The Soft Power 30 study is conducted annually since 2015. It assesses the soft power resources of 30 countries combining objective and subjective data.
Objective data is structured into six categories: government; culture; global engagement; education; digital; and enterprise.
Subjective data is based on a public opinion polling in 20-25 countries across the world's major regions. In 2015, polling took place in 20 countries, whereas since 2016 it was expanded to 25 countries. The sample size was increased from 7,200 to 10,500 to 11,000 to 12,500 respectively. The samples within each country were representative by age, gender, and region.
The surveys consisted of a series of questions rated on a scale form 0 to 10 and covered the following factors: favorability towards foreign countries; perceptions of foreign cuisine; perceptions on how welcoming foreign countries are to tourists; perceptions on foreign technology products and luxury goods; trust in foreign countries' approach to global affairs and their contributions to global culture; desire to visit foreign countries etc.