GESIS researches questions on social structure, particularly in the area in of social change, from the perspective of various social science disciplines with special emphasis placed on pursuing an international comparative perspective. GESIS research in this area currently focuses on:

• Women and Gender Research
• Historical Social Research
• Social Indicators Research
• Analysis of Social Structure
• Electoral and Political Research
• Values and Attitude Research

Research conducted by GESIS in this area serves to describe and analyze social change. Data collected and indexed by GESIS alone, or jointly, principally forms the basis for this research. This guarantees both, that the data services offered by GESIS are research based, and that research profits from an informed knowledge of the data and its basis