Role of Government IV, 2006

Abstract

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a continuing annual programme of cross-national collaboration on surveys covering topics important for social science research. It brings together pre-existing national social science projects and co-ordinates research goals, thereby adding a cross-national, cross-cultural perspective to the individual, national studies. Formed in 1983, the group develops topical modules dealing with important areas of social science as supplements to regular national surveys. Every survey includes questions about general attitudes toward various social issues such as the legal system, sex, and the economy. Special topics have included the environment, the role of government, social inequality, social support, family and gender issues, work orientation, the impact of religious background, behaviour, and beliefs on social and political preferences, and national identity. Participating countries vary for each topical module. The merging of the data into a cross-national dataset is performed by the Zentralarchiv fuer Empirische Sozialforschung, University of Cologne. A compact disc (CD-ROM) (archived under SN 3479) containing data and documentation for ISSP surveys carried out 1985-1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 is available from the UKDA. This survey is the third in a series exploring the 'role of government' topic. The first survey on this topic was conducted in 1985 (available at the UKDA under SN 2448), the second survey was conducted in 1990 (available at the UKDA under SN 2956) and the third study was conducted in 1996 (available at the UKDA under SN 4480). The 2006 survey is a partial replication of the 1996 study; the 1996 survey a partial replication of the 1990 study, and the 1990 survey a partial replication of the 1985 study. Main Topics:The ISSP 'role of government' modules mainly deal with attitudes towards:government responsibilitiesgovernment spendingstate intervention in the economycivil libertiespolitical interesttrustefficacy