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 survey charted Finnish leisure time activities and hobbies. The respondents were asked to tell what they did in their free time and how often, how much enjoyment they received from their free time activities, and how much they were able to enjoy their leisure time. They were also asked whether they preferred to be with other people or by themselves in their free time, and which areas of life they would like to spend more/less time on.
With regard to holidays, the respondents were asked to indicate how many nights they had stayed away from home for holidays or social visits in the last 12 months. They were also asked how many days of leave from work they had taken altogether in the previous 12 months.
In view of sport/game activities, the respondents were asked what sport or physical activity they took part in most frequently, what type of game they played most frequently, and how important various reasons were for them to take part in sports or games. They were also asked what sport they watched on TV most frequently and second most frequently, and how proud they were when Finland did well at an international sports or games competition. The respondents were presented with a set of attitudinal statements, and they were asked to indicate to what extent various conditions (e.g. lack of facilities nearby, lack of money, lack of time) prevented the respondents from doing the free time activities they wanted to do. Participation in the activities of various associations or groups was also queried.
The respondents were asked how often they did physical exercise causing at least slight sweating and shortness of breath for at least half an hour at a time. They were also asked how many minutes of walking or cycling they built into their daily routines on average.
Questions 26 and 27 charting the amount of physical exercise were Finnish country-specific questions. Further questions probed the respondents' happiness and health. They were also asked whether the preceding day had been a weekday/working-day or a day off/holiday, and at what time they had got up and went to sleep.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, year of birth, household size, education, employment status, occupation, industry of employment, regular weekly working hours, employment type, managerial position, employer type, trade union membership, voting behaviour, religiosity, monthly income, subjective social class, and type of location.
Classification order: municipality code and date of birth.
The sample size was 2,500 persons, out of which 95% were Finnish-speaking and 5% Swedish-speaking. 8 persons were unable to answer. Therefore, the questionnaire was sent to 2,492 persons. 1,354 questionnaires were returned. There were 1,138 non-respondents, 37 of them declined to answer, 9 of them had an unknown address, and 1,092 of them did not participate for other reasons.