International Social Survey Programme - ISSP

Research Centre no longer active

ISSP is an international research programme initiated in 1985 by four countries (USA, Germany, UK and Australia). Currently 48 countries from all over the world participate, including Italy:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, South Korea, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Philippines, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Italy, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela.

Since October 2007, the Department of Social Research of the University of Eastern Piedmont (now the Institute of Social Research) has been the ISSP representative for Italy. Although not one of the founders of the programme, Italy has participated in this project since its inception in 1985, and was part of it until 1998. It is particularly important that, thanks to the University's Institute of Social Research of Eastern Piedmont, Italy is again represented in this context of international research, as the absence of our country from 1998 to 2008 deprived both researchers and public decision-makers of the possibility of having quality data, of international level, and also prevented foreign researchers from including our country in their analytical studies.

The objective of the collaboration between the partners is to produce scientific data that are internationally comparable and, over time, to develop research tools (questionnaires and related procedures) to allow for a scientific and rigorous comparison of the opinions and attitudes of inhabitants of the various countries. To this end, the 48 member countries collect data each year on topics of great social importance, which are summarized below.

The topics addressed by the ISSP surveys concern both the principle social and cultural trends taking place in the various societies (religion, orientations towards work, the role of the government, etc.), and issues that occupy the attention of mass media and public opinion (family, environment, health, social inequalities, etc.). Building an accurate and scientifically correct picture of what Italians think about these issues is important both so that public opinion is known and valued by local and national authorities, and to allow Italy to compare its situation with other European and non-European countries present in ISSP.

The issues addressed by the ISSP surveys are repeated regularly over time, so that it is also possible to compare a given country in two different historical moments. The surveys carried out so far and those planned are summarized in the following table: the ISSP surveys, 1985-2012
 

ISSP data: online and available free of charge. ISSP is an organization at the service of the scientific community and institutions (governments, public bodies, third sector associations, etc.), and is not for profit: the data collected are in fact freely available to anyone interested, and can be downloaded from the ISSP site. As evidence of the importance of the research carried out within the ISSP, since 1985 over 5000 publications (books, scientific articles, etc.) in many languages ​​have used the data produced by ISSP.

ISSP surveys. Each ISSP survey consists of about 60 questions concerning the topic addressed, to which are added questions on the socio-demographic characteristics of the interviewees (gender, age, occupation, education, political orientation, religious orientation, and so on). This makes it possible to draw a particularly accurate profile of the opinions detected in relation to the characteristics of the interviewees. For example, we can study whether young people, adults or the elderly are more religious, or whether those who think that the government should take care of those who do not have a job and an income are more often women or men, and so on.

The questionnaires are constructed by research groups made up of ISSP representatives from different cultural areas of the world, and are written in English. Each country then undertakes to translate the questionnaire into its own language, in order to produce a valid and reliable research tool. For this purpose, each translated questionnaire is initially proposed to a few interviewees (pre-test) in order to check that all its parts are understandable and functional. At the end of this initial phase, the questionnaire is corrected and modified according to the needs that emerge, and its final version is then produced.

How is an ISSP survey conducted? Each questionnaire is proposed to a sample of 1000-1500 Italians aged 16 and over. Each sample is made up of different subjects, so the same person will never be interviewed twice by ISSP researchers. The ISSP questionnaire must be completed directly by the person interviewed. A representative of the agency carrying out the survey delivers the questionnaire and some information documents to the interviewee's family, chosen at random from all the families living in the same area. The person whose birthday is closest to a specified date is then asked to complete the questionnaire and return it in the pre-stamped envelope. Since the dates of birth are distributed randomly throughout the year, choosing as the interviewee the person whose date of birth is closest to a certain date allows us to obtain what statisticians call a random sample: the choice of who is to be interviewed occurs as if we were extracting the lottery numbers, that is, in a completely random way.

It is very important that this procedure is followed, because only in this way can researchers be sure that their sample will truly represent the opinions of all Italians. In fact, if it were always and only the heads of the household to fill in the questionnaire, or always and only the children, or always and only the oldest person among those still studying, the sample would represent only the opinions of these types of family members, and we would not know the opinions of the other members. We could not then say that we have accurately reconstructed what Italians think, but only what some types of Italians think, and our investigation could no longer be called scientific.

Who finances ISSP surveys in Italy. Each institution participating in the ISSP undertakes to find the necessary funds each year to carry out its own surveys. In some countries the state provides ongoing funding, while in others (such as Italy) researchers must identify their own financiers. The Social Research Institute finances the ISSP surveys partly with its own funds, and partly by awarding the funds made available for scientific research projects by private (such as banking foundations) or public bodies (such as the Ministry of Education, 'University and Research), in competition with other scientific institutions. The independence of the ISSP research group from its funders is total, since the research group must strictly adhere to the procedures and quality standards decided by ISSP and valid for all participating countries. The first two ISSP surveys carried out by the Social Research Institute were financed by the Compagnia di San Paolo, the Cassa di Risparmio di Torino Foundation and the Cassa di Risparmio di Alessandria Foundation. The third survey (the one on Environment and Health) is funded in part by the Institute of Social Research and in part by the Ministry of Education, University and Research through PRIN 2009 (Project of Relevant National Interest "The International Social Survey Program (ISSP) and comparative research over time and between nations ", national coordinator Prof. M.L. Bianco).

The ISSP survey on environment and health (autumn 2012)

Environment and health, two issues that concern us

In everyday life, we deal with issues related to the environment and health. Pollution, water management, global warming, health care costs, habits harmful to health are topics that newspapers and TV tackle almost daily. What are, according to the Italians, the most important environmental problems? And what are the solutions? Are we willing to pay more taxes for a better environment, or better health care? Is the National Health Service doing enough to ensure good health for all?

We think that authorities must make their decisions on these important issues also according to what the Italians think, and this is an opportunity to express their opinion.

How the environmental and health survey works

The Social Research Institute will appoint a research company to carry out the ISSP survey. The survey is conducted on a representative sample of the Italian population aged 16 and over. To respect the scientific nature of the survey, the interviewees are chosen in such a way as to ensure that they represent, as far as possible, the opinion of all Italians.

The survey uses a written questionnaire, delivered by a representative of the Research Company, to which a pre-stamped envelope is attached which must be used to return it at no cost to you. It is also possible to fill it in online, following the instructions in the attached letter.

For the success of the research, it is important that the questionnaire is completed in its entirety and returned within 15 days.

What happens to the information provided during the interview

The right to privacy is very important. The answers given by the interviewees will be treated completely anonymously: whoever examines the data will never know the opinions that a single interviewee has given us. Those who fill out the questionnaire will never be contacted by people who want to sell something and who have had the names from the Social Research Institute: we are a scientific institution, and we are bound to comply with the privacy law: at the end of the research the personal data of all respondents will be destroyed. For this reason, we cannot even contact the respondents who wish to have the survey results; however, it will be possible to consult the research report published on this site at the end of the survey.