The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a collaboration between different nations conducting surveys covering topics which are useful for social science research. The ISSP researchers develop questions which are meaningful and relevant to all countries which can be expressed in an equal manner in different languages. The results of the surveys provide a cross-national and cross-cultural perspective to individual national studies. By 2021, 58 countries have already taken part in the ISSP.[1]

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International Social Survey Programme Members (2016)

History

The ISSP was founded in 1984[2] by research organizations from four countries:

Four different Social Surveys included a common module each year:

Since then social science institutions from 58 different countries included a 15-minute supplement to their national surveys. The membership to the ISSP is institutional and by country. One or more than one institute in a country can co-operate on ISSP research (cf. France and Spain). The common module surveyed by the member institutions also contains an extensive common core of background variables. The modules focus on one specific topic each year and were planned to be repeated more or less every five to ten years. When it comes to the researchers choice of topics, the relevance of the area of social sciences in the year of the survey is taken into account. Given this, the ISSP deliveries data sets are helpful for both Cross-sectional studies and Time series analysis. Over time the set of modules has grown towards more diverse topics. The latest additions were Leisure Time and Sports in 2007 as well as Health and Health Care in 2011.

Organisation

The ISSP is a self-funding organisation with an emphasis on democratic decision making stated in its working principles. To accomplish this principle it has set up several groups and committees. These groups either consist of member organisations as a whole or include some particular social scientists. There are:

  • The ISSP secretariat (2021-2024): FORS - Swiss Centre for Expertise in the Social Sciences, Switzerland
  • The ISSP archive (GESIS Data Archive for the Social Sciences, Germany)
  • Methodology research groups
  • The ISSP sub-groups drawn up within the ISSP
  • Drafting groups for modules
  • The ISSP Standing Committee

Most of the members of these groups are elected democratically at the General Assembly. These meetings of delegates from every member state of the ISSP are held in May or June in changing locations all around the world. The General Assemblies also serve the function of discussing modules, which are to be completed the same year or begun and surveyed the upcoming one. The delegates also discuss the topics of upcoming modules.

The ISSP also gives importance to the way member organisations implement their surveys. The organisation's principles are published in its ethical statement and its working principles.

Methodology

The methodological work in the ISSP is coordinated by a Methodology Committee, consisting of six members elected at the General Meeting. It co-ordinates the work of six groups addressing different areas of cross-cultural methods, all concerned with issues of equivalence: demography, non-response, weighting, mode effects, questionnaire design and translation.

Modules by year

The datasets from the different modules conducted by participating ISSP member states can be downloaded at the GESIS Archive page.[3] All these links lead to the official GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences homepage, where the data is provided openly for research purposes.[4]

Modules by topic

Source:[5]

Citizenship 2004 2014
Environment 1993 2000 2010 2020
Family and Changing Gender Roles 1988 1994 2002 2012 2022
Health and Healthcare 2011 2021
Leisure Time & Sports 2007
National Identity 1995 2003 2013
Religion 1991 1998 2008 2018
Role of Government 1985 1990 1996 2006 2016
Social Networks 1986 2001 2017
Social Inequality 1987 1992 1999 2009 2019
Work Orientation 1989 1997 2005 2015 2025
National Identity and Citizenship 2023
Digital Societies 2024

Members (1984–2021)

Australia Australia
Austria Austria
Belgium Belgium (former member)
Bangladesh Bangladesh
Bolivia Bolivia (former member)
Brazil Brazil (former member)
Bulgaria Bulgaria
Canada Canada
Chile Chile
China China
Croatia Croatia
Cyprus Cyprus (former member)
Czech Republic Czech Republic
Denmark Denmark
Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (former member)
Estonia Estonia
Finland Finland
France France
Georgia (country) Georgia
Germany Germany
Greece Greece
Hungary Hungary
Iceland Iceland
India India
Republic of Ireland Ireland (former member)
Israel Israel
Italy Italy
Japan Japan
Latvia Latvia (former member)
Lithuania Lithuania
Mexico Mexico
Netherlands Netherlands (former member)
New Zealand New Zealand
Norway Norway
Philippines Philippines
Poland Poland
Portugal Portugal (former member)
Romania Romania (former member)
Russia Russia
Slovakia Slovakia
Slovenia Slovenia
South Africa South Africa
South Korea South Korea
Spain Spain
Suriname Suriname
Sweden Sweden
Switzerland Switzerland
Taiwan Taiwan
Thailand Thailand
Tunisia Tunisia
Turkey Turkey
Uruguay Uruguay (former member)
United Kingdom UK
United States United States
Venezuela Venezuela
More information Country, Organization ...
Country Organization

Austria Austria

Bangladesh Bangladesh

Belgium Belgium

  • The Administration of Planning and Statistics of the Ministry of Flanders.
  • Walloon Institute of Assessment, Forecasting and Statistics (IWEPS). (former member)

Bolivia Bolivia

Brazil Brazil

Bulgaria Bulgaria

Canada Canada

Chile Chile

China China

Croatia Croatia

Cyprus Cyprus (former member)

Czech Republic Czech Republic

Denmark Denmark

Dominican Republic Dominican Republic

Estonia Estonia

Finland Finland

France France

Germany Germany

Georgia (country) Georgia

Hungary Hungary

Iceland Iceland

Republic of Ireland Ireland

Israel Israel

Italy Italy

Japan Japan

Latvia Latvia

Mexico Mexico

Netherlands The Netherlands

New Zealand New Zealand

Norway Norway

Philippines The Philippines

Poland Poland

Portugal Portugal

Romania Romania

Russia Russia

Slovakia Slovakia

Slovenia Slovenia

South Africa South Africa

South Korea South Korea

Spain Spain

Suriname Suriname

Sweden Sweden

Switzerland Switzerland

Taiwan Taiwan

Thailand Thailand

Turkey Turkey

Uruguay Uruguay

  • Department of Economics (deCON),
  • Faculty of Social Sciences;
  • Institute of Statistics (IEsta),
  • Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Uruguay. (former member)

United Kingdom United Kingdom

United States United States

Venezuela Venezuela

  • Laboratorio de Ciencias Sociales (LACSO).
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References

Bibliography

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