National Institute for Consumer Research

www.sifo.no

Organisational foundation

• Non-bias governmental institute conducting consumer research and testing.

• Legal status as ‘public administrative body’.

• The board of directors is appointed by the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs which also provides the basic funding.

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Financing

1. Basic funding (approx. 66 %)

2. Project grants (approx. 20 %)– The Research Council of Norway– Nordic Council of Ministers– European Union

3. Other assignments (approx. 14 %)– Public organisations– Private companies

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EU-projects

Surface Temperatures

DEEP

ToolSust

Fire Hazards

Laundry Habits

OMIaRD

Organic HACCP

Trust in Food

Welfare Quality

TRUST

EMUDE

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• Risk problems with high surface tempe-rature on consumer products

• Developing effective and efficient pro-duct information

• The involvement of stakeholders to de-velop and implement tools for sus-tainable households in the city of tomorrow

• Fire hazard of clothes related to acci-dents and consumer habits

• An investigation into the domestic laundry habits in Europe

• Organic marketing initiatives and rural development

• Recommendations for improved proce-dures for securing consumer oriented food safety and quality of certified or-ganic foods from plough to plate

• Social and Institutional conditions for the production of trust

• Integration of animal welfare in the food quality chain: from public concern to im-proved welfare and transparent quality

• Food risk communication and con-sumers’ trust in the food supply chain

• Emerging user demands for sustainable solutions

Key figures

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Basic

funding

(mill. NOK) 16,9 17,4 18,5 20,3 21,9

Total income

(mill. NOK) 31,4 28,7 30,2 32,2 35

Number of

employees 58 54 55 49 48

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Areas of expertise

Forbruker-politikken

Markedene

Produktene

Forbrukerne

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Main disciplines

Sociology Anthropology Ethnology Political science Economics Social geography Nutritional science Chemistry Engineering Computer science

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Research methods

Quantitative methods– surveys– statistical analyses– testing and measurements

Qualitative methods– focus groups / panel discussions– discourse analyses– literature studies– interviews– observations

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Organisation

Research groups:– Technology and Environment– Consumption and Economy– Market and Politics

In addition:– Administrative Services– Information Technology– Public Relations

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Test laboratories

Testing of textiles– physical and mechanical qualities– colour ekthet– Washing – fire

Testing of household appliances– energy consumption– functionality– use and effect of detergents– noise measurements

Testing of household chemicals– washing effect– environmental labels

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Dissemination

SIFO-reports Articles in national and international

journals Conference papers and

presentations Internet publishing Features in TV- and radio

programmes Books Lectures and talks Interviews Chronicles

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