International Social Survey Programme 2019-2021

Lead Research Organisation: NatCen Social Research
Department Name: Research Department

Abstract

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is one of the most important attempts to undertake cross-national survey research that exists. 45 countries participate, covering all five inhabited continents. Each year, countries field a module of 60 questions on a particular topic, usually as part of an existing random probability survey. These data, along with a set of prescribed socio-demographic background variables, are then deposited in an agreed format with the ISSP data archive.

A wide range of modules have been fielded since the project began in 1985. Topics are chosen at an annual plenary meeting and are revisited periodically, with many having been covered several times. As a result, ISSP data can be used to examine differences between countries at a particular point in time and to compare differences in trends over time.

A combined dataset containing data for all countries is made publicly available to the research community approximately two years after data collection. ISSP data are widely used, with numbers of publications steadily increasing; more than 800 publications were recorded in the last year for which data is available. In Britain, there have been 630 publications using ISSP data since the programme began.

Since ISSP began, Britain's participation has been facilitated by including the ISSP module on a self-completion supplement that forms part of the British Social Attitudes survey (BSA), an annual, high quality, independent survey conducted by NatCen. From 2019, the ISSP module will be placed on a bespoke self-completion supplement, to be provided to respondents to the Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) survey. SSA is conducted along similar methodological lines to BSA. These strategies represent a highly cost-effective way of fielding the ISSP module, as only the marginal costs of adding the ISSP questions to the surveys have to be covered.

ISSP will cover three topics during this period: social inequality (2019), environment (2020) and health and health-care (2021):
-Once data has been collected in 2019, the social inequality module will have been fielded five times across a 30 year period. This will enable an examination of how attitudes have changed over time, for different social groups and in different geographical, political and economic contexts. Fielding the module in Scotland for the first time will facilitate the international analyses necessary to test a range of hypotheses about its social and political environment - primarily relating to the assumption that it has a more egalitarian, social democratic outlook than Britain as a whole.
-The 2020 module on the environment will enable time series analysis of a range of environmental attitudes and behaviours The collection of data for Scotland will enable an assessment of whether Scotland's distinctive environment or its greater reliance on car and air travel have produced distinct environmental attitudes and behaviours.
-The 2021 module on health-care (first asked in 2011) presents an invaluable opportunity to explore how attitudes and experiences have changed over the past decade and how far developments in Britain reflect international trends. Scotland faces particular challenges in respect of health, with high inequalities in morbidity and mortality; the 2021 module will be used to assess how far these challenges have affected support for health spending, in the context of a social democratic culture and state-run health service.

A range of dissemination activities promoting awareness and use of ISSP data by social science researchers, policy-makers and the media are proposed. These include: at least one chapter including a comparison of English and Scottish ISSP data in the annual BSA reports, which are freely available online and widely disseminated; maintaining a bespoke ISSP webpage; utilizing NatCen's social media presence to raise awareness of the data and delivering presentations to relevant audiences.

Planned Impact

The primary beneficiaries of this project will be social scientists (in Britain, in Scotland specifically, and internationally) with an interest in conducting cross-national research. The data collected as part of ISSP will provide them with a unique resource (see section on Academic Beneficiaries and Case for Support for further details).

Academics will readily be able to access the British and Scottish data through the UK Data Archive whilst the full cross-national data set will be made available one year later via the ISSP website and the ZentralArchiv fur Emprische Sozialforschung (ZA), University of Cologne. As in previous years, full documentation will be provided along with the data.

The importance of the data set to academic users is reflected in the large number of publications using ISSP data. In Britain alone, 630 publications using ISSP data have been recorded (Britain is the 3rd highest contributing country). Use of the British data is of course far greater than this figure suggests, as they are used in a wide range of publications generated outside the UK (the worldwide total for known publications using ISSP data stands at 9,079). Further information about ISSP publication trends can be found at http://www.issp.org/about-issp/publications/.

We are committed to a wide range of dissemination activities to ensure that the ISSP data collected are widely known about, used and cited within the academic community. These include:
-Maintaining a bespoke webpage for Britain's involvement in ISSP, linking to the relevant ISSP and BSA data-sets and serving as a platform for providing information on and generating interest in the survey.
-Giving presentations on ISSP to appropriate research and policy audiences (in recent years, these have included the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), the Social Research Association, the Cabinet Office, the National Housing Federation, the Home Office and the Treasury.
-Ensuring information about data releases is disseminated to the academic and wider research community.
-Publicising findings by including chapters based on ISSP data in the annual BSA reports. In recent years, the BSA reports have featured chapters including analysis of ISSP data on social networks (35th report), the role of government (34th report) and work orientation (33rd report). From 2020 (the 37th report), these chapters will include comparisons of English and Scottish ISSP data, in addition to analysis for Great Britain as a whole.

Whilst the main purpose of this application is for funds to provide a resource for the academic community, it is anticipated that the published findings that result from it will be of considerable interest to wider communities including government policy makers, practitioners and the media. Several elements of our proposed dissemination strategy will help ISSP findings to reach and inform a wider audience, including our commitment to ensure that the annual British Social Attitudes report, which receives extensive media coverage, contains a chapter using British ISSP data, with comparisons for England and Scotland, each year.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description The funding covers the participation of GB and Scotland in the International Social Survey Programme, allowing for the exploration and comparison of views and attitudes between participating countries. In 2019, ISSP explored people's views on social inequality in Britain and Scotland. The results found evidence to support the view that people living in Scotland tend to be more social democratically minded than people living in England, with people in Scotland more likely than those in England to perceive the income distribution in Britain as 'very unfair'. A higher proportion of people in Scotland than England also feel that it is 'somewhat' or 'definitely wrong' that people with higher incomes can buy better education. These differences were found to primarily reflect differences in party political affiliation between England and Scotland.

In 2020, further analysis was conducted on the ISSP 2019 data on social inequality and included as a chapter in the BSA 2020 report. The chapter addressed the question of whether attitudes in Scotland towards social inequality are now more Nordic than liberal. In order to address this question attitudes in Scotland were compared with, on the one hand, those in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland and Norway, and, on the other, the views expressed by people in England. The findings show that people in Scotland are most likely to think the income distribution is unfair and most likely to say they live in an unequal society. Scotland lies between those in England and the Nordic countries in its attitude towards buying better education and healthcare. And people in Scotland are most likely to believe government has been unsuccessful in reducing income differences.

In 2022, analysis was carried out on both the ISSP 2020 module on attitudes to the environment and the ISSP 2021 module on attitudes to health and healthcare. Two chapters were published in the BSA 2021 annual report. The first chapter examined the public's attitudes to the environment, considering whether concern for the environment has increased and whether climate change has become our main environmental topic of concern. The proportion who believes that climate change is the most important environmental problem for Britain more than doubled between 2010 and 2021. The proportion viewing air pollution as the main problem also increased, but by a much smaller amount. Concern for the environment is increasing with people being more concerned about the environment than they were a decade ago and it being viewed by more people as a political priority. The majority of people stated that they are willing to pay in some way for the protection of the environment, but there is no consensus on the best way to do this. The most commonly suggested route for getting business and industry to pay for the protection of the environment is with heavy fines for polluters, while, for individuals and families, there is most support for information and education.

The second chapter compared attitudes towards health and health care in Scotland with those in England. If Scotland is more social democratic in outlook, then we might expect to see some important differences between the two nations in attitudes towards health and social justice, in evaluations of NHS performance, and in views on collective action to promote and protect public health in severe epidemic situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that more people in Scotland are concerned about health and social justice compared with those in England. People in Scotland are more confident of getting the treatment they need but express similar levels of confidence in the NHS overall compared with England. People in Scotland are more likely than in England to support higher taxes to improve health services and they are more supportive of public health restrictions in a pandemic.
Exploitation Route The analysis to date has compared views between England, Scotland, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The data from all 42 member states and Scotland will be archived by the ISSP allowing academic access to the data for analysis of views on social inequality, the environment and health and healthcare across all participating nations. The ISSP 2019 data on social inequality is already available, for more information see the ISSP website: https://issp.org/data-download/archive/. ISSP 2020 data on the environment will be released in April 2023 and for the ISSP 2021 data on health and healthcare it will be released in September 2023. In addition ISSP has covered the topics of social inequality, environment and health and healthcare on at least two and up to five separate occasions dating back to 1987, allowing for exploration of how views across the globe have changed in relation to these attitudes over time. Further details can be found on the ISSP website at: https://issp.org/.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice

URL https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/
 
Description The findings from the first publication of results from the ISSP 2019 survey on social inequality have reached a wide readership and were featured widely in the press. The web pages featuring a copy of the report have been viewed 5,585 times since the publication in September and the chapter has been downloaded 877 times on the National Centre for Social Research website. The story ran in both the national and regional newspapers. In total there were 179 articles with an estimated reach of 5,735,461 people. The research also drew comment from the UK Government. In addition, a blog posted on the WhatScotlandThinks website (https://whatscotlandthinks.org), discussing the findings on the different views between England and Scotland on social inequality has been viewed 943 since its publication. The findings from the second publication of results from the ISSP 2019 survey on social inequality appeared as part of the BSA 38 report in October 2021. It explored differences in views between Scotland, England and the Nordic countries. The report reached a wide readership and was featured widely in the press. The web pages featuring a copy of the report have been viewed 5,126 times since the publication in October 2021 and the chapter has been downloaded 583 times on the National Centre for Social Research website. The theme of social inequality appeared in both the national and regional newspapers and in total there were 302 articles, totalling a reach of 25,881,651. In addition, a blog posted on the WhatScotlandThinks website (https://whatscotlandthinks.org), discussing the findings on social inequality has been viewed 1,201 times since its publication. The findings from the third and fourth publications appeared in the BSA 2021 annual report. The ISSP data then benefits from the significant interest BSA attracts from a wide range of stakeholders from academia, policy and media. All BSA reports are made freely available via a dedicated NatCen website - www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk - and each publication is accompanied by a public event providing an opportunity to share findings and discuss their implications. The launch webinar for the BSA 2021 report in September 2022 was attended by over 350 people, with panellists Charlotte Pickles, Director at the Reform think tank and Andrew Harrop, General Secretary of the Fabian Society. These events and the reports themselves were accompanied by extensive press and social media campaigns to promote the findings. In 2022, findings from the BSA report were featured extensively in print, online and in television and radio news such as The Financial Times, BBC News online, and BBC Radio 5 Live, whilst tweets summarising findings registered as many as 931,451 impressions during September and October 2022. The BSA website had over 93,000 page views in September and October 2022, with the chapter using the ISSP environment data having over 2,200 views and the chapter using the ISSP health data having over 1,700 views.
First Year Of Impact 2020
Sector Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Title International Social Survey Programme: Social Inequality V - ISSP 2019 
Description Das International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) ist ein länderübergreifendes, fortlaufendes Umfrageprogramm, das jährlich Erhebungen zu Themen durchführt, die für die Sozialwissenschaften wichtig sind. Das Programm begann 1984 mit vier Gründungsmitgliedern - Australien, Deutschland, Großbritannien und den Vereinigten Staaten - und ist inzwischen auf fast 50 Mitgliedsländer aus aller Welt angewachsen. Da die Umfragen auf Replikationen ausgelegt sind, können die Daten sowohl für länder- als auch für zeitübergreifende Vergleiche genutzt werden. Jedes ISSP-Modul konzentriert sich auf ein bestimmtes Thema, das in regelmäßigen Zeitabständen wiederholt wird. Details zur Durchführung der nationalen ISSP-Umfragen entnehmen Sie bitte der Dokumentation. Die vorliegende Studie konzentriert sich auf Fragen zu Soziale Ungleichheit: Soziale Ungleichheit. Themen: Bedeutung verschiedener Aufstiegschancen (wohlhabende Familie, gebildete Eltern, gute Ausbildung, harte Arbeit, die richtigen Leute kennen, politische Verbindungen, Bestechung, Rasse und Religion der Person, Geschlecht); Einschätzung des tatsächlichen und angemessenen Verdienstes für Berufsgruppen: Arzt in allgemeiner Praxis, Vorsitzender eines großen nationalen Unternehmens, Verkäufer, ungelernter Arbeiter in einer Fabrik, Kabinettsminister in der nationalen Regierung; Sorgen über Ungleichheit: Einkommensunterschiede im Land zu groß; empfundener Ärger über die Wohlstandsunterschiede zwischen Reichen und Armen (10-Punkte-Skala); Bewertung der Fairness der Einkommensverteilung im Land. Sozialpolitik und Umverteilung: Verantwortung der Regierung, Einkommensunterschiede zu verringern, die Regierung sollte einen angemessenen Lebensstandard für Arbeitslose bereitstellen; Verringerung der Ungleichheit durch Marktakteure: Verantwortung privater Unternehmen, die Lohnunterschiede zwischen ihren Angestellten zu verringern; Marktakteur mit der größten Verantwortung für die Verringerung von Einkommensunterschieden (private Unternehmen, Regierung, Gewerkschaften, Personen mit hohem Einkommen selbst, Personen mit niedrigem Einkommen selbst, Einkommensunterschiede müssen nicht verringert werden); Ineffizienz der Regierung: die meisten Politiker im Land kümmern sich nicht um die Verringerung der Einkommensunterschiede zwischen Menschen mit hohem Einkommen und Menschen mit niedrigem Einkommen; Bewertung des Erfolgs der Regierung bei der Verringerung der Einkommensunterschiede; Meinung zur Besteuerung (Menschen mit hohem Einkommen sollten einen größeren Anteil ihres Einkommens an Steuern zahlen als Menschen mit niedrigem Einkommen, den gleichen Anteil oder einen kleineren Anteil); allgemeine Bewertung der Steuern im Land als viel zu hoch, zu hoch, ungefähr richtig, zu niedrig oder viel zu niedrig; Marktungleichheit bei Sozialleistungen (gerecht oder ungerecht, dass Menschen mit höherem Einkommen eine bessere Gesundheitsversorgung/bessere Bildung für ihre Kinder kaufen können als Menschen mit niedrigerem Einkommen); Wahrnehmung der globalen Ungleichheit (derzeitige wirtschaftliche Unterschiede zwischen reichen und armen Ländern sind zu groß, Menschen in reichen Ländern sollten einen zusätzlichen Steuerbeitrag leisten, um Menschen in armen Ländern zu helfen, Menschen aus armen Ländern sollten in reichen Ländern arbeiten dürfen). Sozialer Konflikt: Bewertung von sozialen Konflikten zwischen verschiedenen sozialen Gruppen (Arme und Reiche, Arbeiterklasse und Mittelschicht, Management und Arbeiter, Jugendliche und Ältere, im Land geborene Menschen und zugewanderte Menschen aus anderen Ländern). Subjektive Gesellschaftsschicht/ Klassenmobilität: Oben-unten-Selbsteinschätzung; Oben-Unten-Platzierung der Familie, in der der Befragte aufgewachsen ist; Oben-unten-Selbsteinschätzung in 10 Jahren; subjektive Gesellschaftsschicht. Entlohnungskriterien: Wichtigkeit verschiedener Entlohnungskriterien (wie viel Verantwortung mit dem Job einhergeht, die Anzahl der Jahre, die in der Ausbildung verbracht wurden, ob die Person Kinder zu versorgen hat, wie gut sie den Job macht). Charakterisierung des tatsächlichen und des bevorzugten Gesellschaftstyps des Landes, gemessen durch Einordnung in Pyramidendiagramme (Gesellschaftsbild). Erlebte Erfahrung von Ungleichheit: Häufigkeit des Kontakts mit Menschen, die viel ärmer sind als der Befragte; Häufigkeit des Kontakts mit Menschen, die viel reicher sind als der Befragte. Wirtschaftliche Unsicherheit: Schwierigkeiten, mit dem Gesamteinkommen des Haushalts derzeit und in den nächsten 12 Monaten über die Runden zu kommen; Häufigkeit, wie oft eine Mahlzeit ausgelassen wird, weil nicht genug Geld für Lebensmittel vorhanden ist. Soziales Vertrauen (Menschen kann man vertrauen vs. man kann nicht vorsichtig genug sein im Umgang mit Menschen). Hintergrundfragen: Objektive soziale Mobilität: Beschäftigungsverhältnis von Vater und Mutter in der Jugend des Befragten; Hauptberuf von Vater und Mutter in der Jugend des Befragten. Optionale Variablen:Laienhafte Erklärungen für Ungleichheit (Arbeiter würden sich nicht die Mühe machen, sich Fähigkeiten und Qualifikationen anzueignen, wenn sie nicht extra dafür bezahlt würden, große Einkommensunterschiede sind notwendig für den Wohlstand des Landes, Ungleichheit besteht weiter, weil sie den Reichen und Mächtigen zugute kommt, Ungleichheit besteht weiter, weil die normalen Menschen sich nicht zusammentun, um sie loszuwerden); Wahrnehmung der globalen Ungleichheit: Bewertung der Unterschiede im Wohlstand zwischen reichen und armen Ländern als fair oder unfair. Objektive soziale Mobilität: Art des Jobs von Vater und Mutter, als der Befragte (14-15-16) Jahre alt war; Art des derzeitigen oder letzten Job des Befragten und des Ehepartners/ Partners. Demografie: Geschlecht; Geburtsjahr; Alter; Jahre der Schulbildung; höchster abgeschlossener Bildungsabschluss (länderspezifisch); höchster abgeschlossener Bildungsabschluss (abgeleitet von länderspezifischem Abschluss); Arbeit: derzeit, früher oder nie in bezahlter Arbeit; wöchentlich geleistete Arbeitsstunden; Beschäftigungsverhältnis; Vorgesetztenfunktion; Anzahl der Mitarbeiter, für die Weisungsbefugnis besteht; Art der Organisation (gewinnorientiert/nicht gewinnorientiert, öffentlich/privat); Beruf (ISCO 2008); Hauptbeschäftigungsstatus; Zusammenleben mit einem Partner; Gewerkschaftsmitgliedschaft; Religionszugehörigkeit (länderspezifisch); Gruppen der Religionszugehörigkeit (abgeleitet aus länderspezifischer Religion); Häufigkeit des Besuchs von Gottesdiensten; subjektive Schichteinstufung (Selbsteinstufung auf einer Oben-Unten-Skala); Wahlbeteiligung bei der letzten allgemeinen Wahl und gewählte Partei (länderspezifisch); Einstufung der gewählten Partei auf einem Links-Rechts-Schema durch Expertenurteil zu Parteipositionen; selbst eingeschätzte Zugehörigkeit zu einer oder zwei bestimmten ethnische Gruppenzugehörigkeit (länderspezifisch); Anzahl der Personen im Haushalt (Haushaltsgröße); Haushaltszusammensetzung: Anzahl der Erwachsenen im Haushalt; Anzahl der Kinder über dem Schuleintrittsalter im Haushalt; Anzahl der Kinder unter dem Schulalter im Haushalt; persönliches Einkommen (länderspezifisch); Haushaltseinkommen (länderspezifisch); Status der rechtlichen Partnerschaft; Migrationshintergrund: Geburtsland des Vaters; Geburtsland der Mutter; Urbanisierungsgrad des Wohnortes: Stadt - Land; Region (länderspezifisch). Informationen zum Ehepartner/Partner: Arbeit: derzeit, früher oder nie in bezahlter Arbeit; wöchentliche Arbeitsstunden; Beschäftigungsverhältnis; Vorgesetztenfunktion; Beruf (ISCO 2008); Hauptbeschäftigungsstatus. Zusätzlich verkodet: Befragten-ID; Kennzeichnungsvariable für die Ersetzung von Fällen; Kennzeichnungsvariable für teilweise abgeschlossene Fälle; Interviewdatum (Jahr, Monat, Tag); Sprache des Interviews; Gewicht; Erhebungsverfahren; Land der Datenerhebung (Ländercode ISO 3166); Ländercode/Stichprobe (ISO 3166); Land (Präfix ISO 3166). 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The ISSP 2019 Social inequality dataset includes the data from 22 countries: Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand. This dataset is available at the gesis archive for internal comparative analysis. 
URL https://search.gesis.org/research_data/ZA7600?doi=10.4232/1.13829