ISSP is a continuous programme of cross-national collaboration on social science surveys. It is based on annual, internationally integrated surveys carried out in all participating countries. A self-financed consortium of various research institutions is in charge of the programme. The ISSP data collection started in 1985, and in Finland in 2000, along with the national membership.
The GESIS in Germany is responsible for archiving the ISSP data. Country-specific codebooks and questionnaires can be found on the GESIS ISSP web pages. ZACAT, the data portal of the GESIS, offers information on ISSP surveys, with online retrieval, analysis and download. Their Data Catalogue DBK allows retrieval and download of data and questionnaires. Both services are free of charge but downloading requires registration. The ZACAT registration is valid for DBK and vice versa.
In Finland, ISSP surveys are carried out in collaboration by three institutions: Finnish Social Science Data Archive, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Tampere, and the Interview and Survey Services of Statistics Finland.
The year 2002 survey concentrated on household work strategies and how to combine work and family life. Respondents were asked whether family responsibilities had ever got in the way of their career prospects and had they ever changed their working hours or working arrangements to look after a relative. Respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to gender roles at work and at home and how to combine work and family life. Statements charted respondents' opinions on working mothers, housework sharing, marriage, divorce, maternity leave and childcare.
Respondents living with a spouse or a partner were asked about the division of domestic responsibilities: who takes care of household money matters, who does the laundry, makes small repairs, does everyday shopping, household cleaning and cooking. Further questions asked how many hours respondents and their spouses/partners spend on household work, whether housework was equally shared and how often they disagree about the sharing of the work. Some questions asked who makes decisions about how to bring up children or how to spend the weekend.
All respondents were asked whether their occupational or family life was stressful and whether they had recently felt tired because of family responsibilities or work. Happiness in general and satisfaction with work and family life were studied. Respondents with children were asked whether they and their spouse/partner had had a paid job before they had children, when children were at school and after the children left home. The survey also queried whether respondents' mothers had had a paid job before the respondents were 14 years old. Views on whether women should work outside the home when a couple does not have children were probed.
Background variables included respondents' sex, year of birth, marital status, education, occupation, status in employment, trade union membership, political attitudes, membership in a church or a religious community, social class, gross income, occupation of the spouse, household income, household size and age structure, type of place of residence and region.
Systematic sampling from Finland's population register. Sorting order: municipal code and year of birth.
The size of the sample was 2,498 persons, of which 2,360 (94.5%) were Finnish-speaking and 138 (5.5%) Swedish-speaking. Address unknown or abroad for 10 sampled persons, so the questionnaire was sent to 2,488 persons. The number of non-respondents 1,120 and 15 refusals.