International Social Survey Programme: Religion I-IV Cumulation

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a continuous programme of cross-national collaboration running annual surveys on topics important for the social sciences. The programme started in 1984 with four founding members - Australia, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States – and has now grown to almost 50 member countries from all over the world. As the surveys are designed for replication, they can be used for both, cross-national and cross-time comparisons. Each ISSP module focuses on a specific topic, which is repeated in regular time intervals. Please, consult the documentation for details on how the national ISSP surveys are fielded. The present study focuses on questions about religion and religious identity.<br>Assessment of personal happiness; responsibility of government for providing jobs and reduction of the difference between rich and poor; attitudes towards sexual relations before marriage; attitudes towards sexual relations with someone other than spouse; attitudes towards homosexual relationships between adults; attitudes towards abortion in case of serious disability or illness of the baby or low income of the family; attitudes towards gender roles in marriage (husband earns money, wife’s job is family, family life suffers if women works fulltime); attitude towards tax fraud and incorrect information to get benefits from government; trust in institutions (parliament, business and industry, churches and religious organizations, courts and legal system, schools and educational system); attitudes towards the influence of religious leaders on vote and government; judgement on the power of churches and religious organizations; doubt or firm belief in God (deism, scale); belief in a life after death, in heaven, in hell, in religious miracles, in reincarnation, in Nirvana, and in supernatural powers of deceased ancestors; attitudes towards the Bible (or appropriate holy book); attitudes towards a higher truth and towards meaning of life (scale: God concerns himself with every human being personally, people can do little to change the course of their lives (fatalism), life is meaningful because God exists, life does not serve any purpose, life is only meaningful if someone provides the meaning himself); own way of connecting with God; we each make our own fate; turning point in life respondent made new commitment to religion; religion of mother, of father and of husband/ wife/ spouse; religion respondent was raised in; frequency of church attendance (of attendance in religious services) of father and mother when the respondent was a child; personal frequency of church attendance of respondent at the age of 11-12 years; frequency of prayers and participation in church activities; self-assessment as religious; self-assessment as a follower of a religion and/ or as a spiritual person; belief in lucky charms, fortune tellers, faith healers and horoscopes; respondent had a “born again” experience; picture of God (mother - father, master - spouse, judge - lover, friend - king); world image: much evil vs. much good, man is good vs. corrupt; trust in people or can’t be too careful; attitudes towards the benefits of science and religion (scale: modern science does more harm than good, too much trust in science than faith, religions bring more conflicts than peace, intolerance of people with very strong religious beliefs); attitude towards truth in religion (very little truth in any religion, basic truths in many religions or truth only in one religion); law conflicts with religious principles; accept person from different religion: Marrying a relative; attitude towards public meetings and publications on the internet or social media/books by religious extremists; shrine/ altar in respondent’s home; visit of holy place; religion helps people to make friends and to gain comfort; personal attitude towards Christians, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhist, Jews, Atheists or non-believers.

Demography: sex; age; marital status; steady life partner; education: years of schooling; highest education level; current employment status (respondent and partner); hours worked weekly; occupation (ISCO 1988) (respondent and partner); supervising function at work; trade union membership; household size; child in household; party affiliation (left-right); participation in last election; attendance of religious services; religious main groups (derived); Top Bottom self-placement; subjective social class; place of living urban – rural; household income groups (derived).

Additionally coded: ID number of respondent; unique cumulation respondent ID number; ISSP Module year; country; country sample; country sample year; weighting factor; administrative mode of data collection.