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 views on family and family roles, work and division of labour.
The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements about working women and the roles of men and women in the family, the importance of marriage, parenting capabilities of single parents and same-sex couples, and the importance of children to parents. Opinions on the ideal number of children in a family were investigated.
Views on paid parental leave (its length, who should be responsible for its costs and how it should be divided between the mother and father) were examined as well as opinions on the responsibilities of the mother and father in terms of work and childcare. Concerning child day care, the respondents were asked who should primarily offer child day care services and who should mainly be responsible for the costs of day care. Similar questions were asked about the home help services for the elderly. Number of hours per week spent on chores and taking care of family members by the respondents were charted.
Those respondents who were cohabiting, married or in a civil union were asked questions focusing on the management of finances, division of chores, decision-making concerning leisure time, and differences in income.
Tiredness resulting from work, chores or family duties was investigated as well as self-perceived general health and satisfaction in work, family life and life in general. Those respondents who had children were asked whether they or their spouse had worked outside home when the children were young and who was/had been responsible for raising the children.
Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, year of birth, marital status, number of years in education, level and length of education, number of hours per week spent working, status in employment, economic activity, spouse's education level and status in employment, self-perceived social class, religious affiliation, political party choice in the previous parliamentary elections, household composition, monthly gross income of the respondent and the household, and the degree of urbanisation of the municipality of residence.
Systematic random sampling. Classification order: municipality code and date of birth.
Sample size was 2,500 persons of whom 90% were Finnish-speaking, 5% Swedish-speaking and 5% were people speaking other than Finnish or Swedish as their mother tongue. Altogether, there were 1,171 respondents. Non-response: 1,329 persons of whom 2 refused, 12 were non-contacts, 1 had a language problem, 3 were ill, disabled or residing in an institution, and 1,311 were non-respondents.