README file
Data Set Title: “PERCEIVE: WP2: Evaluation of EU citizens’ perception of the EU project: Key variables for citizens' identification with EU”
Data subset Author and Contact Person: Vicente Royuela (Universitat de Barcelona), ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7647-0063, vroyuela@ub.edu 

License: this data subset is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 

Publication Year: 2019
Project Info: PERCEIVE (Perception and Evaluation of Regional and Cohesion Policies by Europeans and Identification with the Values of Europe), funded by European Union, Horizon 2020 Programme. Grant Agreement num. 693529; https://www.perceiveproject.eu/.  
Data subset Contents
The data subset consists of:

•	1 quantitative file saved in .csv format 
“PERCEIVE_WP2_D23_Composite_Index_EU_Identity.csv”
•	1 README file 
“PERCEIVE_WP2_D23_Composite_Index_EU_Identity_README.rtf”
Data subset Documentation
Abstract
This data subset corresponds to quantitative outputs derived from deliverable D23, titled “Report on the construction of the CIEI* indicator”. Qualitative report with main findings from the survey and discussion of comparative results from the application of the indicator of perception in the different case study regions”. In this deliverable we build a Composite Index of European Identification. We use fuzzy set techniques. This option is flexible enough to report an index of identification with Europe at the individual level. Besides, it does not require to define subjective weights, the weighting scheme is sensible to the distribution of every attribute, and more importantly, it takes into account the environment in which individuals are, as the degree of membership takes into account the cumulated distribution of all dimensions and weights them by the frequency of the membership to the group. The final outcomes of the Composite Index of European Identity report an alternative specification to the self-reported perception given by individuals in the PERCEIVE survey (Data set 3). The Composite Index is an important complement to the survey’s scores, as it captures the grounds in which social identification is built.

Content of the file 
The file PERCEIVE_WP2_D22_Principal_Components_Factor_Analysis.csv contains the main variables used to build the “Composite Index of European Identity”, and the final composite index itself. In order to build the index we consider a list of variables included in the PERCEIVE survey related to the “Awareness” and “Evaluation” of Regional and Cohesion Policies, and “Attachment” and “Identification with Europe”. In particular, the variables included in the PERCEIVE survey are:
Awareness 
PERCEIVE survey Q1. In general, have you ever heard about the following EU policies? Int: Read out – yes or no. 
•	Q1_1 - EU Cohesion Policy; 
•	Q1_2 - EU Regional Policy; 
•	Q1_3 - EU Structural Funds; 
•	Q1_4 - any EU funded project in your region or area; 
•	98 - (None of these). 
We build an index ranging from 0 (never heard about any EU policy) to 4 (heard of all reported EU interventions). Composite Index variable:  awareness_1. 
PERCEIVE survey Q3. To your knowledge, have you ever benefited in your daily life from any project funded by the EU?  
•	1 - Yes; 
•	2 – No; 
•	99 - (Don’t know/Refused). 
We build a dichotomous variable equal to 1 if the respondent recognises having benefited from any project funded by the EU and 0 otherwise. Composite Index variable:  awareness_2.  
Evaluation 
PERCEIVE survey Q5. How effective do you think the following institutions will be at dealing with the biggest problem in your region?Three alternative bodies are offered: 
•	the European Union; 
•	national governing institutions; 
•	regional/local governing institutions. 
The answering options are: 
•	1 - Very effective; 
•	2 - Somewhat effective; 
•	3 - Not so effective. 
We use two variables resulting from this question. First, a variable of effectiveness of the EU, ranging from 1 to 3, with a positive graduation (the higher the better). Composite Index variable: eval_1a. 
Besides, we build a ratio of the relative perception of effectiveness of the European Union over the one of national and regional/local governing bodies. Composite Index variable: eval_1b. 
PERCEIVE survey Q8. In general, do you think that (YOUR COUNTRY’S) EU membership is (NOT for UK)... 
We build a variable with three alternatives: 
•	1 - A bad thing; 
•	2 - Neither good nor bad or “not sure”; 
•	3 - A good thing 
Composite Index variable: eval_2. 
PERCEIVE survey Q16. On a 0 - 10 scale, with ‘0’ being that ‘there is no corruption’ and ‘10’ being that co rruption is widespread, how would you rate the European union?: 
0 - There is no corruption … 10 - Corruption is widespread. 
We use two variables: 
•	one for the raw answer in a positive way (the higher the score the better, this is, less corruption). Composite Index variable: eval_3a; 
•	another one for capturing relative perception of corruption between the EU and the national or regional/local governments, built as a ratio on the basis that the higher the score, the lower the relative perception of the European corruption. Composite Index variable: eval_3b.
Attachment 
PERCEIVE survey Q7.Now thinking about EU elections, have you voted in either of the last two EU parliamentary elections? [European Elections in the EU - May 22nd, 2014 - June 4th, 2009]: 
•	0 - Neither; 
•	1 - Once; 
•	2 - Both times; 
•	99 - (d/k - refused). 
We use this variable as it is. Composite Index variable: attach_1. 
Identification with Europe
Finally, there is a specific question about identification with Europe, which we use to test the validity of our approach: 
PERCEIVE survey Q9. On a 0 - 10 scale, with ‘0’ being ‘I don’t identify at all, and ‘10’ being ‘I identify very strongly’, how strong ly you identify yourself with Europe?: 
0 - I don’t identify at all … 10 - I identify very strongly 
Composite Index variable: Eu_ident

File specifics
The file is available in a csv format, being the Field delimiter « , » (comma). 

Notes 
The deliverable D23 “” can be downloaded at 
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1317965 (Zenodo)
http://doi.org/10.6092/unibo/amsacta/5801 (AMS Acta)

Methodologies 
Results were obtained using Stata 14. 

Codebook of variables 
Here are listed the column names used in the file. In square brackets are indicated the corresponding new variables of the “Composite Index of European Identity”
•	ID: numerical identifier used in the anonymous PERCEIVE survey
•	Q1_v: Have you ever heard about some EU policies? [awareness_1]
values 0 (never heard about any EU policy) – 4 (heard of all reported EU interventions)
•	Q3_v: To your knowledge, have you ever benefited in your daily life from any project funded by the EU? [awareness_2] 
values 0 (No) or 1 (Yes)
•	Q5_1v1: How effective do you think is the EU at dealing with the biggest problem in your region? [eval_1a]
values 1 - 3, with a positive graduation (the higher the better)
•	Q5_1v2: Relative effectiveness of the EU over regional/local governments at dealing with the biggest problem in your region? [eval_1b]
•	Q8_v: Do you think that EU membership is bad or good? [eval_2]
values 1 (bad) – 3 (good)
•	Q16_1v1: how would you rate the European union? [eval_3a]
values 0 (widespread) - 10 (no corruption)
•	Q16_1v2: Do you think there is less corruption in the EU than in your national / regional governments? [eval_3b]
•	Q7_v: Have you voted in either of the last two EU parliamentary elections? [attach_1]
•	Q9_3b: "European identity - PERCEIVE survey" [Eu_ident]
•	CI_Eu_Ident: Composite Index of European Identity