This document discusses the origin and purpose of the annual "Hope-Barometer" survey, which was started in 2009 to study and promote discussion of hope as a counterbalance to existing surveys that focus on fear, worries, and worst-case scenarios. It aims to collect data on hope through an online survey measuring various aspects of hope, outlook, meaning, and well-being. The survey has grown over time and in 2013 included nearly 22,000 participants across Switzerland, France, Germany and the Czech Republic. Results are shared with the public and media to bring more attention to discussions of hope within academia and politics.

1. Origin and Purpose of the “Hope-Barometer”
Amsterdam, July 04th, 2014
Dr. Andreas M. Walker
Co-President swissfuture, Switzerland
Initiator “Hope-Barometer” in 2009
Dr. Andreas M. Krafft
Member of the board of swissfuture, Switzerland
University of St. Gall
Symposium
The Annual Hope-Barometer and Positive Attributes Survey
in Switzerland, Germany and the Czech Republic

2. 2
Motivation
• Since about 30 years in Switzerland there are two annual surveys
• “Barometer of Angst” (fear), sponsored by a Swiss bank.
• “Barometer of Worries”, sponsored by another Swiss finance
institute.
• These two barometers have a broad perception
within politics and media.
• Risk management, doom saying, apocalyptical thinking,
worst case scenarios, black swans and wild cards are taking a
dominating place within the academic and political discussion
of the “future” and within the media.
• Google.ch 2014/06/28
• “Angst” 105 Mio sides
• “Hoffnung” 34 Mio sides
• Is there any academic research and discussion
of the phenomenon of “hope” at the European Universities?
• Is there a motivation to experience the future if there is no hope?

3. 3
Objectives
• To make “hope” an issue
within the academic and political debate.
• To initiate a “future debate” where “angst” and “hope”
are part of a dialectical debate.
• To collect data and
to develop tools for collecting data about “hope”.
• To analyze and understand the phenomenon of “hope”
in a trans-disciplinary way by various methods.

4. 4
Milestones and Success Factors
1. To start! (against the dominance of “Angst” and “worries”)
2. To win “swissfuture Swiss Society for Futures Studies” and
“Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences”
as academic partners in Switzerland 2009
3. To win “20minutes” as media / internet partner
for Switzerland 2009
4. To win “BILD” as media /internet partner for Germany 2013
5. To enlarge the team and to win international academic partners
thanks to the ECPP and ICPP in Philadelphia 2011, Moscow 2012
and Los Angeles 2013

5. 5
Enlarging Transdisciplinary team
PhDr. Andreas M. Walker, expert for strategic foresight
Co-President swissfuture
PhDr. Francis Müller, journalist, sociologist
Member of the board swissfuture
PhDr. Andreas Krafft, economist, expert for salutogenesis
Member of the board swissfuture, University of St. Gallen
Stefan Schwarz, educationalist,
psychotherapist and expert for logotherapy (Victor Frankl)
Prof. Dr. Charles Martin-Krumm, Maître de
Conférences à l’Institut Universitaire de
Formation des Maîtres de Rennes, France
Prof. PhDr. Alena Slezáčková, Academic
Centre for Positive Psychology, Masaryk
University, Brno, Czech Republic
Prof. Dr. Tatjana Schnell, Institute of
Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Austria

6. 6
Measures for the 2013/14 survey
• What do you expect for the coming year 2014? (5 items)
• Which are your main personal wishes for 2014? (17 items)
• Perceived Hope (6 items)
• From whom do you expect that she or he transmits hope? (16 items)
• Social Relations (Ryff) (4 items “positive” + 5 items “negative”)
• What do you do towards having your hopes fulfilled? (17 items)
• Dispositional Hope (Snyder) (4 items “agency” + 4 items “pathways”)
• Changes in Outlook (Joseph / Lindley) (5 items “negative” + 6 items
“positive”)
• Life Orientation Scale (Scheier / Carver) (3 items “optimism” + 3 items
“pessimism”)
• Passion (Vallerand) (5 items “harmonious” + 5 items “obsessive”)
• Meaning (Schnell) (5 items)
• Religiosity (Schnell) (3 items)
• Spirituality (Schnell) (5 items)
• Generativity (Schnell) (6 items)
• Life-satisfaction (Dalbert) (7 items)
• Mood (Dalbert) (4 items “positive” + 3 items “negative”)
• Physical health (1 item)

7. 7
Demografics for the 2013/14 survey
• Gender
• Age
• Place of birth
• Place of living
• Family status
• Number of children
• Education level
• Religious confession
• Attachment to a religious institution
• Current main and secondary activity
• Job position
• Volunteer activity

8. 8
Public Perception
• Hope 2010: 2’735 participants in German speaking CH
• Hope 2011: 6’193 participants in German speaking CH
• Hope 2012: 5’038 participants in German speaking CH
• Hope 2013: 18’914 participants in CH, France, Germany
• Hope 2013: 21’812 participants in CH, France, Germany, Cz
 Challenge: to extract the valid files,
to handle quality of the sample
• Speeches for managers, politicians, churches, teachers
• e.g. 2013: more than 30 media articles within Switzerland

9. 9
Next Steps
• To evaluate academic partners in other countries
• To optimize the survey
• To promote the academic analysis of the data
• To promote the development of trainings and tools
for schools and workplaces
• Conference 2015 in Switzerland about “hope”