The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a continuing annual programme of cross-national collaboration on surveys covering topics important for social science research. Since 1983 it has brought together pre-existing social science projects and co-ordinated research goals, thereby adding a cross-national, cross-cultural perspective to the individual national studies.

Every survey includes questions about general attitudes toward various social issues such as the legal system, gender, 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 Central Archive for Empirical Social Research (ZA) in Cologne, Germany.

ISSP data and documentation are stored at ZA and also at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) in Michigan, USA.

UK residents registered with the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) can order ISSP data for offline data analysis (e.g. in SPSS or Stata formats) from the ESDS:

• how to register with ESDS:
  www.esds.ac.uk/aandp/access/login.asp
• International Social Survey Programme datasets (via ESDS):
  www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/isspTitles.asp

Non-UK users should access the data through their own national archive, or direct from ZA. UK commercial users should contact ZA.

• Social science data archives:
  www.esds.ac.uk/international/access/map.asp
• International Social Survey Programme (via ZA):
  www.gesis.org/en/data_service/issp/order/index.htm

ISSP data, and other cross-national survey data, are available to analyse and download online. Data analysis and downloading require online registration and there is no restriction upon who can register:

• ZACAT: zacat.gesis.org/webview/index.jsp

The British Social Attitudes Survey series www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/bsaTitles.asp contributes data each year for the ISSP.

Upcoming ISSP data to be made available include:

• 2008 - Religion III
• 2007 - Leisure and Sports

For more information on the ISSP and other international data see ESDS International: www.esds.ac.uk/international. ESDS International provides access to, and support for, a range of international datasets - both macro and micro sources. The service aims to promote and facilitate increased and more effective use of international datasets in research, learning and teaching across a range of disciplines.