. The task of the project was to identify the problems faced by communities during the war, to formulate the main ways and stages of their solution taking into account new challenges, and together with community representatives to create anti-crisis plans for the recovery of communities.
- Research of restoration projects in small communities of Ukraine “Office of resource attraction” commissioned by the Czech organization Prague Civil Society Center. A number of qualitative research were conducted among the communities of Ukraine that had experience in the implementation of reconstruction projects funded by non-state donors. During the work, a number of factors were identified that have a positive effect on the search for and attraction of funds by communities.
- Research of knowledge, social practices and behavior of citizens regarding the protection of children and gender-based violence and development of key messages for information, education and communication materials, friendly to children and adults, based on the results of an evaluation commissioned by the international non-governmental humanitarian organization “Save the children”.
- Research of the basic indicators of the perception of the deinstitutionalization of children reform (De-I reform) in some communities of Ukraine commissioned by the international charitable organization «Charitable Fund “SOS Children’s Villages” Ukraine». The list of priority (competing with the topic of analysis) issues on the agenda of state-level and community-level Bellwethers was analyzed and described, recommendations were formed regarding advocacy messages and target audiences for advocacy on the issue of ensuring the right of every child in Ukraine to grow up in a family environment.
Experience of cooperation with Norwegian research institutions
In the period from 2017 to 2019, the company OperSo in cooperation with the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR, current part of OsloMet) and the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) within the framework of the joint Ukrainian-Norwegian project ” Participatory democracy and informed decisions at the local level in Ukraine”, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, conducted a comprehensive research commissioned by the Association of Cities of Ukraine:
- using focus group research in 42 cities of Ukraine
- quantitative research by face-to-face survey in 32 cities and villages of Ukraine
- nationwide representative survey using telephone interviews (CATI)
Research topics:
- Increasing the effectiveness of local self-government support in the field of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship.
- People-centered budget.
- Assessment of the city’s contribution to investment attraction.
Based on the results, a broad campaign was conducted to present the research findings in more than 30 communities — participants of the project.
In addition, in 2020, OperSo conducted a representative research commissioned by Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) using telephone interviews among residents of Chernivtsi and Kharkiv regions within the framework of the project “Accommodation of Regional Diversity in Ukraine” (ARDU).
In 2022, immediately after the start of the full-scale invasion, OperSo, with the full support and funding of Oslo Metropolitan University, conducted a representative research using telephone surveys among the residents of Ukraine to determine public sentiment, the potential number of internally displaced persons and refugees, and to investigate what problems Ukrainians faced in the first months as a result of the unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine.
OPERATYVNA SOTSIOLOHIIA website
Email: info@operso.com.ua