Monitoring Society and Social Change

Monitoring current social developments is one of the key tasks of the social sciences. The scientific area “Social Monitoring and Social Change” supports social research in fulfilling this task in accordance with the GESIS Constitution §2 b), by providing comprehensive resources for the description and analysis of social developments. At present, this section comprises the following areas of activity:

The GML a) contributes to the continual improvement of access to and information about official microdata; b) provides a service and research infrastructure for these data; c) adopts the function of an intermediary between the Federal Statistical Office and empirical research; d) conducts exemplary research based upon official data. The GML is an integral part of the German data infrastructure and features as one of six institutions funded by the German Council of Social and Economic Data.

The “Social Indicators Research Center” focuses on national and international comparative social monitoring and social reporting as well as on the provision of a research-based infrastructure and services in these areas. Key products available at the ZSi include a German and a European system of social indicators, the Social Indicators Information Service (ISI), and the Data Report, a joint publication of the WZB and the German Federal Statistical Office.

Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt der Abteilung liegt in der Durchführung (Produktion bzw. Ko-Produktion) komparativer Umfragen wie der Allgemeinen Bevölkerungsumfrage ALLBUS und dem International Social Science Programme ISSP. GESIS ist dort in unterschiedlichen Rollen beteiligt und an richtungsweisenden Projekten aktiv .