Results from the SERISS project have been realised in 3 areas:
Addressing challenges for cross-national data collection - The value of any social survey rests on its ability to accurately represent the population of interest. SERISS has undertaken activities to improve the representativeness of social survey data, for example compiling a database of the sampling frames used by the four large face to face surveys taking part in SERISS and lobbying activities at national and European level to make the case for grating greater access to population registers, the acknowledged gold-standard sampling frame, for survey sampling. SERISS has undertaken activities to advance knowledge and practice of survey translation through work such as new experimental evidence on the merits of close vs. adaptive survey translation and develop providing input to training materials for translators working with the European Language Social Science Thesaurus.
Breaking down barriers - SERISS saw the development, adoption or adaptation in the field of a number of interactive online tools to support the data collection process, to streamline the sharing of information between stakeholders, and facilitate the storage of metadata for example: a Question Variable Database and a mobile Fieldwork Management System. These are being shared to varying degrees across survey programmes. SERISS also engaged in a programme of face-to-face and online training intended to better equip producers, curators and users of social science data across Europe.
Embracing the future of social sciences - The value of traditional social survey data and the insights it can provide into the behaviour, attitudes and outcomes of individuals, can be enhanced significantly by combining it with new forms of data available, for example, through social media, administrative data collections or the collection of biomarkers. Example include new, state-of-the-art guidelines on legal and ethical issues to consider when combining survey data with social media data or administrative data and recommendations and guidance on the legal, ethical administrative and practical issues to consider in order to collect biomarkers cross-nationally. More survey data collection is moving online in response to societal and technological change and budgetary pressures. However, there remain gaps in knowledge on how best to collect data online, especially cross-nationally. SERISS has provided proof of concept for an input-harmonised, cross-national probability-based web panel, CRONOS and methodological insights from the exercise. Socio-economic variables such as occupation and education are a core part of any social survey. SERISS provides resources to support the process such as databases providing records of (eg educational qualification) consistent with international coding standards for up to 99 countries and 47 languages.
