ISSP - International Social Survey Programme

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a continuing annual programme of cross-national collaboration on surveys covering topics important for social science research. It brings together pre-existing national social science projects and coordinates research goals, thereby adding a cross-national, cross-cultural perspective to the individual, national studies. Formed in 1983, the group develops topical modules dealing with important areas of social science as supplements to regular national surveys. Every survey includes questions about general attitudes toward various social issues such as the legal system, sex, and the economy. Special topics have included the environment, the role of government, social inequality, social support, family and gender issues, work orientation, the impact of religious background, behaviour, and beliefs on social and political preferences, and national identity. Participating countries vary for each topical module. The merging of the data into a cross-national dataset is performed by the Zentralarchiv für Empirische Sozialforschung, University of Cologne. Currently 48 countries are members of the ISSP.