ISSP and ESS

An introduction to the surveys

The International Social Survey Programme

(ISSP)

Background

Began in 1985• Annual survey

Initiated and set up by• Australia, USA, Britain, West Germany

Structure and funding• Elected Secretariat (Norway) plus subgroups • No central funding for co-ordination activities• Individual countries have to raise funds for surveys

Now 43 members spanning Europe, America, Asia, Australia and Africa

ISSP member countriesAustralia

Austria

Belgium

Brazil

Bulgaria

Canada

Chile

China

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Dominican Republic

Finland

France

Germany

Great Britain

Hungary

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

Latvia

Mexico

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Russia

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Taiwan

Turkey

United States

Uruguay

Venezuela

ISSP aims

To facilitate the in-depth study of cross-national differences in attitudes towards subjects of global importance and interest, over time … • Global focus • Time series

ISSP topics

TopicsRole of Government

Social Networks/Relations and Support Systems

Social Inequality

Family and Changing Gender Roles

Work Orientations

Religion

Environment

National Identity

Citizenship

Administered in 1985, 1990, 1996, 2006

1986, 2001

1987, 1992, 1999, 2009

1988, 1994, 2002

1989, 1997, 2005

1991, 1998, 2008

1993, 2000, 2010

1995, 2003

2004

ISSP fieldwork

Sampling • Minimum 1000 achieved sample• Expectation that members will use random sampling

Fieldwork• Face to face or self-completion methods• No telephone• Variable fieldwork dates

Questionnaire • 15 minute module (60 questions) asked in agreed order• Often administered as part of another survey• Agreed background questions• Guidance on translation

ISSP questionnaire design

Topic selection• Topics nominated and voted for at annual plenary meeting• Drafting group elected with a chair

Module design• Circulation of design notes/q-res to members• Rough outline for module discussed one year, detailed

questions the next• Ideally new questions pilot tested prior to final discussion• Any module being repeated MUST include 40 repeat

questions (plus up to 20 new ones)• Members vote on individual questions in final module• Design process can vary depending on make-up of group

ISSP data

Participating countries should supply data to central archive in Germany within 9 months of fieldwork• No core funding for archive• Archive work also carried out in Spain

Clear guidance provided on dataset conventions

Delay before cross-national dataset available • Variable fieldwork dates• Delays in data deposit• Most recent dataset available is 2005 Work Orientation

Data available from issp.org

The European Social Survey(ESS)

Background

Began in 2002• Biennial survey

Structure and funding• Central Co-ordinating Team (CCT) at City University plus

Sampling Panel, Translation Taskforce, Methods Group• Scientific Advisory Board • Initiated/seed-funded by European Science Foundation, now

core funding from European Commission• Individual countries fund country co-ordinator and survey

‘Eurovision’ membership rules

Current ESS member countriesAustria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Russia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Germany

Hungary

Ireland

Latvia

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

ESS aims

To measure and explain the relationship between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes, values and behaviours of its population • European focus• Time series

To draw on best practice as demonstrated in similar national studies in Europe and the US• Desire to produce bullet-proof data• Winner of Descartes Prize in 2005 for “radical innovations in

cross-national surveys”

ESS questionnaire

Core modules

Rotating modules (usually 50 items in each module)

Socio-demographic/economic ‘background’ variables

Context and event data

Contact information

ESS core modules

Topics covered include • Trust in institutions• Political engagement• Social capital• Socio-political values, moral and social values• National, religious and ethnic identity• Well-being, health and security

ESS rotating modules

2002Citizenship, involvement and democracy

Immigration

2004Family, work and well-being

Health and health-care seeking

Economic morality

2006Personal and social well-being

Timing of life

2008Experiences and expressions of ageism

Welfare attitudes

ESS context and event data

Context data• Information about specific counties

Demographic statistics

Socio-economic macro statistics

Event data• Collected by national co-ordinators• Covers period of fieldwork • Example page from September 2006

Pope speech angers Muslims

4000 UK jobs to be cut

4 men in court on terrorism charges

Blair addresses unions

• Supply brief summary and media references

ESS contact information

Details collected about each address in sample• Productive and unproductive• Including number of calls, outcome of each visit, number

of eligible adults at the address• Robust information about response rates• Analysis of calling patterns

ESS fieldwork

Sampling• Minimum effective sample size typically 1500

• Essential that members use random sampling

Fieldwork• Face to face only, no telephone

• Set fieldwork dates (Sept - Dec of relevant year)

• Experimental work in 2008 to look at multi-mode surveys

Questionnaire• 60-70 minute survey, including background questions

• Administered as stand-alone survey, questions to be asked in agreed order

• Guidelines and advice on translation

ESS questionnaire design

Topic selection• Biennial CCT call for proposals for rotating modules• Two or three modules selected for each survey• Question Design Teams must be international• Final decision following refereeing and discussion with SAB

Module design • Discussion with CCT• Discussion with country co-ordinators • Pilot testing in two member countries

ESS data

Participating countries supply data to central archive in Norway within a few months of fieldwork• Central funding for NSD archive

Clear guidance on dataset conventions

Considerable communication between country co-ordinator and archive before country dataset signed

Full ESS dataset made available fairly quickly• 2006 dataset released in spring 2007 (preliminary release)

Data available from ess.nsd.uib.no (or follow links from main ESS site)

ESS and ISSP Compare and contrast

ISSP and ESS compared (1)Membership

• Europe vs worldwide• Potential for expansion

Time-series • ISSP has longer time-series• No ESS time series yet on all bar core questions

Organisational structure• Degree of central co-ordination• Top down vs bottom up

Funding• Presence/absence of adequate funding to cover co-

ordination activities

ISSP and ESS compared (2)

Methods• ISSP has more variation in sampling methods than ESS• Similar modes• ESS more rigorous and better able to intervene to promote

good practice• Both surveys provide country specific documentation, ESS

is clearer and of higher standard

Questionnaire • ISSP 60 items on specific topic• ESS 240 plus items on range of topics (including 2 rotating

topics covered with 50 items about each)

ISSP and ESS compared (3)

Design process• Both allow considerable consultation with member countries • ESS more systematic, gives more weight to academic/policy

experts • ISSP allows member countries to vote on specific questions• Limitations stemming from ISSP’s global coverage

Data • ESS data available more quickly• ESS spends more time on practices to ensure high quality

Further information

Further sources of information

European Social Survey• www.europeansocialsurvey.org• ‘Measuring attitudes cross-nationally - Lessons from the

European Social Survey (Jowell et al, 2007: Sage)• Online searchable bibliography at ESS website

International Social Survey Programme• www.issp.org• Bibliography at ISSPwebsite, lists 2880 publications

(including 388 books, 428 book chapters and 915 journal papers)

Other relevant surveys

European Values Survey• 10 year intervals

World Values Survey• 1981, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005• Range of social, political and moral issues

Eurobarometer• Annual• Public opinion on European Commission