ISSP Modes

To date the group has made two contributions to ISSP methods.

A seven country ISSP modes experiment

Modes background variable

The modes work group developed a background variable for data collection methods in the ISSP. This became an obligatory variable in 1999; many members included it from their 2000 module on. The options included cover only those methods currently acceptable within the ISSP framework of a questionnaire printed as a self-completion format, whether conducted as an interview or not.
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International modes experiment in ISSP data collection

In 1996-1997, eight ISSP members co-operated on a research project to investigate the extent to which modes used to implement ISSP surveys might affect data. It is sometimes argued, for example, that sensitive questions are more readily answered in self-completion formats or in telephone studies than they are in face-to-face studies. This has led to various techniques being developed to handle sensitive questions in face-to-face situations. Currently, the modes permitted in the ISSP are face-to-face and self-completion. According to the rules, the questionnaire should always be presented in a self-completion format.

The countries involved in the experiment were Canada, Germany, Hungary, Norway, New Zealand, the Philippines, Slovenia, and the USA. With the exception of New Zealand, each country fielded the 1996 Role of Government in two different modes - their normal mode (face-to-face or some form of self-completion) and another mode. The modes chosen in different countries depended on what they normally used and what alternative modes could be operationalised.

The ISSP mode experiment provides cross-cultural information about modes at different levels. It provides data on data collection and design effects from an academic survey not designed for experimental purposes. In addition, participating countries answered a detailed methodological questionnaire which provides information about how adaptation from mode to mode was carried out. Findings from the experiment were presented at AAPOR 2000, Portland and ISA 2000, Cologne. A book chapter on data collection procedures in the comparative context by Janet Harkness and Knut Kalgraff Skjåk is published in 2003.