TRACES: Methodological and technical report

Transition to Adulthood and Collective Experiences Survey (TRACES) is a research program focusing on war and economical victimization in ex-Yugoslavia and their impact on young adult’s attitudes and values. The main quantitative survey was launched in 2006; Principal Investigator: Dario Spini; Project Coordinator: Guy Elcheroth. Its design included two partially embedded samples following a random sampling strategy stratified in 80 areas covering the entire ex-Yugoslavian territory. An individual-based questionnaire (Cohort sample, including individuals born between 1968 and 1974; N = 2’254) was coupled with a representative sample of the adult population (Random sample; N = 3’975). This second sample enabled to record, using life calendars, valid data on the experiences communities faced from 1990 to 2006 and during individuals’ transition to adulthood (from 15 to 35 years old) across diverse regions of former Yugoslavia. As a result TRACES presents an innovative multilevel survey design enabling the location of respondents’ experiences in time and space. This methodological and technical report provides details about survey design and instruments, about the context of the production of data and data quality. The purpose is to offer information as transparent as possible for current and future data users and to share this experience with the broad scientific community.