The survey in Russia is part of the larger Spring 2012 Pew Global Attitudes survey conducted in 21 countries under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

Results for the survey in Russia are based on 1,000 face-to-face interviews conducted March 19 to April 4, 2012. The survey is representative of the country’s adult population. It uses a multi-stage cluster sample stratified by Russia’s eight regions and proportional to population size, excluding a few remote areas in the northern and eastern parts of the country and Chechnya. All interviews were conducted in Russian.

The margin of sampling error is ±3.6 percentage points. For the results based on the full sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus the margin of error. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.