International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)

• Acronym: ISSP
• Financed by: institutional financing
• Duration: continuously since 2005

ISSP is an on-going programme of cross-national research that covers a range of topics important within the social sciences. Its members are survey organizations from around the world, many of whom are affiliated with academic institutions, each representing one nation. Since 2005 Croatia has been represented by Institute for Social Research in Zagreb.
The ISSP implements rigorous standards of survey research in order to address the difficulties inherent in multinational survey research. Since its modest beginning in 1984 ISSP has grown to include 48 members, each of whom are responsible for the ISSP surveys being implemented in their country each year.
The annual topics for ISSP surveys are developed over several years, led by an elected sub-committee and pre-tested in various member countries. The annual plenary meeting then discusses and finalize the questionnaire which is fielded in all countries. Croatia (IDIZ) hosted the annual meeting in Cavtat in 2012 when it becomes a member of Standing Committee for 4 years.
The ISSP research concentrate especially on developing questions that are:

1. meaningful and relevant to all countries, and
2. can be expressed in an equivalent manner in all relevant languages.

The ISSP data archive situated in GESIS Leibnitz Institute in Köln prepares a combined dataset that is freely available. Many topics are repeated at regular intervals, allowing researchers to examine cross-national variations and change over time.
ISSP marks several new departures in the area of cross-national research. First, the collaboration between organizations is not topic-specific nor intermittent, but routine and continual. Second, the on-going collaboration of the same institutions makes cross-national research a basic part of the national research agenda of each participating country. Third, ISSP principles require that all member institutions be involved in various phases of planning and designing survey modules, and each member has a say in decision making. Fourth, by combining a cross-time methodology with a cross-national perspective, two powerful research designs are being used to study societal processes.
On the national level they enable:

• obtaining scientific knowledge and insights into structural and cultural changes in Croatian society as well as its differences in the international context
• deeper understanding and explanation of different social phenomena
• all IDIZ researchers to participate in themes of their interest
• exclusive rights to use comparative data for two years before their free availability
• recognising the rigorous methodological standards in articles sent to international reviews
• an increase in the quality of scientific publications.

Networking in publishing with researchers from different institution in Croatia and abroad one of the ISSP goals is being realised. The ongoing publication on sustainable development is an example of such collaboration, which makes us more visible in Croatia and on international level as well.