Echo Survey - Insights into Social Change
The socioeconomic transformation of the 1990s has significantly restructured the Eastern European societies. Facing new challenges and problems, many well-known behavioral patterns have been changed, but along these changes some characteristics of the development of the periphery remained the same. The contemporary situation of these societies shows the signs of a solidifying, peculiar Eastern European capitalism. In order to study this transformation, the Echo Educational Research Group, as a non-profit organization, has founded the Echo Sociological Research Institute in 2003.
The last 15 years were very important for Eastern European social science, not only because the societies went under significant changes, but also because the research findings and development activities became parts of the everyday life. The emphasis on the dual nature of research and development is very important, since the usefulness of social science is in its applicability in development. We believe that neither research nor development are useful in isolation. Hence, in our research programs we offer development solutions, and our partners conduct development programs based on our researches.
During our research activities we use all elements of sociological inquiry from surveys through various interview techniques to case studies and secondary research. We believe that the appropriate methodology contains mixed methods of inquiry and should not be reduced to either quantitative or qualitative tools. Not only the participation in the international academic life, but the research and development activity in general requires the following of appropriate methodological principles. Therefore, for us, to meet the high quality standards is a primary priority.
Besides these activities our Institute contributes to the development of Eastern European social science, by helping young researchers through our institutional library, training programs, workshops and professional consultancy.
Our researchers are interested in various aspects of social science. Currently the main research orientations of the Institute are the followings:
§ youth researches, including the social environment of the transition to adulthood, the picture of future and career strategies
§ education, school democracy, efficiency in skill development, the role of the school and the teachers in the formation of the values and future perspectives of youth
§ mental health, the presence of and approach to deviances, with a special emphasis on drug use
§ spatial and regional inequalities, the underlying causes of spatial mobility and urbanization
§ civil society, local democracy and local governance, the channels and problems of interest representation
§ life quality, lifestyle and value systems researches
§ environmental issues, the environmental awareness of the rural society in
Our presence in the international community
Our previous researches have already had international aspects and we emphasized the importance of testing our results and development work in front of the international community. Our Institute is an institutional member of the following international organizations:
Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA)
International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR)
Besides this, our researchers are affiliates in the following organizations:
Population Association of
Rural Sociological Society (
Southern Demographic Association (
International
Hungarian Sociological Society
Contact us
Echo Sociological Research Institute
Founded in 2003.
H-8000 Székesfehérvár, Tobak u. 17. I/30.
Tel/fax: +36 (22) 502-276
General inquiries about the Institute should be sent to this e-mail address:
If you need information regarding our research and development programs, please contact us via this e-mail address:
