key: cord-1027300-7oergp0n
authors: Rieger, Marc Oliver; He-Ulbricht, Yanping
title: German and Chinese dataset on attitudes regarding COVID-19 policies, perception of the crisis, and belief in conspiracy theories
date: 2020-10-14
journal: Data Brief
DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2020.106384
sha: 278b41ee2a5a063e9dec32fad2019ae0831db29a
doc_id: 1027300
cord_uid: 7oergp0n

This data article describes the attitudes of German and Chinese respondents to some measures taken against the COVID-19 pandemic such as social distancing and face masks wearing, as well as their trust in government actions. The data were collected through six online surveys conducted between March 23 to September 15 2020 from 865 participants in Germany, 135 in China and 169 participants with Chinese roots in Germany. The data were partly used in related research papers in which the theoretical background, analysis of the survey variables and the interpretation of the findings are presented in detail [3, 4, 5]. These survey data can be used in future studies of individual perception of the measures taken in the fight against the pandemic. The data cover topics which include, in particular, worries about the pandemic, estimations and expectations concerning the further development of the pandemic, perception of government responses and media coverage, attitudes towards social distancing and other countermeasures, and COVID-19-related conspiracy theories. Differences between Chinese and German respondents on some of these issues can also be studied with this dataset.

 The data are valuable for politicians, educators, researchers, media and institutions in public health because they can help to develop ways for improving public attitudes towards the implemented measures and compliance, as well as public trust in government actions.

 The dataset can be used for further insights and for designing experiments by comparing with other similar researches in a meta-analysis.

 The German data were collected at three time points between March and June 2020. During this time period, different measures and restrictions were introduced in Germany. This allows to measure changes in these parameters induced by the changing pandemic situation as well as by changes in policy measures.

 The data also allow making comparisons across countries (China and Germany) that show interesting differences. It should be emphasized, however, that the data are not representative, thus we cannot generalize sample means to the national populations of China or Germany. The primary goal is therefore the detection of associative relationships between the variables.

The attached dataset contains six sub-datasets. Table 1 summarizes the time, place, target group, and the sample characteristics of the six surveys. Collected in the period between March 23 and September 15, the data consist of 1169 responses in total from 865 respondents in Germany (sample 1, wave 1-3.5), 135 in China (sample 2) and 169 with Chinese roots in Germany (sample 3, wave1-2). Of all respondents, females account for, on average, 65%. 61% are University students, and the average age is 27, meaning our survey data are dominated by rather young and educated participants. Our data were collected through six self-administered anonymous questionnaire-based surveys on the Internet platform Unipark. As shown in Table 1 , the respondents of the first sample (wave 1-3) were students and employees of the University of Trier who were informed about the survey through the University email information system, while the data of the wave 3.5, consisting of the same questions as wave 3, were collected through an online survey at the University of Magdeburg, Germany. The data of sample 2 were collected mainly from students of a top university in Beijing, while the data of sample 3 (wave 1-2) were collected through two online surveys advertised mainly on WeChat, the most popular social media platform among people with Chinese roots living in different cities in Germany, including Trier, Magdeburg and Düsseldorf. 1 As an incentive for participation, a prize of 50 € for one participant each for the three waves of sample 1, and 20 € for ten participants for sample 3 was offered. On average, it took the respondents 10 to 15 minutes to finish the questionnaires with an exception of the shorter questionnaire of sample 2 which took them less than 5 minutes. The samples in our data are obviously not representative for the overall population of Germany or China. Table 1 summarizes demographic parameters and Table 2 gives the corresponding parameters for the total population. Nevertheless, the data can be used for cross-population comparison, for comparisons across time and for studying relations between different survey variables. Tables 3 to 8 list the variables of the provided dataset which can be used to measure the attitudes of the respondents to various measures introduced to curb the spread of the virus and their perception of government responses. They also include data which can help illustrate the reasons or factors contributing to these attitudes and perceptions such as worries of the participants, experience with infections in their personal environment, their expectations and how informed they are about it, tendency to believe in conspiracy theories and prejudices, critical thinking, as well as their risk and time preferences. The samples and waves listed here show which variables were contained in which surveys. Survey questions can be found in the appendix. The discussion on the theoretical background, analysis of the survey variables and interpretation of the results can be found in related research articles [3, 4, 5] . Table 3 contains questions on personal experiences, worries and expectations, and the degree of awareness about COVID-19 of the subjects. Participants were asked whether they had read about the results of previous survey waves and about their personal experience, including the number of people over 70 they know (a typical risk group for COVID-19) and whether they know anyone with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19. Questions on the degree of their worries about COVID-19, the number of COVID-19 related deaths they expect to occur in Germany until the end of 2020, and deaths from COVID-19 already reported in China (according to official figures) were also included. To measure how well-informed they were about the virus and the disease, a total of nine statements including the ways of transmission of the virus, the mortality rate and exponential growth were provided. For the first eight items which comprise both correct and wrong statements, respondents had to mark them as correct or not. The sum of the correct answers is taken to measure their degree of awareness about the virus. To see whether they are aware of the exponential growth of cases during a pandemic, the respondents were asked to estimate the number of cases in one month, assuming that the numbers double in four days. Questions in Table 4 would help measure critical thinking, risk and time preferences of the participants.

To measure critical thinking, they were asked whether they were satisfied with one single source when searching for information about a specific topic or whether they searched for information both confirming and contradicting their opinion and weigh the arguments against one another. Aside from these, they were asked to state to what extent they agree or disagree with the following five statements which based on [2] : "It is not very important to insist on trying to solve a difficult problem"; "I search arguments that support my point of view and I do not search any counterarguments"; "Analysing the arguments of others is a waste of time"; "I am aware of my own thoughts, so why should I pretend to be thinking about other options?"; "Taking into account other people's ideas means that you cannot have your own". By asking to assess their risk preferences in general and in relation to their health, we want to assess their risk preference. These two questions are from SOEP 8 and have been tested regarding their reliability in [1] . To find out their time preference or patience, they were given two choices and they could select one of them: either 3400€ (1700€ for sample 1, wave 3 and 3.5) this month or 3800€ (1900€ for sample 1, wave 3 and 3.5) next month. This question was adapted from [7] and has also been used in this form in [6] . Table 5 consists of questions on the opinion of the respondents on the origin of COVID-19 and questions to measure the tendency to believe in COVID-19-related conspiracy theories. As to the opinion on the origin of the virus, the respondents were asked to assess how likely it was that the virus originated in China, the USA or elsewhere. Next, a series of theories on the origin of COVID-19 were listed. These include not only statements with scientific consensus such as that the virus originated in animals and in Wuhan (China), but also popular conspiracy theories such as that the virus was developed by the US secret service or at a Chinese laboratory for bio-weapons. Participants were asked whether they had ever heard about each of these theories and then to assess the probability of each of these theories being true. Furthermore, we also less directly measured how likely the respondents were to believe in conspiracy theories by asking the following four questions: whether they trust official information on the virus, whether the media (more specifically in sample 2 and 3 (wave 1): German or Chinese media) try to hide relevant information, whether the "hype" about corona is just caused by pharmaceutical companies, and whether politicians just want to make use of the chance to undermine people's fundamental rights. To measure the attitude towards foreigners (Chinese, French and Italians, as these were at the given time and location most associated with COVID-19) and globalization, participants were asked to state whether they agree with the following statements (Table 6) : "I could understand when someone would avoid sitting next to an Italian/French/Chinese person while on the bus"; "Chinese are responsible for the pandemic"; "We should reduce the scale of economic relations with China to avoid such problems in the future"; "It would be better if there were less Chinese people in Germany"; "Our life would be better without globalization". Table 7 presents the questions that aim to assess the attitude towards the measures taken in the fight against COVID-19. On the one hand, subjects were asked whether they agreed that China's response to the outbreak was better than that of Germany and that Germany should learn from East-Asia how to deal with pandemics in general, or whether they agreed that Wuhan was too slow in its response to the pandemic. On the other hand, specific questions regarding social distancing and face masks were included. As regards social distancing, five hypothetical scenarios involving different behaviours of university students were presented: A student celebrates his birthday with his friends while none of them belongs to a risk-group for coronavirus; A student plays soccer with his with friends while none of them shows symptoms of a cold; A student visits her lonely grandma in a nursing home despite the fact that she has a cold; A student refuses to hug his friends as usual and insists on keeping distance when they meet, even though none of them is sick; A student tells a friend that it is irresponsible of him to continue to meet his friends, knowing that it may hurt the friend's feelings. These five scenarios were listed in a randomized order and respondents could rate their attitude toward each scenario on a scale of "1=perfectly OK" to "4=unacceptable". To measure their attitude toward social distancing, the average of scenarios 4 and 5 was subtracted from the average result of the first three scenarios. Next, the respondents were asked to estimate the duration of the restriction (lockdown). As regards face masks, the questions can be divided into three groups. In the first group, the general opinion of the respondents on face masks was asked: whether it is weird when someone wears a mask in public; whether others would think strange of them if they wear a mask; how well wearing a face mask can protect oneself from getting infected; how well it can protect others from getting infected. In the second part, they were asked whether they would wear a face mask voluntarily when they were at a supermarket, on a bus, at the University, on the street and on a plain, respectively. Too see whether they would change their decisions when face mask wearing was a legal obligation, the same questions were asked again in the third part but under the condition that it were required by law. Last but not least, to assess the participants' satisfaction with the government performance during the pandemic, they were asked, as listed in Table 8 , to state how satisfied they were on a scale from 1 to 7 with the provision of information on the virus, measures taken against the pandemic, and measures to ensure the normal course of daily life of the citizens during the pandemic. Furthermore, they were also asked to rate the response of the German, Chinese and Wuhan governments to the Coronavirus in general. The possible answers ranged from "1=far too slow/lax" to "5=far too fast/restrictive". 

There was one questionnaire for each wave of sample 1 and sample 3, and one for sample 2 respectively. Each questionnaire consisted of two parts. The first part included general information on the respondents (gender, age, job, highest level of education) which is summarized in Table 1 . The second part consisted, as mentioned above, of questions on worries, personal experience, expectations and degree of awareness of about the virus, tendency to believe in conspiracy theories, prejudices during COVID-19, critical thinking, as well as risk and time preferences, but also included questions on the opinion of the respondents on the measures taken and the perception of government responses. This part was adapted for each survey sample.

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships which have, or could be perceived to have, influenced the work reported in this article.

Informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects.

The preference survey module: A validated instrument for measuring risk, time, and social preferences

Assessing Secondary Students' Disposition toward Critical Thinking: Development of the California Measure of Mental Motivation

To wear or not to wear? Factors influencing wearing face masks in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic

What makes young people think positively about social distancing during the Corona crisis in Germany? To appear in: Frontiers of Sociology

How time preferences differ: Evidence from 53 countries

Cognitive reflection and decision making

This research was funded by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate through the research cluster "Cultures in Transitions in East Asia and Europe" at the University of Trier. We thank the respondents of the online surveys, and all colleagues from the participating universities who assisted the instruction of the surveys. We also thank Karine Nanyan for her help with preparing this article.

Which of the following statements do you think are correct?(ways_transmission) Coronaviruses can be spread when the infected person coughs, sneezes but also speaks or breathes.(coronavirus_history) Coronaviruses have always been there and mostly cause a harmless cold.(pathogen) The correct name of the ongoing virus is SARS-CoV-19.(new_influenza_virus) Coronavirus is a new form of the flu virus.(spread_with_symptom) Only those with symptoms can spread the virus.(mild_illness) In most cases, the virus leads to a mild cold.(death_rate) The mortality rate of the virus is 0.1% among young people and in the double-digit percent range among older people.(length_vaccine) According to the experts, the development of a vaccine will take about a year. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? (one_soure_info) While searching for new information on a specific topic, I am normally satisfied with one single source.