# International Social Survey Programme

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.

## History

The ISSP was founded in 1984 by research organizations from four countries:
* Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden, und Analysen (ZUMA), Mannheim, Germany, now GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
* National Opinion Research Center (NORC), University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States.
* Social and Community Planning Research (SCPR), London, United Kingdom, now National Centre for Social Research, NatCen
* Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS), Australian National University, now School of Demography Canberra, Australia.
Four different Social Surveys included a common module each year:
* The British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) in the UK
* The General Social Survey (GSS) in the USA
* The ALLBUS or German General Social Survey (GGSS) in Germany and
* The Surveys by the Research School of Social Sciences
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. All these links lead to the official GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences homepage, where the data is provided openly for research purposes.
| Year | Module |
| 2020 | Environment IV |
| 2019 | Social Inequality V |
| 2018 | Religion IV |
| 2017 | Social Networks and Social Resources III |
| 2016 | Role of Government V |
| 2015 | Work Orientations IV |
| 2014 | Citizenship II |
| 2013 | National Identity III |
| 2012 | Family and Changing Gender Roles IV |
| 2011 | Health and Health Care |
| 2010 | Environment III |
| 2009 | Social Inequality IV |
| 2008 | Religion III |
| 2007 | Leisure Time and Sports |
| 2006 | Role of Government IV |
| 2005 | Work Orientations III |
| 2004 | Citizenship |
| 2003 | National Identity II |
| 2002 | Family and Changing Gender Roles III |
| 2001 | Social Relations and Support Systems ('Social Networks II') |
| 2000 | Environment II |
| 1999 | Social Inequality III |
| 1998 | Religion II |
| 1997 | Work Orientations II |
| 1996 | Role of Government III |
| 1995 | National Identity I |
| 1994 | Family and Changing Gender Roles II |
| 1993 | Environment I |
| 1992 | Social Inequality II |
| 1991 | Religion I |
| 1990 | Role of Government II |
| 1989 | Work Orientations I |
| 1988 | Family and Changing Gender Roles I |
| 1987 | Social Inequality I |
| 1986 | Social Networks and Support Systems I |
| 1985 | Role of Government I |

## Modules by topic

Source:
* 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
* Austria
* Belgium (former member)
* Bangladesh
* Bolivia (former member)
* Brazil (former member)
* Bulgaria
* Canada
* Chile
* China
* Croatia
* Cyprus (former member)
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Dominican Republic (former member)
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* India
* Ireland (former member)
* Israel
* Italy
* Japan
* Latvia (former member)
* Lithuania
* Mexico
* Netherlands (former member)
* New Zealand
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Portugal (former member)
* Romania (former member)
* Russia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* South Africa
* South Korea
* Spain
* Suriname
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Taiwan
* Thailand
* Tunisia
* Turkey
* Uruguay (former member)
* UK
* United States
* Venezuela
| Country | Organization |
| Austria | Institute of Sociology, University of Graz. |
| Bangladesh | SRG Bangladesh |
| Belgium | The Administration of Planning and Statistics of the Ministry of Flanders. Walloon Institute of Assessment, Forecasting and Statistics (IWEPS). (former member) |
| Bolivia | Aru Foundation (former member) |
| Brazil | Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro. (former member) |
| Bulgaria | The Agency for Social Analyses (ASA). |
| Canada | School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University. (former member) |
| Chile | Centro de Estudios Publicos. |
| China | National Survey Research Center at Renmin University of China Institute for Empirical Social Science Research Xi'an Jiaotong University |
| Croatia | Institute for Social Research in Zagreb |
| Cyprus (former member) | Center of Applied Research (CAR), Cyprus College. (former member) |
| Czech Republic | Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic |
| Denmark | Department of Politics and Society, Aalborg University |
| Dominican Republic | Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE). (former member) |
| Estonia | Institute of International and Social Studies, School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University |
| Finland | Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere. Statistics Finland. Finnish Social Science Data Archive. |
| France | PACTE, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Grenoble, Domaine Universitaire Centre for Socio-Political Data (CDSP) Centre Maurice Halbwachs Together these Organizations also present data on an ISSP France Homepage |
| Germany | GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences |
| Georgia | Center for Social Sciences (CSS) |
| Hungary | TÁRKI, Social Research Institute, Budapest (TÁRKI RT) |
| Iceland | Social Science Research Institute University of Iceland |
| Ireland | Social Science Research Centre University College Dublin. (former member) |
| Israel | The B.I. and Lucille Cohen Institute for Public Opinion Research, Tel Aviv University. |
| Italy | The Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan |
| Japan | NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute. |
| Latvia | Advanced Social and Political Research Institute , University of Latvia. (former member) |
| Mexico | The Institute of Marketing and Opinion |
| The Netherlands | The Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit. |
| New Zealand | COMPASS - Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences, University of Auckland. |
| Norway | Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD). |
| The Philippines | Social Weather Stations. |
| Poland | Institute for Social Studies (ISS), University of Warsaw. |
| Portugal | Instituto de Ciências Sociais (ICS), University of Lisbon. (former member) |
| Romania | RQSA - Romanian Quantitative Studies Association. (former member) |
| Russia | The Levada Center. |
| Slovakia | The Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. |
| Slovenia | Public Opinion and Mass Communication Research Centre (CJMMK), University of Ljubljana. |
| South Africa | Human Science Research Council Archived 2022-05-27 at the Wayback Machine. |
| South Korea | Survey Research Center (SRC), Sungkyunkwan University. |
| Spain | Análisis Sociológicos, Económicos y Políticos (ASEP). CIS (Center for Sociological Research). |
| Suriname | Anton de Kom University of Suriname |
| Sweden | Department of Sociology, University of Umeå |
| Switzerland | FORS – Swiss Centre of Expertise in Social Sciences, Lausanne |
| Taiwan | Institute of Sociology and Center for Survey Research Academia Sinica |
| Thailand | King Prajadhipok’s Institute (KPI) |
| Turkey | Istanbul Policy Centre (IPC) |
| 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 | NatCen Social Research as part of the British Social Attitudes Survey. |
| United States | National Opinion Research Center (NORC), University of Chicago. |
| Venezuela | Laboratorio de Ciencias Sociales (LACSO). |