Welcome at GESIS - Your Infrastructure for Empirical Research

Are you interested in what GESIS can offer you? Here you will find an overview with a selection of services and service groups that support you in your empirical research. Depending on the phase you are in with your research project, we have different offers.

You are planning a survey?

the GESIS Panel, our probabilistic mixed-mode access panel, you can collect representative data at short notice and flexibly.

Our team of experts advises you individually on the topics of survey instruments, survey design and fieldwork, as well as survey statistics.

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In the GESIS Survey Guidelines you will find „best practices“ on common questions that arise when planning and conducting a survey.

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You can rely on our years of experience when it comes to sampling plans, drawing telephone samples, and implementing complex sample designs.

In our pretest lab we optimize your survey instruments by cognitive pretesting in combination with eye tracking, by cognitive online pretests (web probing) or by coordinating intercultural pretests.

We provide you with systematically documented and evaluated measurement instruments in the Compilation of Social Science Items and Scales (ZIS).

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Do you want to know how good your measuring instrument is and how you can improve it? We recommend the Survey Quality Predictor (SQP) for this.

We also offer you various services for collecting digital behavioral data:

Tools for collecting digital behavioral data (DVD)

Whether browser-based collection (web tracking) or smartphone-based collection (AppKit) of digital behavioral data, or the collection of linked survey and digital behavioral data with the GESIS Panel.dbdb - we have the tools.

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Advice on digital behavioral data

Do you need further advice on digital behavioral data? Our experts will be happy to advise you personally and individually on topics relating to the collection, analysis and visualization of digital behavioural data.

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GESIS Guides to DBD

Here you will find expertise and structured information on digital behavioral data and the methods with which it can be collected and analyzed.

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Looking for data for secondary analysis?

For many social science questions, data, that have already been collected, are available and can be used for secondary analyses without effort in our data archive.

Click here for our data catalog.

A special selection of data for analyses across time and national borders is presented here:

Longitudinal data on attitudes, behavior, values, social structure

Since 1980, the ALLBUS have surveyed the German population in representative cross-sectional samples at regular two-year intervals, using constant and variable questions.

Commissioned by the European Commission, the Eurobarometer surveys have been monitoring public opinion in the European Union since the early 1970s.

The EVS is cross-national cross-sectional survey research program on values and attitudes, conducted at nine-year intervals since 1981.

Since 1984 the ISSP has conducted a joint annual survey on topics of relevance to the social sciences. It is currently fielded in about 50 countries.

Longitudinal data for electoral research:

German Longitudinal Election Study GLES

The GLES has been observing and analyzing the electorate in methodologically diverse surveys since 2009.

Comparative Study of Electoral Systems CSES

The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems CSES contains post-election surveys in around 40 countries since 1996.

Digital behavioral data (DBD) offers a wide range of potentials for the analysis of social and political phenomena. In our new focus, we are conducting extensive research and developing new services and methods: Take a look!

Processing data for analysis

Special expertise is required for dealing with missing values, with different types of data, for comparison with reference data or for linking to other data sources. Take advantage of our experience and services and make your data ready for analysis.

We support you:

We advise you on weighting, imputation of missing values and non-response analyses and offer you the service of carrying these out for you.

We offer consulting and services for the harmonization of variables from different surveys.

We have the tools and metadata for you to process and analyze official German and European microdata.

We have tools and hands-on information for the collection and analysis of digital behavioral data.

Share your research output!

FAIRness comes first: GESIS supports Open Science and helps to make your research results findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable - in other words, FAIR.

In our repositories, you can archive, register and share your data, scripts, measuring instruments and publications on a long-term basis so that your research does not disappear.

Data services

Archive and share your data and syntax so that the scientific community can learn about and reuse your research.

Social Science Open Access Repository SSOAR

Share your publications and make them available Open Access to the scientific community.

We share our knowledge!

GESIS Training

GESIS Training offers courses on all topics of empirical social research with a focus on data analysis, survey methodology and computational social science.

GESIS Journals

Our journals Historical Social Research HSR with articles on new methods in historical social research and the journal methods, data, analyses with articles on the methods of survey research are specifically tailored to topics.

Meet the experts

You are more of a visual type? In our „Meet the Experts“ series, we teach the basics in audiovisual form.