Life in War Survey (LIWS) is a unique two-wave panel survey conducted in Ukraine before and during the full-scale invasion. Data collection was organised by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). The first wave took place just before the onset of the full-scale Russian invasion – from January 18 to February 8, 2022. The survey sample represents Ukrainian residents aged 15 and over residing in areas under Ukrainian government control as of February 23, 2022. A stratified three-stage random sampling was applied. A stratification was done by region (covering 24 Ukrainian oblasts plus the city of Kyiv) and settlement type (urban or rural). In the first stage, electoral precincts were randomly selected within each stratum. In the next step, households were chosen using a random walk method within the selected precincts. Finally, from each household, one eligible respondent was randomly selected. In total, 1531 respondents were surveyed using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) with the ESS 10 questionnaire. Please visit the ESS Data Portal for more details on main topics of the ESS 10 survey.
The second wave was conducted via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) from August 24 to October 6, 2022. During this phase, 595 respondents (39% of those who participated in the first wave) were successfully interviewed and included in the panel. This wave incorporated several questions from the initial survey, as well as new items on war exposure, displacement (both within Ukraine and abroad), and other topics. Please refer to the Codebook for more details on the variables included in each wave of the survey.
Panel data itself offers several advantages over cross-sectional or retrospective studies. First, it allows us to analyse change over time by comparing responses across different waves, helping us understand how time influences respondents' answers. Second, it enables us to examine not only the average change but also variation at the individual level, allowing us to identify respondents whose patterns differ from the overall trend for further investigation. Data collected before and during the war is particularly valuable, as it provides unique insights into how the full-scale invasion affected Ukrainians' attitudes and behaviour.
Using these panel data, our team has researched war's influence on individual changes in religious behavior and the self-assessment of religiosity. Publications are listed below:
- Karakai, D., & Hatsko, V. (2023, October 4). No atheists in wartime? Journal of the Analytical Platform ‘Vox Ukraine’. https://voxukraine.org/en/no-atheists-in-wartime
- Karakai, D., & Hatsko, V. (2024). Perspective(s) of R. Inglehart's Theory of Evolutionary Modernization: Analysis of Change in Religiosity in Ukraine during the War. In Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing (Issue 1, pp. 93–109). National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Co. LTD Ukrinformnauka) (Publications) https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2024.01.093
- Karakai, D., & Moskotina, R. (2025). Existential upheavals: Tracing war's immediate effect on individual religiosity in Ukraine. Social Compass, 72(1), 66–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686241311421
- Moskotina, R., Karakai, D., & Hatsko, V. (2025). Ukrainians’ Attitudes at the Start of the War: From Authoritarian Defenders of Democracy to Unhappy Yet Satisfied with Life. Journal of the Analytical Platform ‘Vox Ukraine’. https://voxukraine.org/en/ukrainians-attitudes-at-the-start-of-the-war-from-authoritarian-defenders-of-democracy-to-unhappy-yet-satisfied-with-life
- Karakai, D., Hatsko, V., & Moskotina, R. (2025). Does War Create or Destroy Social Bonds? It Depends on Definitions. Journal of the Analytical Platform ‘Vox Ukraine’. https://voxukraine.org/en/does-war-create-or-destroy-social-bonds-it-depends-on-definitions
If you have any questions about these data or would like to collaborate with us on an article, simply contact us via email: rmoskotina@kse.org.ua
The first wave of data collection was supported by a grant from the International Renaissance Foundation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Ukraine, as part of the project "Ukraine in European Social Survey 2021" (signed on 15 November 2021). The second wave of research was funded by George Washington University within the framework of the PONARS Eurasia project (The Programme on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia). Both waves of the study were conducted at the request of the Kyiv School of Economics.
Yes, sure! You can perform an online analysis of variables common to both waves by comparing them here.