The International Social Survey Program (ISSP) is an ongoing program of crossnational collaboration. Formed in 1983, the group develops topical modules dealing with important areas of social science as supplements to regular national surveys. The 1998 religion module includes data from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, the Slovakian Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Comparable to the initial module on this topic (see INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SURVEY PROGRAM: RELIGION I, 1991 (ICPSR 6234)), this survey covers three main topic areas: (1) general attitudes toward various social issues such as government, the legal system, sex, and the economy (e.g., opinions about personal happiness, government responsibilities toward citizens, abortion, male and female roles in the household, premarital cohabitation, personal trust and trust in others, confidence in various institutions such as legislatures, businesses, churches, courts, and schools, legal fairness, and the economic climate), (2) religion (e.g., role of religious leaders, role of science in relation to religion, attitudes about God, heaven, hell, and life after death, personal and family members' religious status, attendance at religious services, miracles, the Bible, the purpose of life, prayer, volunteer work, and religious commitment), and (3) demographics (e.g., marital status, age, sex, education, occupation, family composition, ethnicity, region, size of community, and political affiliation). (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)

Please Note: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at GESIS at https://doi.org/10.4232/1.3190. We highly recommend using the GESIS version as they have made this dataset available in multiple data formats.

The Australian National Social Science Survey is a major multi-purpose survey measuring a wide range of variables of interest in sociology, political science and labour economics. It is similar to national social surveys conducted regularly in the U.S.A., Britain and West Germany. Much of the data in the Australian survey are directly comparable with these other surveys. The data are representative of the non-institutionalised population aged 18 years and over, capable of being interviewed in English, in all States and Territories of Australia. The questionnaire covers attitudes toward how much money is spent on foreign aid, defence, unemployment, medical and social services, education, roads, science, aborigines, and drug abuse; other issues such as taxation, inflation, crime and punishment, business affairs, uranium, poverty, women and careers, and migrants; feelings toward major Australian political figures, Mr Reagan, Mrs Thatcher, certain social and national groups, and certain countries; confidence in institutions such as banks, police, government, political parties, the military, universities and schools, the press, companies, trade unions and small business; and perceived economic and social priorities for Australia over the next ten years. Other questions relate to the respondent's personal feelings about life, such as loneliness, happiness, satisfaction, level of control, and identity; health, the need for medical services, and availability of trustworthy friends; religious beliefs and priorities; moral reactions to sex, abortion, pornography; facets of human nature; relationships with parents and children; and a sentence completion test. Political data includes party preference and voting history; spouse's party preference; willingness to act to change things; and perceptions of personal feelings of power. Economic data includes detailed information on income from various sources for both respondent and spouse; hours and weeks worked; occupations (coded into the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations: Working Draft); and spouse's education and occupation. Background variables include family history; employment history; education; birthplace; ethnic origin; places of residence; parental occupation and education; religion; age; sex; current state and size of town; place of upbringing; number of years in current area; home ownership; marital status; number, sex and age of children; and union membership.