ABOUT US
WE
CESSI is an independent research agency with more than 30-years experience in collecting and analyzing social information – social surveys, public opinion polls, marketing research in Russia, and also in Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, other countries of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, Mongolia and Central and Eastern Europe.
Since being established in March 1989 CESSI implemented more than 4000 research projects which included about 2 million interviews. CESSI’s offices are located in major cities of the region – Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kyiv.
CESSI is the survey research center providing survey data and analysis for domestic and international organizations– academic, government, public programs, domestic NGOs and multilateral organizations, commercial companies, professional industry associations, mass media. CESSI specializes on research projects based on rigorous scientifically-baseв research methodology and high quality standards.
CESSI is long-time member of leading international professional associations:
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ESOMAR – European Society of Opinion and Marketing Research (since 1994)
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WAPOR – World Association of Public Opinion Research (since 1996)
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ESRA – European Survey Research Association (since 2008).
Dr. Anna Andreenkova is national representative of WAPOR in Russia
more than 30 years
of successful work
more than 1000
implemented survey projects
more than 1000
experienced interviewers
more than 100
regions with interviewer’s network
regions with interviewer’s network
OUR MISSION AND PRINCIPLES
HIGH QUALITY DATA
We commit our individual talents and team efforts to achieve the highest quality results, continually striving to improve our performance.
INDEPENDENCE
Our standpoint is independence from any public or political reference. We work to provide reliable unbiased information and independent interpretations of research data.
BINDING SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
We apply advanced scientific theories and research methods to achieve practical results, marketing and social policy solutions. We help to develop sociological theories and check hypothesis on high quality empirical data.
CREATIVE APPROACH AND TEAM WORK
We rely on team cooperation and acknowledgement of inter-dependence and mutual support of all CESSI groups and individual experts. Respect and trust are keystones of successful projects.
INNOVATIVENESS
We seeks to work in the most innovative research areas of social surveys, developing and applying new survey methods and solutions.
ALL PROJECTS ARE EQUALITY IMPORTANT
We do not divide projects into important or not important, large or small, profitable or not – but we solve any new research task using all our knowledge, experience and devotion to high quality work.
Advanced survey infrastructure
НЕЗАВИСИМОСТЬ
Наш принцип - независимость от любого общественного или политического учреждения или партии. Мы стремимся предоставить достоверную информацию и независимую интерпретацию наших данных исследований.
Мы стремимся оставаться финансово независимой и прибыльной компанией, активно вкладывая средства в развитие компании и новые информационные ресурсы.
ВОВЛЕЧЕННОСТЬ СОТРУДНИКА
Мы полагаемся на сотрудничество и признание взаимозависимости между всеми сотрудниками CESSI в рамках, основанных на взаимном доверии и уважении.
OUR MISSION AND PRINCIPLES
HIGH QUALITY DATA
We commit our individual talents and team efforts to achieve the highest quality results, continually striving to improve our performance.
INDEPENDENCE
Our standpoint is independence from any public or political reference. We work to provide reliable unbiased information and independent interpretations of research data.
BINDING SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
We apply advanced scientific theories and research methods to achieve practical results, marketing and social policy solutions. We help to develop sociological theories and check hypothesis on high quality empirical data.
CREATIVE APPROACH AND TEAM WORK
We rely on team cooperation and acknowledgement of inter-dependence and mutual support of all CESSI groups and individual experts. Respect and trust are keystones of successful projects.
INNOVATIVENESS
We seeks to work in the most innovative research areas of social surveys, developing and applying new survey methods and solutions.
ALL PROJECTS ARE EQUALITY IMPORTANT
We do not divide projects into important or not important, large or small, profitable or not – but we solve any new research task using all our knowledge, experience and devotion to high quality work.
OUR STRENGTHS
New complex and sophisticated tasks meet us every day. We use our former experience, accumulate knowledge and continuously improving – every new research task is new challenge. We can deal with it relying on great team, strong belief in the priority of quality over all other obstacles and limitations, readiness to change, learn and implement new approaches, tools and innovation, conducting fair financing policy.
ADVANCED SURVEY INFRASTRUCTURE TO SOLVE YOUR SURVEY TASKS
Professional call-center for conducting telephone surveys
More than 1000 interviewers in different parts of the country with special CESSI training on conducting interviews by different survey methods and among different target groups
Staff of survey professionals in all survey research fields (questionnaire design, translation and adaptation of survey instrument, sampling, professional management of the data collection and the fieldwork, quality control and data processing
Group of survey data processing offering survey data in different statistical formats, basic and advanced statistical analysis of survey data, secondary data analysis, combining survey data and administrative and external data
Specialized professional facilities for qualitative research (focus-groups, in-depth interviews) with equipment for online transmission, compatible with FocusVision – in Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Kyiv
Professional equipment for tests and laboratory research
Group of transcribing and text analysis
Specialists on the survey translations from/ into Russian and other languages of the former Soviet Union, programming into online systems
Sample design and sample drawing for different target groups, sample universes
Multilevel coding, coding into new and standard international codelists
Archive of social survey data with more than 2000 research projects, survey questions databank in several languages of post-Soviet region.
CESSI focus-group facility in the center of Moscow city (300 m from Kremlin)
CESSI focus-group facility in the center of Saint_Peresburg city
Call-center for CATI in Moscow city
OUR HISTORY
today
We are together for more than 30 years and feel very happy because of it. Our team is the best one can dream about. For these years we used almost all possible research methods, communicated with very different groups, about 1500 clients. Our non-commercial open data is used by hundreds of scientists, researchers and students, journalists, NGO experts and government officials. It may look like we know and experience everything in our profession. However world is changing fast and these changes lead to new tasks and challenges – we apply new technologies, invent and test new methods, make mistakes and learn from them and look forward to so many unsolved and inspiring issues.
2021
CESSI extended the use of CAPI interviews on tablets from regional surveys (capitals, large cities) and CLT surveys to nation-wide general population surveys based on random area samples at homes. This step represented a great challenge both technologically and psychologically, but we overcame barriers of our previous experience and perceived risks and hope that now the same will be done by our respondents. New study areas – mobility behavior, transport flows, geo-social research.
2017
CESSI extended the use of CAPI interviews on tablets from regional surveys (capitals, large cities) and CLT surveys to nation-wide general population surveys based on random area samples at homes. This step represented a great challenge both technologically and psychologically, but we overcame barriers of our previous experience and perceived risks and hope that now the same will be done by our respondents. New study areas – mobility behavior, transport flows, geo-social research.
2013
Technologies continue to move forward and open new horizons. Online focus-groups and in-depth interviews – respondents do not need to travel anymore, they can stay in their natural everyday environment. Video-streaming of focus-groups allows analysts and clients also to stay home, they do not need to visit us in our beautiful and nicely located qualitative research facilities in Moscow, St.-Petersburg and Kyiv, but they can watch and participate in conducting surveys from any place in the world. New methods – online ethnography, video-reportages, produced by respondents or by researchers as new form of data visualization and reporting.
2010
We opened the specialized CESSI Center of telephone surveys allowing us to increase our capacity and technological advances in conducting telephone interviews using CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews), RDD sampling, optimization of phone calls by automated system of calling.
2007
New office of CESSI in Nizhny Novgorod was opened to increase the work effectiveness of interviewers’ network in Volga region and also expand infrastructural resources to process survey data in the region. We used GIS (geographic information systems) together with survey data to solve large number of research tasks. Extensive capacity of CESSI Volga branch was used to implement one of the largest and significant research projects in the region – Survey of demands and quality of life evaluation based on representative sample of each rayon in Nizhegorodskaya oblast. The survey included the analysis of large database of open-ended questions, it was served as direct feedback of population, voice of people to regional government.
2006
CESSI is the member of ESS (European Social survey) research group, the first round of ESS (RSS-Russian social survey).
2004
Multiple Exit Polls during Presidential and regional elections including Moscow city elections, which were widely broadcasted by the major Russian and international media. Marketing research includes CLT surveys, laboratory tests and other explorative and experimental methods. The “Cost of living” project attracts the attention of more subscribers among largest international and domestic companies than ever. The new area of research for us was opened - interviews with stakeholders and experts about the reputation of companies, brands and industries, reputational risks and social responsibility. We started comparative cross-national trend and methodological survey “Postsoviet Trends” in Central Asia, Transcaucasia and European part of the former USSR.
2002
The period of large number of regional electoral surveys including Moscow city and Moscow region. As a response to increasing qualification and professional standards in qualitative research CESSI conducted several Schools of moderators for focus-groups and in-depth interviews. New areas of research in this time – surveys among children and teenagers groups, new trends in research methods – observation in natural everyday environment, photo and video reportages from people’s life, advanced methods of formalized quantitative surveys among teenagers.
2000
CESSI-Ukraine was established in a new office in the center of Kyiv on Krestschatik Street. CESSI conducted one of the most successful Exit polls in the region (during Presidential elections in Russia providing precise prediction of the election of V. Putin) in cooperation with leader international scholar on Exit polls Warren Mitofsky.
1999
CESSI moved to its new home in Moscow on Bolshaya Dmitrovka. Long-term project “Measuring the level and the quality of life of different professional groups in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan” was started to provide information for human resource management, data-based system of wages and compensations for largest Russian and international companies.
1998
The August financial crisis brought dramatic changes into the long-term and short-term plans of all the market actors, economists and politicians in Russia. In the situation when all companies felt the necessity for new strategies to survive, when unemployment, exchange rates and inflation indicators all jumped up, we managed not only to maintain our positions but even to expand our activities in the CIS states.
1997
To respond to the growing number of international studies across all states of the former Soviet Union, CESSI established the division in new Kazakhstan capital Astana to provide better coordination of research activities in the Central Asian region. The network of interviewers was expanded both in Kazakhstan and also in Russia – surveys were conducted in simultaneously in more than 150 geographical regions on huge territory of these countries.
1995
Following the rapid growth of the survey research field, CESSI opened new office in St.-Petersburg establishing standards and offering modern professional facility for conducting focus-groups and in-depth interviews.
1993
During the first democratic national Referendum in the country CESSI conducted Exit Poll in the cooperation with international scholars from CBS (Warren Mitofsky, Kathrin Francovic). Results of first Russian Exit Poll were broadcast during Election Day by all major international news agencies: CNN, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, Reuters and others. This year was the start of most important longitudinal survey of this decade – Russian Panel (Russet) which aimed to track major events in life of Russian people in 1990s. During the next seven years till year 1999 we came back to the same respondents measuring changes in the level and the quality of live and the reactions, opinions and attitudes of people.
1991
The year when the USSR disintegrated - a time of despair and hope - brought the former Soviet states to the top of news programs. All international news agencies hunted for information on the situation in the former USSR. CESSI started regular national omnibus survey to track social and political developments in Russia for many following years.
1989
CESSI is established as one of the first independent non-government research organizations in Russia, conducting public opinion polls and marketing research, first qualitative surveys – focus-groups and in-depth interviews.
1987-1989
As the part of the “factory sociologists movement” (zavodkie soziologi) Institute for sociological research of Academy of Sciences opened the Center of enhancing professional qualification of sociologists headed by Nina Andreenkova. All-Russian sociological network of producing companies of the USSR was established as the continuation of the professional relations in the Center jointly conducting annual Monitoring of production companies of the USSR – one of the first business-to-business surveys in the whole region. The results of the Monitoring and the experience of the Center were presented in summer schools of factory sociologies attracting leading international scholars as teachers – such as Leslie Kish, William Zimmerman, Michael Burawoy and others. All these efforts resulted in establishing All-Russian interviewers’ network of CESSI for conducting nation-wide population surveys.
1985
In the days when Gorbachev's perestroyka program became widely known all over the world, a group of social methodologists from the USSR Academy of Sciences started getting the first requests for conducting public opinion polls for U. S. and European media, such as The New York Times, Le Point, and Der Spiegel. They were the first in the USSR who started to use national telephone surveys and then personal interviews at homes based on probability random samples in all stages of selection.
Work in social survey research means not only fulfilling important social task – inform the society about its strengths and weaknesses, unique and common aspects, general structure and the spectrum of differences and variations, but also be part of one of the most fascinating profession. We speak with people, listen to them, try to understand and do it in professional way – with respect of rights and feelings of our respondents. We are grateful to each one among many thousands of Russian people who agreed to devote their time and share information about their life, opinions, feelings and behavior. We are looking for new chances to meet.
Work in social survey research means not only fulfilling important social task – inform the society about its strengths and weaknesses, unique and common aspects, general structure and the spectrum of differences and variations, but also be part of one of the most fascinating profession. We speak with people, listen to them, try to understand and do it in professional way – with respect of rights and feelings of our respondents. We are grateful to each one among many thousands of Russian people who agreed to devote their time and share information about their life, opinions, feelings and behavior. We are looking for new chances to meet.
