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IsssA surveys

The Australian IsssA data are from simple random samples of Australian citizens drawn by the Electoral Commission from the compulsory electoral roll. They are conducted by mail using a modification of Dillman’s Total Response Method with up to four follow-up mailings, two with fresh copies of the questionnaire, over a six month period. Completion rates run about 65%, which compares favourably with recent experience in Australia, the USA, and many other industrial nations (for example, the well-regarded 1989 International Crime Victim Survey averaged 41% in 14 nations). Results for IsssA surveys conducted around the time of the 1991 Australian census show that the survey samples (1989–1993; 8234 cases) are representative of the population. Analyses based on IsssA data appear regularly in the world’s leading sociology journals (e.g. Kelley and De Graaf, American Sociol. Rev. 62, 1997; Kelley and Evans, American Sociol. Rev. 60, 1995; Evans, Kelley, and Kolosi, American Sociol. Rev. 57, 1992; Kelley and Evans, American J. Sociol. 99, 1993).

Comparison of IsssA surveys with the census Census 1991 IsssA 1989–93
Gender
    Male 49% 51%
    Female 51% 49%
Age groups
    18–24 15% 11%
    25–34 22% 21%
    35–44 21% 23%
    45–54 15% 17%
    45–64 12% 14%
    65+ 16% 14%
Education: Age left school
    Under 15/none 18% 18%
    15 24% 23%
    16 22% 23%
    17 19% 21%
    18 11% 11%
    19 and over   7%   3%
Employment status
    Employed 58% 65%
    Unemployed   7%   2%
    Not in labour force 36% 33%
Occupation of employed persons
    Managers & admin 14% 13%
    Professionals 14% 19%
    Para-professionals   8% 11%
    Tradespersons 14% 12%
    Clerks 16% 16%
    Sales, service 13% 12%
    Plant & mchn operators   8%   7%
    Labourers 13% 10%

 

International Survey of Economic Attitudes

The ISEA is a collaborative international research project, founded in 1991 by the IsssA group and Krzysztof Zagorski. It conducts surveys from time to time in seven nations, each based on large, representative national samples. The ISEA asks about 400 questions covering a wide range of economic issues. Most measurements are based on carefully developed and extensively pretested multiple item indices. The nations are Australia, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Poland and (soon) the Netherlands and the USA.

International Social Survey Programme

The ISSP, co-founded by the IsssA group in 1985, is a consortium of independent, mostly academic, survey organisations, which conducts annual surveys using a common questionnaire for 60 attitude and value questions; the surveys are on different topics each year. The ISSP began with 5 nations and now includes 31 nations, 24 of which contributed data to the 1995 survey (the most recent yet to analyse). The ISSP is one of the best known and most highly regarded cross-national projects in world sociology and has been used in more than 700 academic articles and books.

Melbourne Institute Monthly Survey

Each month, the Melbourne Institute conducts a telephone survey of at least 1200 households across Australia. The sample is stratified by sex and location. A response rate of about 25 per cent is achieved. The primary objective is to collect qualitative data on economic attitudes and cross classify these by the respondent’s age, sex, family status, voting intention, education, home ownership, state, capital city, education, occupation, household income and work status.

Data sources: References

Becker, Jos and Masja Nas.1996. ISSP, The Netherlands. Den Hague: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau.

Braun, Michael, Peter Ph. Mohler and Janet Harkness. 1996. ISSP, Former East Germany. Mannheim: Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen.

Calvi, Gabriel, Paulo Anselmi and Giovanna Guidorossi. 1996. ISSP, Italy. Milan: EURISKO

Cichomski, Bogdan and Pawel Morawski. 1996. ISSP, Poland. University of Warsaw: ISS (Institute for Social Studies).

Davis, James A., Tom W. Smith and Mike Hout 1996. ISSP, United States. Chicago: National Opinion Research Center.

Diez-Nicholas, Juan and Pilar del Castillo. 1996. ISSP, Spain. Madrid: ASEP.

Dimova, Lilia. 1996. ISSP, Bulgaria. Sofia: Agency for Social Analyses.

Frizzell, Alan and Heather Pyman 1996. ISSP, Canada. Ottawa: Carleton University Survey Center.

Gendall, Philip. 1996. ISSP, New Zealand. Palmerston North: Department of Marketing, Massey University.

Haller, Max and Franz Hoellinger. 1996. ISSP, Austria. Graz: Institut fuer Soziologie der Universitaet Graz.

Harkness, Janet, Peter Ph. Mohler and Michael Braun. 1996. ISSP, Germany. Mannheim: Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen.

Jowell, Roger, Sharon Witherspoon and Lindsay Brook. 1996. ISSP, Britain. London: Social and Community Planning Research.

Kangas, Olli and Heikki Ervasti. 1995. Finland: International Survey of Economic Attitudes. Turku: University of Turku.

Kelley, Jonathan and M.D.R. Evans. 1996. ISSP, Australia. Canberra: International Social Science Survey, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University.

Kelley, Jonathan and M.D.R. Evans. 1998. Australia: International Survey of Economic Attitudes. Melbourne: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne.

Khakhulina, Ludmila and Tatjana Zaslavskaya. 1996. ISSP, Russia. Moscow: Center for Public Opinion and Market Research.

Malnar, Brina and Nikos Tos. 1996. ISSP, Slovenia. Lubljana: Lubljana University.

Mangahas, Mahar, Mercedes Abad, Linda Luz Guerrero, Felipe Miranda, Steven Rood and Ricardo Abad. 1996. ISSP, The Philippines. Quezon City: Social Weather Stations, Inc.

Mateju, Petr and Michal Illner. 1996. ISSP, Czech Republic. Prague: Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Onodera, Noriko and Kiyoshi Midooka. 1996. ISSP, Japan. Tokyo: NHK, Broadcasting Culture Research Institute.

Piscova, Magdalena. 1996. ISSP, Slovakia. Bratislava: Institute of Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Robert, Peter. 1995 Hungary: International Survey of Economic Attitudes. Budapest: TARKI.

Robert, Peter, Tamas Kolosi and Mathild Sagi. 1996. ISSP, Hungary. Budapest: TARKI.

Skjak, Knut Kalgraff, Bjørn Henrichsen, Knud Knudsen and Vigdis Kvalheim. 1996. ISSP, Norway. Bergen: NSD (Norwegian Social Science Data Services).

Svallfors, Stefan and Jonas Edlund. 1996. ISSP, Sweden. Umea: Department of Sociology, University of Umea.

Tabuns, Aivars and Brigita Zepa. 1996. ISSP, Latvia. Riga: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Akademijas lankums.

Ward, Conor, Liam Ryan and Andrew M. Greeley. 1996. ISSP, Ireland. Dublin: Social Science Research Center, University College Dublin.

Zagorski, Krzysztof and Lena Kolaiska-Bobinska. 1998. Poland: International Survey of Economic Attitudes. Warsaw: Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences.

Zentralarchiv fuer Empirische Sozialforschung (Rolf Uher and Wolfgang Jagodinski) Combined Codebook and Machine Readable Data File. Koeln: Zentralarchiv fur Empirische Sozialforschung der Universitaet zu Koeln. (Bachemer Strasse 40, D-5000 Koeln 41, Germany).

Zlatkov, Tsocho and Krzysztof Zagorski. 1998. Bulgaria: International Survey of Economic Attitudes. Sofia: Institute of Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

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