‘Survey methodology is always important’

For Stefan Dahlberg, shaping a good society requires getting good information.

“Survey methodology is always important for improving our possibilities of gaining new knowledge,” he says.

New knowledge fosters well-functioning institutions and supportive citizens. And when you have those, you have “a good start for the good society.”

Dahlberg joined UiB’s Department of Comparative Politics as an associate professor at the beginning of February.

In addition to focusing on survey methodology, his research tackles the relationship between political support, institutional trust and the quality of government, as well as voting behavior as it relates to support for radical right-wing parties.

Dahlberg is originally from the village of Föllinge, in Jämtland, Sweden. He took his B.A. at the Mid University in Östersund in 1999 and his M.A. in political science at the University of Umeå in 2001.

In 2009 he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Gothenburg.

Afterwards, Dahlberg stayed on at Gothenburg, serving as in a succession of positions: as the research coordinator of the Swedish Citizen Panel, as a post-doctoral researcher and database manager at the Quality of Government Institute, as an assistant professor, and finally, beginning in 2015, as an associate professor.

It was during that period that Dahlberg was introduced to SAMPOL. He visited the department in the autumns of both 2014 and 2015, and liked what he saw. 

Dahlberg says he was impressed by the calibre of the researchers he met here, by the opportunities for collaboration, and especially by the department’s Digital Social Science Core Facility (DIGSSCORE).

“Above all I find the DIGSSCORE infrastructure and facilities as highly attractive and valuable,” Dahlberg says.

Dahlberg’s research has been published in numerous journals, including the British Journal of Political Science, the International Political Science Review, the International Journal of Public Administration, and the Review of Public Administration.

His most recent article, co-authored with Maria Solevid, was “Does corruption suppress voter turnout?” It appeared last autumn in the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties.

When not at work in the DIGSSCORE facility, Dahlberg says he enjoys hiking, doing carpentry, and reading about history and archeology.