Dataset on social and psychological effects of COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey

This data was gathered to investigate how individuals’ levels of intolerance to distress and instant anxiety are related to some of the behaviors that people can change in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We present a dataset based on a four-wave survey of the social and psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey (N = 2,817). Turkey was heavily impacted by the first waves of infections in 2020, and citizens were forced to adapt to governmental measures. So, the dataset provides unique opportunities to investigate the COVID-19 pandemic’s role in shaping people’s intolerance to distress and instant anxiety. The survey considered personal cleaning behavior, bank/credit card usage, online spending habits, individual security perception, and stockpile behavior. Furthermore, in this data, whether an individual or a household member was officially diagnosed with COVID-19 and socio-demographic indicators were determined. Hence, the resulting dataset can enable various analyses on social, psychological, perceived security, and self-rated health, influencing how individuals’ levels of intolerance to distress and instant anxiety. Measurement(s) Social Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic • Psychological Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic • State-Trait Anxiety Inventory • Measurement of Distress Intolerance • Economic Behavior • Usage of debit/credit card • Online Shopping • Stockpiling • Safety perception • Community safety perception • Feeling uneasy in crowded places • Self-rated health • Personal hygiene behaviour • Having a chronic disease • Diagnosed Covid-19 • Working Home office • Demographic Technology Type(s) Survey Sample Characteristic - Organism Homo sapiens Sample Characteristic - Environment Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) of Turkey Sample Characteristic - Location Turkey Measurement(s) Social Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic • Psychological Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic • State-Trait Anxiety Inventory • Measurement of Distress Intolerance • Economic Behavior • Usage of debit/credit card • Online Shopping • Stockpiling • Safety perception • Community safety perception • Feeling uneasy in crowded places • Self-rated health • Personal hygiene behaviour • Having a chronic disease • Diagnosed Covid-19 • Working Home office • Demographic Technology Type(s) Survey Sample Characteristic - Organism Homo sapiens Sample Characteristic - Environment Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) of Turkey Sample Characteristic - Location Turkey

according to Koca 13 , people can readily access healthcare services in this country and obtain modern medical treatment. He notes that every patient in need of medical attention is admitted to a hospital, where they get specialized treatment, including intensive care and mechanical ventilation, if necessary.

Methods
This dataset is collected for quantitative research. In this data, we used the survey technique, which is a common quantitative research method. According to McKay (2005), survey research is the most controlled and structured method between experimental statistical research and qualitative research because it can use both statistical and qualitative analysis. The questionnaire to be used as a data collection method was divided into three sections and contained 55 questions.
A total of 2,817 individuals participated in our study (65.3% women, mean age = 28.55 ± 10.4 years, range = 18-65 years and above). Participation in the survey was possible from all provinces in Turkey, and the participation rate is displayed on the map in Fig. 1. The survey was conducted online between April 13, 2020, and November 25, 2020. The survey was designed to assess the psychological impact of the social and psychological effects of the COVID-19 on participants. The total of the data obtained covers the adult population of Turkey with a 2% margin of error, a 50% response distribution, and a 95% confidence level. When we consider the study waves separately, the first two waves have 3%, the third wave 4%, and the fourth wave with a 7% margin of error and a 50% response distribution with a 95% confidence level (see Table 2). Only those under the age of 18 were excluded.
We asked 15-item demographic information section in the first section to determine the participants' personal information, and the second section begins with health and economic behavior-related questions (see Table 3 for the questionnaire). The majority of participants (86%) responded comprehensively to all the questions.
The second part of the questionnaire includes the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, developed by Spielberger et al. 14 . This scale measures anxiety symptoms in two sub-dimensions, state, and trait. The scoring of this scale, which consists of 40 items, is done on a 4-point Likert-type scale. High scores from the scale indicate a high level of anxiety. Within the scope of this research, the state anxiety sub-dimension of the inventory was used to measure the current anxiety of individuals. We used the 20-item part of this sub-dimension in our survey.
The third part of the questionnaire includes the Measurement of Distress Intolerance. This scale was developed to evaluate the individual's perceived competence for resilience to various internal or external distresses and his behaviors towards coping 15 . This scale consists of 10 items and has a single factor structure. Items are scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale. High scores indicate higher intolerance to distress.
We conducted our survey online in four waves. We announced the first wave in the early period when the daily number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases peaked (13-26 April 2020; N = 1,124); the second is the first period in which the number of COVID-19 cases decreased (6-23 May 2020; N = 958); the third is the end of the summer season when the number of cases is low (20 July -8 August 2020; N = 513); the fourth is the period

Date
Measures implemented and significant events

Jan 10
The Coronavirus Scientific Committee (KvBK) was established within the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Jan 14
KvBK has published the first guide 36 on testing and monitoring for healthcare professionals.

Jan 16
The Central Bank implemented the first economic action, and 75 basis points reduced the policy rate to 11.25%0 37 .

Jan 24
Thermal cameras were installed in all airports, and passengers arriving from China were screened 38,39 Feb 7 The MoH has published a series of videos on social media to inform the public about COVID-19 [40][41][42][43] Feb 19 The Central Bank lowered the policy rate by 50 basis points to 10.75% 44 .

Mar 11
The first case of COVID-19 was detected 45 .

Mar 17
The Central Bank lowered the policy rate by 100 basis points to 9.75% 47 .

Mar 19
All sporting events across the country have been suspended, and public gathering places have also been temporarily closed.
Restaurants were obliged to put Table 1 meter apart. Places of worship were closed; cultural, scientific, or artistic meetings were canceled 48 .

Mar 21
A partial curfew has been imposed for citizens over the age of 65 and with chronic diseases, and they are only allowed to leave their homes and walk-in open areas such as parks and gardens 49 .

Mar 22
Flexible working arrangements have been made for those working in public institutions and organizations 50 .
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) declared that all land, air, and sea entries and exits from 30 metropolitan provinces and Zonguldak province borders would be temporarily closed. He declared that citizens under the age of 20 (with exceptions) were prohibited from going out on the streets for a while, including 81 provinces. Furthermore, the Province Pandemic Boards were announced as having the authority to take the necessary additional measures 51 .

Apr 10
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced the curfew in 30 provinces with metropolitan status and Zonguldak 52 .

Apr 17
MoI has banned all citizens from going out on the weekends for 30 provinces with metropolitan status and Zonguldak 53 .

Apr 21
With a circular issued by MoI, the curfews to be implemented on 23-24-25-26 April were announced 54 .

Apr 21
The Central Bank lowered the policy rate by another 100 basis points to 8.75% 55 . www.nature.com/scientificdata www.nature.com/scientificdata/ when the number of cases increased very rapidly (14-25 November 2020; N = 201) (see Fig. 2). The dataset also includes 36 people who completed the survey randomly from among the waves. recruitment methods. We recruited participants primarily through social media posts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn). In addition, we sent emails and messages directly to people who were in close contact with the researchers, asking them to share the survey with their networks. At the outset of the survey, we disclosed in the participant information part that no monetary or material compensation would be provided or requested in exchange for their participation. The questionnaire was hosted on the Google survey platform, Google Forms, and the survey questions took about five minutes to complete.

Ethical approval. The research protocol for this study was approved by the Non-Invasive Research Ethics
Committee of Uskudar University (nr: 61351342/2020-236), as well as the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey. Each and every procedure used in the study was in accordance with the ethical standards established by the European Union (EU General Data Protection Regulation and FAIR Data Management). Additionally, we signed the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, which outlines ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Participants were informed that participation was completely voluntary and that the results would be kept confidential. The research protocol excluded the collection of data that was sensitive to privacy or that contained personally   www.nature.com/scientificdata www.nature.com/scientificdata/ identifiable information (PII). All the participants in the study gave their informed consent after being briefed on the study's objectives.

Data records
On the Mendeley Data platform, you can download data records in CSV format and files containing the questionnaires in both Turkish and English translations 16 . There is also an abbreviation guide for variable names included in the XLSX file as well. All of these resources can be found at the link provided: https://doi. org/10.17632/sv95c7ydpy.

Technical Validation
Before asking participants to answer any questions, we presented an introductory page explaining the purpose of the study, the specifics of what participation would entail (including the identity and affiliations of the researchers, see the online version https://forms.gle/HFyqjhwhEcuPDZJW7), and confirmation that the research had received ethical approval from a legitimate review board and ethics committee 17 . Furthermore, we stated that they are free to withdraw from the study at any time and that we will not compensate you in any way, nor will any financial or material contribution be requested from you in exchange for your participation in the study.
Our survey used three main questionnaires: demographic, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Measurement of Distress Intolerance. Spielberger et al. 14 developed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Its Turkish adaptation was made by Öner and Le Compte 18 . They found the internal consistency of the scale to be between 0.94 and 0.96 for the trait anxiety dimension and between 0.83 and 0.87 for the state anxiety dimension. The Measurement of Distress Intolerance scale consists of 10 items which are scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Çakır 19 conducted the Turkish validity-reliability study of the scale, and the internal consistency coefficient was found to be 0.92.
We have prior experience in survey design for stress and anxiety, as well as demography research [20][21][22][23][24][25] . Additionally, we based the demographic, health and safety questions in the survey on previous research 8, [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] , so that the questions appear reasonable in terms of obtaining the necessary data and comparable with previous findings. In the same way as Mondino et al. 6,7 , we administered the preliminary survey to a total of 19 people with various educational backgrounds. Among other things, we inquired whether the questions were straightforward and how they interpreted them. This step ensured that the responses to the questions were consistent with what we expected. It is worth to mention that the potential for human error in data entry is limited since the online survey system automatically collects responses.

Usage Notes
This dataset provides excellent opportunities to investigate various aspects of psychology, economic behavior, and risk perceptions during natural hazards. It primarily provides detailed information from COVID-19 on individuals' levels of anxiety and distress intolerance. Additionally, it includes information on economic behaviors such as stockpiling, online shopping, and bank/credit card use. It also provides data on people's perceptions of personal safety and public trust in the national government. The dataset is accompanied by survey questionaries files in Turkish and English in PDF format that includes variable descriptions, and R-codes for data processing are publicly available on the Mendeley Data platform 16 . There is no need to request access to download data for academic purposes. Semicolons separate columns in the CSV file.

Limitations.
Researchers should consider the sample's skewness for respondents, such as being female, single, well-educated, and residing in Istanbul. Therefore, the dataset's samples are not representative of the Turkish population, particularly gender, education level, and marital status. As a result, researchers who must address this issue can weigh the data by referring to publicly available demographic data for Turkey and applying suitable weights to the variables (e.g., https://data.tuik.gov.tr/) 35 . Users of this dataset should also be aware that these reports are based on self-report and subjective evaluations of participants. We have no attempt or chance to verify the accuracy of the participants' answers externally.

Code availability
Raw data, as well as R-code for cleaning, are freely available at: https://doi.org/10.17632/sv95c7ydpy 16 .  We began gathering data on April 13th, 2020, and finished on November 25th, 2020. We announced the survey through social media accounts on April 18th, May 9th, July 20th, and November 16th of 2020. Daily new COVID-19 cases data obtained from Dong et al. 57 .