Cross-national attitudinal research The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and European Social Survey (ESS)

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)

Background Annual, since 1985 Structure and funding Elected Secretariat plus subgroups No central funding for co-ordination activities Individual countries raise funds for surveys Now 43 members spanning Europe, America, Asia, Australia and Africa

ISSP member countries Australia 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 topics Topics Role of Government Social Networks Social Inequality Family and Changing Gender Roles Work Orientations Religion Environment National Identity Citizenship Sport and leisure Health Year 1985, 1990, 1996, , , 1992, 1999, , 1994, , 1997, , 1998, , 2000, ,

ISSP fieldwork Sampling Minimum 1000 achieved sample Expectation of random sampling Fieldwork Face to face or self-completion methods Questionnaire 15 minute module (60 questions) asked in agreed order Agreed background questions

ISSP questionnaire design Topic selection Topics nominated and voted for at annual plenary meeting Module design Circulation of design notes/questions to members Any module being repeated MUST include 40 repeat questions (plus up to 20 new ones)

ISSP data Data provided to central archive in Germany within 9 months of fieldwork Delay before cross-national dataset available Most recent dataset available is 2006 Role of Government Data available from

The European Social Survey (ESS)

Background Biennial, began in 2002 Winner of Descartes Prize in 2005 Structure and funding Central Co-ordinating Team (CCT) plus panels and groups Initiated/seed-funded by European Science Foundation, now core funding from European Commission Individual countries fund country co-ordinator and survey

Current ESS member countries Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Russia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Germany Hungary Ireland Latvia Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal

ESS questionnaire Core modules Repeated each round Rotating modules Usually 50 items per module, content varies each round Socio-demographic/economic ‘background’ variables Context and event data

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 2002 Citizenship, involvement and democracy Immigration 2004 Family, work and well-being Health and health-care seeking Economic morality 2006 Personal and social well-being Timing of life 2008 Experiences and expressions of ageism Welfare attitudes

ESS fieldwork Sampling Minimum effective sample size typically 1500 Only random sampling Fieldwork Face to face only Set fieldwork dates Questionnaire minute survey, including background questions Administered as stand-alone survey, questions to be asked in agreed order

ESS questionnaire design Topic selection Biennial CCT call for proposals for rotating modules Two or three modules selected for each survey Next call likely in December 2008 (for ESS 2010) Module design Discussion with CCT Discussion with country co-ordinators Pilot testing in two member countries

ESS data Data supplied to archive within few months of fieldwork Central funding for NSD archive 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 Time-series ISSP has longer time-series Organisational structure Varying degrees of central co-ordination Methods Similar modes ESS more rigorous and better able to intervene to promote good practice

ISSP and ESS compared (2) 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) Design Both allow considerable consultation with member countries ESS more systematic, more weight to 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 sources of information European Social Survey ‘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 Bibliography at ISSPwebsite, lists 2880 publications (including 388 books, 428 book chapters and 915 journal papers)