Program by the  Center for Society Research (Cedos) NGO

An effort to capture social experiences during the war and conduct a public opinion survey.

The team is working to capture the thoughts, experiences, and actions of people in Ukraine during the full-scale war, for further academic research, as well as for awareness and reflection on the change that Ukrainian society is experiencing. The project analyzed data on the impact of the war during the first six months of the full-scale war, and also collected data on the impact of the nine months of the big invasion. The Cedos team also disseminated the survey results and conducted a one-day research workshop in Lviv on how to run public opinion surveys during the war.

Goal

The project’s objective was to document, describe, and summarize the experiences of war in Ukraine, as well as to record trends in the change of experiences over time. In other words, the idea was to build a basic actual knowledge of how Ukrainian society lives in the war settings. In addition, it was important to exchange experience with colleagues on conducting public surveys in war context, and transfer these skills to younger colleagues.  

Thus, the project objectives included:

• To analyze the data of the third wave of the survey on the impact of the first six months of the full-scale war on Ukrainian society.
• To publish and distribute the analysis report.
• To collect data from the fourth wave of the study on the impact of 9 months of the full-scale war on Ukrainian society.
• To share experience with colleagues and disseminate methodological recommendations for conducting surveys in war contexts.

Relevance and Importance  

Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has become a major social upheaval, which has a great impact on the emotional state, life, and everyday routines (including changing the place of residence), public opinion, interpersonal relations, socio-economic situation, employment, and civic activism. The scale of these changes is unprecedented, for both Ukraine, and for Europe, in the decades to come. These changes will have a significant impact on the future of public institutions in post-war Ukraine, and on its further development in general. Documenting and comprehending these changes allows for obtaining the input data for the study of Ukrainian society after the war, and for planning the transformational change.

Changes Entailed by the Project

• The impact of the first six months of a full-scale war on Ukrainian society has been analyzed, and people's thoughts, experiences, and actions during this time have been reflected upon.
• Data has been collected on the situation during nine months of the full-scale war.
• Participants of the research workshop received new knowledge on conducting public surveys in war contexts.

Outcomes

• A report with the survey findings on the impact of the first six months of the full-scale war on Ukrainian society has been published.
• Data of the fourth wave of the survey on the impact of 9 months of full-scale war on Ukrainian society has been collected – at least 352 responses are available.
• A methodological workshop on public opinion surveys in the context of the war was held in Lviv, attended by 15 participants.

The report with the findings of the third wave of the study was successfully prepared and published in Ukrainian and English, as well as presented in various formats and channels, as planned. The team managed to collect more than 350 responses in the survey, which exceeded expectations. Cedos suggests that the increased interest in participating in the survey could be due to the fact that the change of seasons and the new situation caused by the shelling of the energy infrastructure highlighted the changes in their lives over the past three months for more people. In this regard, the need to capture and comprehend these changes was more understandable and more relatable to people, and the project made a contribution to the effort.  

The team enrolled about 15 participants for the research workshop. Given the power outage and large-scale shelling at the country's energy infrastructure, which occurred a few days before the event, the number appears to be a successful result. Most participants stayed at the event from beginning to end, and they were generally satisfied with their participation. They emphasized how important it was for them to be able to exchange experiences, to feel the similarity of challenges, and to support colleagues.  

In general, the project activities helped to document, analyze, and reflect on the impact of the war on Ukrainian society. It was possible to record and research this impact. The outputs include the collected data and the study report, available to a wide audience in Ukraine and abroad, as well as the exchange of experience and mutual support in the research community, which can help to multiply our efforts.  

In the long term, the outcomes of the project will contribute to the fact that the consequences of this war will be properly recorded and analyzed, which will help to learn its lessons and use them to build a more just society and the world.

Target Audience

• Ukrainian and international researchers, sociologists, anthropologists, social scientists, Ukrainian studies experts, and historians. They need to receive updates on changes in Ukrainian society as an object of their work, their research, and professional interest, in order to plan and adjust their projects and activities. In addition, they need to improve their skills and exchange experience with colleagues.
• Journalists, activists, public figures, civil society, cultural actors, policy makers, central government and municipality officials. They also need to understand the actual experiences, thoughts, and trends of change in society, to plan and conduct their activities and better interact with society.
• Ukrainian society as a whole. It has a need to be heard, to share their pains and experiences, to express emotions, to reflect on the fears and events around, as well as to contextualize them, to compare them with the thoughts and positions of other people, to feel and position himself as part of a larger society, to feel they belong, to compare their experience with the experiences of other people, to realize and experience traumatic and painful events, to accept them, to see themselves through others’ eyes, to understand themselves and comprehend the change happening to us.
• New researchers. They need to learn, and to acquire new skills and abilities.

Sustainability. Scaling up. Continuity

First of all, all the outcomes and developments of the project are publicly available online. The exchange of experience that took place during the research workshop can help or inspire its participants to continue their action and research projects. The possibility of informal communication and exchange of experience in an offline format, which is not always available in wartime, can provide the support required for work. The data collected in the fourth wave of the study will be analyzed in the period from December, 2022 to February, 2023. After that, the report with the findings of the analysis will be published. The team also plan to conduct the next, fifth wave of data collection in February and March 2023, to investigate people's thoughts, experiences, and actions for the year, since the start of the full-scale war. Cedos will also focus on changes to take place in three months, starting from November. The team also continue to communicate the study results through public speeches and publications in the media. Cedos take record of the references to its results in the publications of colleagues, as well as the use of the findings we obtained and the data collected.  

The project is implemented by the NGO  "Center for Society Research" thanks to financial support from ZMIN, under the grant program 2022.

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