Social Science and Humanities Open Cluster Switzerland (SSHOC-CH)
In April 2024, during a meeting involving over 60 representatives from national research infrastructures, the Swiss nodes of European ERICs and long-term projects launched the “Social Science and Humanities Open Cluster Switzerland (SSHOC-CH)”. This initiative is aimed at redefining collaboration, finding synergies among various projects, and coordinating resources nationally to better support SSH scholars in their research and in managing their data in the spirit of Open Science and FAIR principles.
Mission of SSHOC-CH
Creating and operating a cluster of SSH research infrastructures in Switzerland (national infrastructures and national nodes of international infrastructures) in order to ensure the exchange and cooperation of research infrastructures to support research projects and researchers, to identify and create synergies and, where possible, to develop joint platforms and services or make existing ones interoperable.
In April 2024, during a meeting involving over 60 representatives from national research infrastructures, the Swiss nodes of European ERICs and long-term projects launched the “Social Science and Humanities Open Cluster Switzerland (SSHOC-CH)”. This initiative is aimed at redefining collaboration, finding synergies among various projects, and coordinating resources nationally to better support SSH scholars in their research and in managing […]
Recognise ORD (recORD)
The project will perform an analysis of best practices in ORD recognition based on (a) a literature review and (b) the discussions on the use of ORD in research assessment in CoARA working groups as well as the Swiss national CoARA chapter. These analyses are then contrasted with an analysis of the policies and needs of all involved partners. For the dissemination of the results the consortium will hold a one-day event for the Swiss community as well as for invited international guests in December 2024.
The project will perform an analysis of best practices in ORD recognition based on (a) a literature review and (b) the discussions on the use of ORD in research assessment in CoARA working groups as well as the Swiss national CoARA chapter. These analyses are then contrasted with an analysis of the policies and needs of all involved partners. For […]
COVID Generation – Understanding young people’s wellbeing
The Covid Generation research project
The Covid Generation is a collaborative project involving researchers from FORS, the University of Lausanne and the University of Neuchâtel. It examines wellbeing of young people as well as the response of the policy field to support their wellbeing.
1. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected wellbeing of young people?
Specifically, we examime how wellbeing changed over time, what were the main drivers, which groups were most at risk and which protective factors mitigated negative consequences for wellbeing?
2. What can we learn from the policy response for future crises?
Specifically, did policy initiatives to support young people during the pandemic focus on the groups most at risk, and lessons can be drawn from the development and implementation of these programs?
We work closely together with several partners from the policy field.
The Covid Generation research project The Covid Generation is a collaborative project involving researchers from FORS, the University of Lausanne and the University of Neuchâtel. It examines wellbeing of young people as well as the response of the policy field to support their wellbeing. 1. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected wellbeing of young people? Specifically, we examime how wellbeing […]
CNES – Consortium of National Election Studies
The Consortium of National Election Studies (CNES) is the network of scientific national election studies that conduct voter surveys for national general elections. CNES promotes the exchange of data, knowledge and standards on national elections and election studies to improve the understanding of electoral behaviour and electoral democracies through national and comparative election research.
Elections are key in any liberal democracy as they serve many purposes: Parties and candidates present themselves and compete for public office, citizens and candidates through various medic channels debate the future of the country, and voters elect their representatives and hold governments and representatives accountable. Not surprisingly, political and academic interest in the study of elections has been present since the early days of democratic elections. Electoral studies are among the earliest systematic data collections conducted in many countries. To comprehensively study electoral behaviour, high-quality data from many countries and over a long period of time are needed. To ensure this, national election studies need stable long-term funding and governance. CNES therefore also wants to contribute the establishment of standards and best practices and help to stabilise national election studies where this is not the case yet.
The Consortium of National Election Studies (CNES) is the network of scientific national election studies that conduct voter surveys for national general elections. CNES promotes the exchange of data, knowledge and standards on national elections and election studies to improve the understanding of electoral behaviour and electoral democracies through national and comparative election research. Elections are key in any liberal […]
DReMSS – Developments in Research and Methods of the Social Sciences
This collaboration resulted in a high-quality platform for national and international social science methods and substantive research, recently launched at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lausanne. This new platform DReMSS Developments in Research and Methods of the Social Sciences aims to promote and to create synergies between the activities developed by FORS and SSP. The involved researchers share common thematic and methodological interests. Thanks to this research programme, the teaching of quantitative methods in the Faculty of Social Sciences has been developed and strengthened, both at Bachelor and Master level.
The University of Lausanne funds a joint research programme that involves many researchers from FORS and the Faculty for Social and Political Sciences (SSP). This collaboration resulted in a high-quality platform for national and international social science methods and substantive research, recently launched at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lausanne. This new platform DReMSS Developments in […]
Cessda
At the international level, FORS is engaged in the establishment and development of European research infrastructure. These activities are important to connect Switzerland to European research infrastructures and to enhance the international visibility of Swiss social sciences.
As a member of CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives), which was granted the status of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in 2013, FORS is currently involved in different CESSDA ERIC projects related to archiving and research infrastructure as task member of task leaders.
Together with other CESSDA Service Providers, the FORS developed the CESSDA Resource Directory, which is a curated inventory of existing resources to support activities of data archive professionals to build sustainable and mature data archives, improve services and practices as well as support the development of new services and features within existing data archives.
The European Language Social Science Thesaurus (ELSST) is a multilingual thesaurus for the social sciences owned and published by CESSDA. Along with partners from different CESSDA service providers FORS was involved in the development of ELSST and collaborates to ensure ELSST concepts remain current and relevant to researchers across the social sciences.
ELSST is currently available in 14 languages and covers the core social science disciplines.
Read the ELSST documentation to find out more about the development, management and structure of the thesaurus, and recent updates to ELSST.
The CESSDA European Question Bank (EQB) is a cross-national question bank based on the DDI lifecycle metadata standard that integrates and displays metadata from several European archives.
FORS joined partners from different European countries to launch EQB, a project which aims at developing a platform, where researchers can find, compare, and download survey questions and related metadata information. The EQB can also help questionnaire designers and translators interested in high-quality and tested questions.
The EQB will be integrated into the CESSDA data catalogue.
In the context of increasing trend towards Open Science, different scientific disciplines are realizing the importance of making data available and are being aware that it is essential to become more transparent through reproducible, replicable, and reusable research processes and results
Along with partners from different CESSDA service providers, FORS contributed to outreach activities to academic journals in Europe (Journals Outreach), including the organization of several online conferences to address how data archives and journals can collaborate to facilitate the sharing of replication materials.
Together with other CESSDA service providers, the FORS staff developed the CESSDA Mentorship Programme. One of the goals of this programme is to support the construction of mature data services by providing one-on-one support from experts active in the Mentorship Program. The FORS archive team is currently mentoring the Italian CESSDA service provider DASSI.
With other CESSDA service providers, FORS staff participates in the elaboration of guides related to data management from the perspective of researchers or expert archivists.
Data Management Expert Guide (DMEG)
The Data Management Expert Guide is designed by European experts to help social science researchers make their research data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR).
The CESSDA Data Archiving Guide (DAG) is designed to provide employees at social science data archives with a general understanding of the work a data archive performs. Note that the DAG is already accessible, but it is still under development.
In all, 20 partner organizations and 27 associates are collaborating in this project which is funded by the EU framework programme Horizon 2020. With other CESSDA service providers, FORS is involved in different tasks (translations, data security and sensitivity questions, assessments…). The goal of the Social Sciences and Humanities Open Cloud (SSHOC) is to provide researchers in the social sciences and humanities access to data, services, tools, and training.
EOSC Future is an EU-funded H2020 project that is implementing the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). This project goal is to integrate, consolidate, and connect e-infrastructures, research communities, and initiatives in Open Science to further develop the EOSC Portal, EOSC-Core and EOSC-Exchange of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). As other members of CESSDA, FORS is involved in the project strategy and contribute to different tasks.
The European project RiTrainPlus began in fall 2021 with the aim of designing and implementing an international curriculum for the training of research infrastructure managers and operators. FORS leads a task on the development of a course for managers on data policy and data management. The project will continue until 2024.
At the international level, FORS is engaged in the establishment and development of European research infrastructure. These activities are important to connect Switzerland to European research infrastructures and to enhance the international visibility of Swiss social sciences. As a member of CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives), which was granted the status of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium […]
SHP – Swiss Household Panel
The main objective of the Swiss Household Panel is to observe social change, in particular the dynamics of changing living conditions and representations in the population of Switzerland. It is an annual panel study based on a random sample of private households in Switzerland over time. FORS collects the data and makes it available on FORSbase.
There are three ongoing projects that are directly linked to the Swiss Household Panel:
LIVES Cohort Study
The National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES initiated a cohort study, which includes Swiss migrants born between 1988 and 1997 who attended school in Switzerland prior to the age of 10. The aim is to observe second generation migrants in Switzerland over time and to compare them with their Swiss counterparts in the same sample. This study used a biographical questionnaire in the first wave and the SHP questionnaire ever since. FORS collects the data and makes them available on FORSbase.
Duration: 2013 – ongoing
Further information can be found here or by contacting Nora Dasoki. If you wish to download the data, you can find the datasets on FORSbase.
SHP LIVES Vaud
The Swiss canton of Vaud’s Department of Health and Social Action initiated a cantonal household panel in collaboration with the SHP and LIVES. Financially disadvantaged people are over-represented in this household panel. 1,253 individuals participated in the first wave. This study used a biographical questionnaire in the first wave and has been using the SHP questionnaire ever since. Additional questions relating to the financial situation, welfare payments, and social policies were asked. FORS collects the data and makes it available on FORSbase.
Duration: 2013 – ongoing
Further information is available here or by contacting Nora Dasoki. If you wish to download the data, you can find the datasets on FORSbase.
CNEF – Cross-national Equivalent File
The Swiss Household Panel (SHP) is part of the Cross-National Equivalent File (CNEF). The CNEF 1970-2009 contains equivalently defined variables for several national household panels. The data is designed in such a way as to allow cross-national researchers to access a simplified version of these panels with guidelines for formulating equivalent variables across countries. FORS supplies data from the Swiss Household Panel to the CNEF.
Participants: Panels from 8 countries
Duration: 1999 – ongoing
Find further information here and on the CNEF website.
The main objective of the Swiss Household Panel is to observe social change, in particular the dynamics of changing living conditions and representations in the population of Switzerland. It is an annual panel study based on a random sample of private households in Switzerland over time. FORS collects the data and makes it available on FORSbase. Duration: 1999 – ongoing […]
SELECTS – Swiss Electoral Studies
The Swiss Electoral Studies (Selects) have been investigating the electoral behaviour of Swiss citizens in national elections since 1995. The project sheds light on the dynamics of the Swiss citizens’ opinion formation as well as on the determinants of their political participation and voting choice for a specific candidate or party. In addition, it collects survey data on the candidates’ campaign activities, policy positions and views on representation. Since its launch in 1995, Selects has generated a series of datasets enabling long-term comparisons while constantly incorporating innovative new research questions. Selects is funded by the SNSF and has been centred at FORS since 2008.
At the international level, Selects is part of two major comparative projects: the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) – a collaborative research programme of election study teams from around the world – and the Comparative Candidates Survey (CCS), which coordinates national candidate surveys in participating countries.
Duration: 1995 – 2007 (collaboration between different Swiss universities), 2008 – ongoing (FORS)
In connection with SELECTS, FORS is also involved in the following project:
CCS – Comparative Candidate Survey
The Comparative Candidate Survey (CCS) is a joint multinational project with the goal of collecting data on candidates running in national parliamentary elections in a number of countries using a common core questionnaire that enables cross-country comparison. Data collection comprises surveys among candidates as well as relevant context information concerning the constituency of the candidate and the political system at large. FORS runs the survey in Switzerland as part of the Swiss Election Studies Selects. Since 2008, FORS is also responsible for the harmonisation and archiving of data from all participating countries.
Further information is available on the CSS website or by contacting Lukas Lauener.
The Swiss Electoral Studies (Selects) have been investigating the electoral behaviour of Swiss citizens in national elections since 1995. The project sheds light on the dynamics of the Swiss citizens’ opinion formation as well as on the determinants of their political participation and voting choice for a specific candidate or party. In addition, it collects survey data on the candidates’ […]
ESS – European Social Survey
The European Social Survey (ESS) is a cross-national survey that has been conducted every two years since 2002 in more than 30 European and several neighbouring countries. The ESS measures values, attitudes and behavioural patterns of the populations of European countries. In order to obtain high-quality data that is internationally comparable, the methodological specifications of the survey are very precise and rigorous. Switzerland has participated in all waves since the ESS was first launched. FORS conducts the survey in Switzerland and archives the Swiss data of the ESS.
The European Social Survey (ESS) is a cross-national survey that has been conducted every two years since 2002 in more than 30 European and several neighbouring countries. The ESS measures values, attitudes and behavioural patterns of the populations of European countries. In order to obtain high-quality data that is internationally comparable, the methodological specifications of the survey are very precise […]
MOSAiCH – ISSP
MOSAiCH is a cross-sectional survey that focuses on the Swiss population’s values and attitudes toward a wide range of social issues. It was initiated in 2005 and is conducted every two years. The survey is designed in such a way as to allow both comparisons over time and across countries. The thematic focus lies on the current module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). This international section is supplemented by selected socio-demographic questions as well as a module consisting of questions that are specific to Switzerland. FORS manages the public call for questions, conducts the survey and archives the data.
MOSAiCH is a cross-sectional survey that focuses on the Swiss population’s values and attitudes toward a wide range of social issues. It was initiated in 2005 and is conducted every two years. The survey is designed in such a way as to allow both comparisons over time and across countries. The thematic focus lies on the current module of the […]
EVS – European Values Study
The European Values Study is a large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal survey research programme on basic human values. It provides insights into the thinking, beliefs, preferences, attitudes, values and opinions of citizens throughout Europe. It is a unique research project on how Europeans think about life, family, work, religion, politics and society. The European Values Study started in 1981. Every nine years, the survey is repeated in a variable number of countries. Switzerland has been participating since 2008. FORS conducted the survey in Switzerland in 2008 and 2017 and archived the Swiss data.
The European Values Study is a large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal survey research programme on basic human values. It provides insights into the thinking, beliefs, preferences, attitudes, values and opinions of citizens throughout Europe. It is a unique research project on how Europeans think about life, family, work, religion, politics and society. The European Values Study started in 1981. Every nine […]
SHARE – Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe
SHARE is a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of microdata on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks of more than 120,000 individuals aged 50 and over in Europe and Israel. The survey has been conducted every two years since 2004. Together with the University of Lausanne, FORS is responsible for conducting SHARE in Switzerland.
SHARE is a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of microdata on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks of more than 120,000 individuals aged 50 and over in Europe and Israel. The survey has been conducted every two years since 2004. Together with the University of Lausanne, FORS is responsible for conducting SHARE in Switzerland. Participants: 27 European countries and […]
SWISSUbase
The mission of SWISSUbase is to serve the Swiss scientific community to share and preserve research data for future reuse. Operated by a consortium consisting of FORS (Swiss Centre of Expertise for the Social Sciences) and the Universities of Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Zurich, SWISSUbase offers a (robust) online platform and suite of services.
What sets SWISSUbase apart from other data-sharing solutions is its multidisciplinary approach, featuring rich, discipline-specific and multilingual metadata. Data curation is performed by data experts in partner institutions, ensuring that data from various disciplines can be effectively shared, reused and preserved for the long-term.
Both depositing and accessing data on SWISSUbase, along with its services, are free of charge for researchers.
Visit our SWISSUbase Info website: info.swissubase.ch to read more about the SWISSUbase Consortium, Platform & Services.
Visit the SWISSUbase platformswissubase.ch to browse and access data directly.
For more information about the SWISSUbase Consortium, Platform, and Services, visit our Info website at info.swissubase.ch.
To browse and access data directly, visit the SWISSUbase platform at swissubase.ch.
The mission of SWISSUbase is to serve the Swiss scientific community to share and preserve research data for future reuse. Operated by a consortium consisting of FORS (Swiss Centre of Expertise for the Social Sciences) and the Universities of Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Zurich, SWISSUbase offers a (robust) online platform and suite of services. What sets SWISSUbase apart from other data-sharing […]
linkhub.ch
linkhub.ch supports data linkage in the fields of social sciences and medicine to deliver relevant knowledge for society. It aims to provide an environment that allows a better use of the potential of existing data while respecting the regulations on the protection of personal data and in accordance with scientific principles.
linkhub.ch offers
a metadata service with information on data sets and how they could be accessed and linked
a data linking service that support combining information from different data sources
a storage service with information and access to linked data in a secure environment.
linkhub.ch is a collaboration of several research institutions concerned about data linking. FORS initiated and leads the project.
Partners: NCCR Federalism, NCCR LIVES, NCCR on the move, Swiss National Cohort, TREE
linkhub.ch supports data linkage in the fields of social sciences and medicine to deliver relevant knowledge for society. It aims to provide an environment that allows a better use of the potential of existing data while respecting the regulations on the protection of personal data and in accordance with scientific principles. linkhub.ch offers a metadata service with information on data sets […]
MEDem – Monitoring electoral democracy
Understanding voters, parties, media and elites (and how they influence policy-making) is crucial to monitoring the functioning of electoral democracy in modern societies. The proposed research infrastructure for Monitoring Electoral Democracy (MEDem) in Europe aims to:
bring together well functioning national and comparative projects and to link and coordinate existing endeavors as well as to support innovation in research on electoral democracies;
set standards and develop instruments for data collection to allow for comparative research,
increase accessibility by providing a single data linkage and access point in collaboration with a data archive;
help strengthening existing national election studies and allied projects by connecting them to a stable European network of projects and scholars working collaboratively in this field as well as to provide training and build capacity;
provide reports and information on the functioning of electoral democracy in Europe to the wider community and public.
To achieve this, MEDem sets out to establish, operate and develop a pan-European distributed research infrastructure of data-collection centres and national nodes in order to provide resources, facilities and support for high quality research regarding all aspects of the democratic electoral process in Europe. MEDem will grant European researchers effective access to its resources and common services that include a centrally organized data management and dissemination service, and provide scientific, technical and ethical expertise.
Participants: University of Vienna, European University Institute, FORS and University of Lausanne, University of Gothenburg, GESIS Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, Sciences Po Paris
Understanding voters, parties, media and elites (and how they influence policy-making) is crucial to monitoring the functioning of electoral democracy in modern societies. The proposed research infrastructure for Monitoring Electoral Democracy (MEDem) in Europe aims to: bring together well functioning national and comparative projects and to link and coordinate existing endeavors as well as to support innovation in research on […]
Past projects
WELLWAYS – Critical events and transitions in family and work and multidimensional well being
Research team: Laura Bernardi (Unil), Chiara Comolli (Unil), Marieke Voorpostel (Fors), Ariane Pailhé (Ined), Emmanuelle Cambois (Ined)
Health and well-being are not equally distributed in society. WELLWAYS investigates how events and transitions in the family and employment domains, which significantly influence health and well-being, contribute to this inequality. We study individuals’ life course to understand whether and to what extent family and work-related events interact in increasing disparities in well-being in Switzerland and France.
The main objective of the project is to explain how some individuals have a higher risk to accumulate disadvantages along their life course resulting in lower well-being and reduced health. We use data from several large surveys conducted in Switzerland and France which include information about the development of employment and family as well as information on individual levels of well-being for longer than two decades. Examining what happens in the dimensions of work and family simultaneously, we explore to what extent disadvantages in each of the two domains are interdependent. In addition, we distinguish individuals and families with fewer resources from those who are better off, assuming that the former have cumulated greater disadvantages and face higher risks of experiencing negative events in both of the two life domains.
WELLWAYS on the one hand enriches existing research by adopting a life course research perspective and using statistical modeling techniques to analyze complex survey data that track individuals’ professional and family histories over time. On the other hand, it adds on knowledge on rising inequalities in health and well-being in Switzerland and France, with the aim of providing solid empirical evidence for policy recommendations turned towards improving the well-being of vulnerable groups in our societies.
Research team: Laura Bernardi (Unil), Chiara Comolli (Unil), Marieke Voorpostel (Fors), Ariane Pailhé (Ined), Emmanuelle Cambois (Ined) Health and well-being are not equally distributed in society. WELLWAYS investigates how events and transitions in the family and employment domains, which significantly influence health and well-being, contribute to this inequality. We study individuals’ life course to understand whether and to what extent […]
Knowledge and attitude of the Swiss population towards human research and its regulations
The aim of the study is to determine the public’s mood, level of knowledge and attitudes with regard to human research and human research law, as well as their willingness to participate in studies in the field of human research. The goal is to show whether the population feels protected by the Human Research Act and whether the information provided to the public is sufficient. For this purpose, FORS was mandated by the Human Research and Ethics Section of the Federal Office of Public Health to interview around 2,000 people living in Switzerland. The questionnaire could be completed online and on paper.
Duration: 2017 – 2018
The aim of the study is to determine the public’s mood, level of knowledge and attitudes with regard to human research and human research law, as well as their willingness to participate in studies in the field of human research. The goal is to show whether the population feels protected by the Human Research Act and whether the information provided […]
VOTO
Following each federal vote, VOTO examines the reasons why Swiss voters participated in popular votes at the federal level and explains their voting decisions. Funded by the Swiss Federal Chancellery, VOTO is a joint project of FORS and the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA) in collaboration with the polling institute LINK. Approximately eight weeks after the vote, all reports are published and anonymised data is made available for secondary analysis. In autumn 2016, the VOTO surveys replaced the previous VOX analyses, which had been conducted by gfs.bern and several Swiss universities since 1977. The most significant variables from the previous VOX analyses have been standardised across time. FORS distributes this cumulative dataset under the name VOXit.
Duration: 2016 – 2020
For further information visit the VOTO website. The data from VOTO and VOXit can be downloaded on FORSbase.
Following each federal vote, VOTO examines the reasons why Swiss voters participated in popular votes at the federal level and explains their voting decisions. Funded by the Swiss Federal Chancellery, VOTO is a joint project of FORS and the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA) in collaboration with the polling institute LINK. Approximately eight weeks after the vote, all reports […]
ch-x 2017
FORS won the open tender by the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports to conduct the 2016-17 Swiss Federal Surveys of Adolescents (ch-x), which focuses on the topic of the geographical mobility of young people. ch-x are long-established large-scale surveys conducted amongst 19 to 21-year-old Swiss citizens. They provide virtually full coverage of young men drafted into the army, as well as a sample of women of the same age.
The 2016-17 edition will allow an entire cohort of young men over a two-year period to be examined, as well as a complementary sample of approximately 2,000 women of the same age. Never before has there been a large-scale survey of this nature on the topic of mobility, with a special focus on language, professional and cultural stays in other language areas of Switzerland and abroad. The comprehensiveness of the paper questionnaire (over 100 questions) as well as the number of respondents in the dataset (more than 40,000) result in extremely rich data that will enable significant contributions in the fields of mobility and youth studies.
First results, in the form of a publication for the general public were released in 2019. Subsequently, the data will be made available to the scientific community for further analysis.
Duration: 2016 – 2019
For further information, contact Alexandra Stam, or visit the website of ch-x.
As a derived product of the ch-x survey, FORS, in partnership with the geography department of the University of Lausanne, received a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for additional studies based on the ch-x data. The project, which started in March 2017, will run for three years and will enable a doctoral student and a part-time postdoc to carry out studies using the ch-x data and facilitate the development of a complementary qualitative study on youth mobility. For further information please contact Alexandra Stam.
FORS won the open tender by the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports to conduct the 2016-17 Swiss Federal Surveys of Adolescents (ch-x), which focuses on the topic of the geographical mobility of young people. ch-x are long-established large-scale surveys conducted amongst 19 to 21-year-old Swiss citizens. They provide virtually full coverage of young men drafted into […]
CESSDA ERIC projects
As a member of CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives), which was granted the status of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in 2013, FORS is involved in a number of CESSDA ERIC projects:
CESSDA Euro Question Bank
In 2016, FORS joined partners from five other European countries to launch EBQ, a new CESSDA-funded infrastructure project, which aims at developing a European Question Bank, where researchers can find survey questions, data, and related information. FORS is involved in the conceptual development and testing. The EQB will be integrated into the CESSDA data catalogue.
For further information please contact Brian Kleiner.
CESSDA Widening Activities 2018
The goal of the project is to ensure the continuity of CESSDA widening efforts that were initiated in previous projects (CESSDA SaW, SEEDS, SERSCIDA) by maintaining and fostering the network of CESSDA partners (i.e. service providers in non-member countries) and by disseminating existing CESSDA support services, tools and knowledge among CESSDA partners. FORS is responsible for developing an extensive guide on the available CESSDA resources for data service building and skills development. FORS is also involved in the organisation of two workshops and participates in monitoring activities within non-member countries.
The main goals of this project are to expand the core terms of the “European Language Social Science Thesaurus” (ELSST), increase the number of languages that core terms are translated into and provide guidance and documentation for translators. VOICE thus helps manage CESSDA’s multilingual content. FORS is responsible for the translation of new and revised terms into French in collaboration with PROGEDO, the French service provider.
Further information is available on the websites of ELSST and CESSDA ERIC.
CESSDA training
FORS is part of the CESSDA training group. The CESSDA training group consists of an international collaboration of service provider members with the joint goal of fostering knowledge and collaborating in the development of new materials. FORS is involved in the data management group.
The goal of this project is to provide a European metadata catalogue for the social sciences, a central point where researchers can search and discover data hosted by the service providers of CESSDA. The catalogue is still under development and should be available by the end of 2018.
As a member of CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives), which was granted the status of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in 2013, FORS is involved in a number of CESSDA ERIC projects: CESSDA Euro Question Bank In 2016, FORS joined partners from five other European countries to launch EBQ, a new CESSDA-funded infrastructure project, which aims […]
SERISS
SERISS brings together three research infrastructures in the social sciences: the European Social Survey (ESS), the Survey for Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA). Also involved in SERISS are non-ESFRI research infrastructures: the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP), the European Values Study (EVS) and the WageIndicator Survey (WageIndicator.org). The project’s research objective is to fully exploit the synergies among these three infrastructures and to leverage these to improve methodologies, tools, and project administration for these and other cross-national surveys. Within the framework of SERISS, FORS plays the role of leader of the work package 4 (tools development) as well as technical coordinator for the whole project.
SERISS brings together three research infrastructures in the social sciences: the European Social Survey (ESS), the Survey for Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA). Also involved in SERISS are non-ESFRI research infrastructures: the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP), the European Values Study (EVS) and the WageIndicator Survey (WageIndicator.org). The […]
Selects civique
The Swiss Election Study (Selects) has been investigating the electoral behaviour of Swiss citizens in national elections since 1995. The project sheds light on the dynamics of citizens’ opinion formation as well as on the determinants of their political participation and vote choice for a specific candidate or party. Due to the increasing use of smartphones in the Swiss population and a general decline in survey participation, Selects is incorporating a mobile web survey addressing innovative new research questions (conducted via the Civique.org data collection platform) alongside its main 2019 survey.
The project will investigate how smartphones can be used in survey research as a replacement to traditional methods of data collection, like interviews or conventional online surveys, to make it easier and more fun for people to take part in scientific research. Research participants can use their smartphones either to fill in conventional online questionnaires on their web browser, or to complete shorter questionnaire modules (called ‘Challenges’) via the Civique app. Civique is a multimodal data collection platform, meaning research participants can also choose to provide other forms of data that could either substitute or supplement traditional survey measures (e.g. photographs, videos, sensor data). As well as contributing to the development of innovative tools for the study of election campaigns, the project will contribute to a broader effort in the social sciences and social computing aimed at developing and exploiting technologies that are optimally adapted to human behaviour, engaging to use, and which motivate the sharing of information for research purposes.
The Swiss Election Study (Selects) has been investigating the electoral behaviour of Swiss citizens in national elections since 1995. The project sheds light on the dynamics of citizens’ opinion formation as well as on the determinants of their political participation and vote choice for a specific candidate or party. Due to the increasing use of smartphones in the Swiss population and […]
PICE – Parental investment in children’s education in migrant families in Switzerland
PICE is an interdisciplinary research project financed by the SNF that examines the relationship between parental investments in the education of their children and the educational success of children. The focus is on how parents with and without a migration background in Switzerland differ in their behavior. FORS contributes to the coordination of the project and is involved in the empirical analyzes.
Partners: TREE, University of Berne, University of Lausanne
PICE is an interdisciplinary research project financed by the SNF that examines the relationship between parental investments in the education of their children and the educational success of children. The focus is on how parents with and without a migration background in Switzerland differ in their behavior. FORS contributes to the coordination of the project and is involved in the […]
PAWCER – Public Attitudes to Welfare, Climate Change and Energy in the EU and Russia
The goal of the PAWCER project is to conduct comparative research on public attitudes towards welfare, climate change and energy, all of which are relevant to understanding conflict, identity, and memory. Cross-national analyses of survey and contextual data will be used to examine discrepancies and similarities, as well as diverging and converging trends between public attitudes towards these topics. Data will be collected using the European Social Survey. FORS collects the Swiss data and is part of the research team.
The goal of the PAWCER project is to conduct comparative research on public attitudes towards welfare, climate change and energy, all of which are relevant to understanding conflict, identity, and memory. Cross-national analyses of survey and contextual data will be used to examine discrepancies and similarities, as well as diverging and converging trends between public attitudes towards these topics. Data […]
Wealth distribution in Switzerland and Germany
The project has four main aims: (1) assess the quality of survey data on wealth in Switzerland; (2) estimate the relevance of pension entitlements; (3) study the impact of migration and life events on wealth and wealth mobility; and (4) analyse the impact of wealth on subjective wellbeing. With its main focus on Germany and Switzerland, the project takes a comparative perspective. Analyses are based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), Statistics on Income and Living Conditions in Switzerland (CH-SILC) and the Survey Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE).
The project has four main aims: (1) assess the quality of survey data on wealth in Switzerland; (2) estimate the relevance of pension entitlements; (3) study the impact of migration and life events on wealth and wealth mobility; and (4) analyse the impact of wealth on subjective wellbeing. With its main focus on Germany and Switzerland, the project takes a […]
Assessment of Basic Educational Competences (ÜGK)
Within the framework of the ÜGK (Überprüfung der Grundkompetenzen) project, students from all cantons participate in large-scale assessments in order to evaluate the harmonisation of compulsory education in Switzerland. So far, competence tests in mathematics, the school language and the first foreign language have been carried out. The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) mandated FORS to lead the data management for this project. FORS provides the EDK with recommendations, coordinates the data management processes and is responsible for the preparation of the test data. The datasets from these assessments and the corresponding documentation will be archived by FORS and made available for research purposes once the ÜGK results have been published.
For further information visit the websites of EDK or ÜGK, or contact Marieke Heers.
Within the framework of the ÜGK (Überprüfung der Grundkompetenzen) project, students from all cantons participate in large-scale assessments in order to evaluate the harmonisation of compulsory education in Switzerland. So far, competence tests in mathematics, the school language and the first foreign language have been carried out. The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) mandated FORS to lead […]
Data management pilot study
In 2017, FORS launched a three-year pilot study together with the University of Lausanne Faculty of Social and Political Sciences. The aim of the pilot study is to follow a number of researchers in their day-to day data management practices and to jointly develop solutions that will ultimately result in new tools for the entire research community.
In 2017, FORS launched a three-year pilot study together with the University of Lausanne Faculty of Social and Political Sciences. The aim of the pilot study is to follow a number of researchers in their day-to day data management practices and to jointly develop solutions that will ultimately result in new tools for the entire research community. Duration: 2017 – […]
CESSDA SaW – Strengthening and Widening CESSDA
The goal of the CESSDA SaW project was to strengthen and widen the existing CESSDA consortium (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives). CESSDA brings together social science data archives from across Europe with the aim of promoting the results of social science research and supporting national and international research and cooperation. Like all CESSDA service providers, FORS was involved in the project via CESSDA as a connected third party. FORS participated in 3 of the 5 work packages.
The goal of the CESSDA SaW project was to strengthen and widen the existing CESSDA consortium (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives). CESSDA brings together social science data archives from across Europe with the aim of promoting the results of social science research and supporting national and international research and cooperation. Like all CESSDA service providers, FORS was involved […]
Monitor Society and Disability 2016
The purpose of the Society and Disability Monitor is to measure the attitudes of the Swiss population towards people with disabilities and their most important requirements, and to determine to what extent the population supports concrete improvement measures in favour of people with disabilities. Mandated by Pro Infirmis Switzerland and with financial backing from the Federal Bureau for the Equality of People with Disabilities (FBED), FORS interviewed 3,200 people living in Switzerland. The questionnaire could be completed online or on paper.
The purpose of the Society and Disability Monitor is to measure the attitudes of the Swiss population towards people with disabilities and their most important requirements, and to determine to what extent the population supports concrete improvement measures in favour of people with disabilities. Mandated by Pro Infirmis Switzerland and with financial backing from the Federal Bureau for the Equality […]
ORD@CH – Open Research Data Pilot Platform Switzerland
Within the framework of the Open Research Data Pilot Platform Switzerland (ORD@CH) project, FORS (lead), the Digital Humanities Lab of the University of Basel and the ETH Scientific IT Services developed a publication platform for open research data in Switzerland. The pilot platform offered a metadata catalogue of the data available at the participating institutions. The ORD@CH project was part of the “Scientific information: access, processing and safeguarding” programme initiated by swissuniversities (Programme SUC 2013-2016 P-2).
Within the framework of the Open Research Data Pilot Platform Switzerland (ORD@CH) project, FORS (lead), the Digital Humanities Lab of the University of Basel and the ETH Scientific IT Services developed a publication platform for open research data in Switzerland. The pilot platform offered a metadata catalogue of the data available at the participating institutions. The ORD@CH project was part […]
