GESIS-ZUMA

GESIS-ZUMA is emanated from the Centre for Survey Research and Methodology (ZUMA) in Mannheim. ZUMA was founded 1974 as an coaching institution by the German Research Community (DFG) to improve social science research and make it easier to work on. Since then GESIS-ZUMA supports social science research, especially in the fields of

• Scientific consulution for researchers
• Development of services concerning empirical social research
• Development and improvement of methods and instruments of social scientific research
• Access to microdata of official statistics
• Social monitoring with longitudinal data (General Social Survey ALLBUS) and Social Indicators
• Construction of international networks and partner of renowned European and international projects like the European Social Survey (ESS) and the International Survey Programme (ISSP)
• Substantial participation in the international dicourse of methodological development

Information Transfer and Consultation

One of the department’s key activities is to advice researchers on running their own surveys. This concerns all phases of a project: development of research design, development of survey instruments, data collection and the statistical analysis of the survey results. Another significant focus lies on Research and Development in the field of survey research techniques and methods. This includes the development of pre-test methods, analyses of the impact of mode effects in data collections, testing new data collection methods like internet-based surveys, research on sampling, non-response and cross-cultural surveys.

Longitudinal Social Monitoring and Reporting

Independent and open data access are indispensable to receive reliable information about the actual situation and development of our society. Based on own scientific research GESIS provides documentations of and tools for further analysis of these data:

• A specific system of social indicators for Germany shows fundamental evolution and trends over years and embed it into an international context by using profound analyses. Important trends are published in the Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren (ISI).
• The German Microdata Lab (GML) as an important joint between the Statistical Offices and social science research collects and documents microdata of official statistics and consumer panel data of market research. It offers comprehensive services concerning this special data and develops instruments for the implementation of social scientific concepts.

European Centre for Comparative Surveys

The European Centre for Comparative Surveys is committed to improving the quality of cross-cultural survey methodology. The European Centre for Comparative Surveys brings together staff centrally involved in conducting cross-cultural research and in evaluating and advising cross-cultural, cross-national survey research projects. The European Centre is involved and leading in three General Social Surveys:

• At the international level GESIS is involved in the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Up to now this is the only annual world-wide survey programme in social sciences for more than 40 countries. It is unique as a academic driven, multinational General Social Survey by its diversity of topics, replications and distribution.
• At the national level the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) provides data for social monitoring. In biennial representative samples of about 3500 respondents the interviews put the main emphasis on changing themes within the fields of social research. The ALLBUS database is the dataset most widely used by German social scientists for purposes of secondary analysis.
• The European Social Survey is settled at the European level. Funded by the EU and the national funding bodies in each country it is an academically-driven social survey designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations. Now in its third round, the survey covers over 20 nations and employs the most rigorous methodologies.

Products and Services at GESIS-ZUMA

• Evaluation of social scientific instruments in our cognitive laboratory
• Documentation of social science survey instruments in the ZUMA Information System (ZIS) and addiction studies (EHES)
• Drawing of random telephone samples and analyses for the comparison of different sample designs
• Standard Demography – a recommendation of the demographic standards for surveys and polls in Germany
• Classification of Occupations and Branches
• Computer-assisted telephone surveys conducted in our telephone laboratory
• Software for data analysis and tools related to DDI codebooks (Data Documentation Initiative)
• Advice and tools for analyzing microdata and a Microdata Information System (MISSY)
• Digital Information System Social Indicators (DISI) - a convenient and easy-to-use way to access the German System of Social Indicators in Germany and EUSI (European System of Social Indicators)
• Workshops and conferences
• Publications on research results and services, for example the ZUMA-Nachrichten,the ZUMA working and method reports and the How-To-Series can be downloaded free of charge