The CESSDA Country Spotlight series showcases national service providers and holds interviews with representatives of the national service providers and members of the CESSDA community.

This time the series portrayed FORS. Discover the interview with Brian Kleiner, Head of Data & Research for Social Sciences at FORS. It sheds light on the power of CESSDA to foster teamwork in data archives.

The whole interview and further information:

https://www.cessda.eu/News/CESSDA-Newsitem-nid3592

Georg Henning from the German Centre of Gerontology in Berlin, Germany, and his colleagues have published their research on historical and cross-country differences in life satisfaction across retirement between 2000 and 2019 in Germany and Switzerland. They used data from the SHP and the SOEP and found that life satisfaction trajectories around retirement age have improved over the last 20 years. Their findings may be explained by general improvements in the health and psychosocial functioning of older people.

Please find the detailed results here: https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbad066

Call MOSAiCH

Are you working on topics such as crises, risks, uncertainty and vulnerability and are using MOSAiCH-data or other Swiss surveys on attitudes? Then this is for you! FORS organizes a session entitled “MOSAiCH and attitudinal surveys in Switzerland: a tool for measuring crisis, uncertainty and Vulnerability?” at the Congress of the Swiss Sociological Association 2024 (9-11 September in Basel). We are looking for papers that either are based on MOSAiCH data or discuss collecting data using general population surveys in Switzerland such as MOSAiCH.

Organizers:
Alexandre Pollien (FORS / UNIL), Michèle Ernst Stähli (FORS / UNIL), Marlène Sapin (FORS / UNIL), Karin Nisple (FORS / UNIL), Michael Ochsner (FORS / UNIL)

Contact: Michèle Ernst Stähli et Alexandre Pollien

Deadline: January 5, 2024

All info: https://www.fhnw.ch/plattformen/sgs-kongress/wp-content/uploads/sites/342/WS_MOSAiCH_pollien-1.pdf

Call on Analysing Gender

Exploring Innovative Measures in Quantitative Surveys / Analyser le genre : exploration d’indicateurs innovants dans les enquêtes quantitatives

The main objective of this workshop is to move beyond the binary thinking and the traditional approach to gender roles. To capture diversity more comprehensively in quantitative surveys, it is essential to develop new measures (or integrate established ones) regarding sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, attitudes and behaviours related to gender, as well as lived experiences.

Organizers:
Christina Bornatici (FORS – Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences), Jérôme Blondé (University of Lausanne (UNIL), Jacques-Antoine Gauthier (University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lavinia Gianettoni (University of Lausanne (UNIL), Jean-Marie Le Goff (University of Lausanne (UNIL), Stephanie Steinmetz (Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS) / University of Lausanne (UNIL)

Contact : christina.bornatici@fors.unil.ch

Deadline: January 5, 2024

All info: https://www.fhnw.ch/plattformen/sgs-kongress/wp-content/uploads/sites/342/WS_Analysing_Gender_bornatici-2.pdf

Call on (De)gendering vulnerabilities

The workshop will critically discuss this relationship between gender and vulnerabilities in different research contexts. To what extent is gender
(ir)relevant with regard to vulnerable groups and how does the category influence the perception and construction of vulnerabilities in the first place (e.g., single parents, employees in the low-wage sector, sex workers, welfare recipients)? How do organizations or national contexts (re)poduce vulnerabilities and how is gender linked to it (e.g., science, school, labor market, social work)? How can we do methodological justice to the current complexity of change and persistence of gender differences?

Organizers: Stephanie Steinmetz (University of Lausanne, Quartier UNIL-Mouline), Nathalie Pasche (Hochschule für Soziale Arbeit FHNW), Christina Bornatici (FORS – Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences), Irene Kriesi (Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training, SFUVET), Lucia Lanfranconi (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts); Isabelle Zinn (University of Lausanne), Martina Peitz (Independent researcher)

Contact:  stephanie.steinmetz@unil.ch
Deadline: January 5, 2024

All info: https://www.fhnw.ch/plattformen/sgs-kongress/wp-content/uploads/sites/342/WS_Degendering_vulnerabilities_pasche-1.pdf

The Swiss Election Study (Selects) has researched Swiss citizens’ voting behavior in national elections since 1995. It explores opinion formation dynamics, factors influencing political participation and voting choices, and gathers data on candidate campaigns, policies, and representation views. Selects, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and based at FORS since 2008, provides datasets for long-term comparisons and continually incorporates new research.

Below you will find some links to articles in which the Selects study and/or members of the Selects team are mentioned:

The 2023 Swiss Federal Elections: Last Time’s Winners Lose and Losers Win (Who Governs Europe, 03.11.2023)

Mit der SVP wollen sie nichts zu tun haben – weshalb die ausscherenden Frauenparteien keine Überraschung sind (NZZ, 02.11.2023)

Wo sind all die Liberalen hin? (NZZ am Sonntag, 28.10.2023)

«Seuls contre tous» (Le Courrier, 24.10.2023)

Fédérales 2023: la victoire du parti «seul contre tous» (Le Nouvelliste, 24.10.2023)

Anke Tresch, politologue: «Il faut du contenu qui parle aux jeunes, pas uniquement de la forme» (Le Temps, 04.10.2023)

Les élections ne changent in fine pas grand-chose (20minutes, 26.09.2023)

Signora Tresch, come riesce un partito a vincere le elezioni? (DeFacto, 21.09.2023)

Frau Tresch, wie wird eine Partei zur Wahlsiegerin? (DeFacto, 21.09.2023)

Madame Tresch, comment un parti devient-il victorieux aux élections ? (DeFacto, 21.09.2023)

Signora Rennwald, l’UDC è il partito dei lavoratori? (DeFacto, 05.09.2023)

Frau Rennwald, ist die SVP die Partei der Arbeiterschaft? (DeFacto, 05.09.2023)

Madame Rennwald, l’UDC est-elle le parti des travailleurs ? (DeFacto, 05.09.2023)

La chute de l’identification partisane en Suisse et ses conséquences pour les échéances électorales (Le Temps, 03.07.2023)

In a paper from the expert circle coordinated by the Swiss Data Alliance for secondary data usage, FORS/linkhub.ch and Interpharma set forth the requirements for a ‘Framework Law for Secondary Data Usage’ from the perspective of social science and pharmaceutical research.

In June of this year, the Parliament passed the motion ‘Framework Law for Secondary Data Usage’ to the Federal Council for implementation, thereby making an important policy decision: it calls on the Federal Council to establish the necessary foundations in a framework law to quickly create and build infrastructures for the secondary use of data in strategically relevant areas. This should enable data to be linked and utilized in many areas for evidence-based research and political decision-making in the future. This is of great importance especially for social science research in Switzerland.

Ansprüche an ein Rahmengesetz aus Sicht der sozialwissenschaftlichen und pharmazeutischen Forschung

Exigences vis-à-vis d’une loi-cadre du point de vue de la recherche en sciences sociales et en pharmacie

Are you involved in the provision of data management support to social science researchers in Swiss research institutions? Do researchers ask you for advice on how to comply with open data requirements? Are you dealing with questions such as:

• “Do my research materials include personal data?”
• “Can research materials including personal data be shared with other researchers or for teaching?”
• “What are the conditions for sharing research materials including personal data in a data repository?”
• “What are the different options for complying with open data requirements?”

Format: Presentations by FORS and Unil staff members + Q&A sessions
Audience: Support staff, data stewards, librarians, research consultants, anyone involved in the provision of data management support

During this half-day event, the FORS data management support team, in collaboration with the research office of the University of Lausanne, will provide you with practical guidance on how to assess the shareability of research data, including personal and sensitive data, both quantitative and qualitative. The focus of the workshop will be on data that have already been collected, and which are intended to be shared in a data repository, such as SWISSUbase.

Detailed information and registration:  https://forscenter.ch/sharing-personal-data-through-a-data-repository/

We are proud to announce that our Data Service has obtained, for the second time, the CoreTrustSeal certification.

The CoreTrustSeal is a globally recognized certification awarded to organizations that have demonstrated their dedication to responsible data stewardship and excellence in data management practices. By obtaining this seal, the FORS Data Service has officially confirmed its adherence to rigorous international standards and best practices for ensuring the authenticity, integrity, and reliability of research data.

The CoreTrustSeal is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and recognizing trustworthy data repositories and services. Their comprehensive certification process evaluates an organization’s data management policies, practices, and infrastructure to ensure they meet international criteria for data trustworthiness. CoreTrustSeal certification is highly regarded in the research and data management community as a mark of excellence.

We are honoured to be among organisations dedicated to providing sustainable and trustworthy data infrastructures. This achievement reaffirms our commitment to the data community, our stakeholders, and the pursuit of knowledge. As we continue to serve our community, researchers, and data users, we look forward to leveraging this certification to further enhance data quality, transparency, and collaboration.

Further information: https://www.coretrustseal.org/about/

The CNES Seminar Series casts a spotlight on different National Election Studies that share their experiences in designing and conducting election studies.

Participation is free and open to everyone interested in the practices and methodological aspects of electoral research.

First edition: Implementing mixed-mode surveys

14 November 2023

15:30-17:00 (Central European time, GMT +1)

PROGRAMME

Chair: Eva Heiða Önnudóttir, Icelandic National Election Study (ICENES)

Participation is free but registration is mandatory. The deadline for registration was October 31, 2023.
Howerer you can still register here.

Further information on CNES: https://www.cnes.community/

The ISSP is pleased to announce the publication of the final release of the international ISSP 2020 Environment IV data file (ZA7650_v2.0.0), which includes data from Switzerland and 27 other ISSP member countries around the world.

The data and associated documentation for this release can be found at: https://www.gesis.org/en/issp/modules/issp-modules-by-topic/environment/2020

Parallel to the final release, the ISSP is organizing its second ISSP User Conference scheduled to take place online on December 4, 2023, with a primary focus on the topic of Environment. The Call for Abstracts is currently open for submissions:

https://issp.org/about-issp/issp-user-conference/

Results from the Swiss Household Panel have been discussed extensively in the media recently. The NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) and other journals have reported on the drop of fertility rates in Switzerland. Whereas 30 years ago about 16% of women in Switzerland were childless, this number has increased to 25% today. Valérie-Anne Ryser, senior researcher at the SHP, has been invited to the television broadcast FORUM to discuss these findings. Please find the whole interview here:

All media releases can be found here:

https://forscenter.ch/projects/swiss-household-panel/scientific-activities/

Switzerland has been granted full membership in the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA ERIC), as unanimously approved by the CESSDA General Assembly on June 8, 2023. CESSDA ERIC aims to promote social science research and support national and international research cooperation by bringing together social science data archives across Europe. In a data-driven research world, trusted data and service infrastructures such as CESSDA ERIC are crucial in fostering scientific innovation through data sharing and data accessibility across national borders.

Previously, Swiss participation in European research infrastructures was limited to observer status. However, in December 2022, the Swiss Parliament created the legal framework for Switzerland to become a full member of European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs) and allowed Switzerland to request full membership in CESSDA along with five other ERICs. As a result of this development, Switzerland will now have a formal voice in CESSDA decision-making through its member status and voting rights in the CESSDA ERIC General Assembly.

FORS has been nominated as the national CESSDA service provider by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). FORS has been an active member of CESSDA as an observer for many years and will continue to do so with renewed status as a full member. SERI’s Katharina Eggenberger and FORS’s Brian Kleiner will work together to represent Switzerland in the CESSDA General Assembly.

The collaboration between Swiss researchers and research infrastructures with those in other European countries is highly relevant to advance science in many domains, and FORS and CESSDA therefore welcome this milestone with FORS joining CESSDA ERIC as a full member.

For additional information please contact:

• FORS Director: Georg Lutz (lutz@fors.unil.ch)
• CESSDA Director: Bonnie Wolff-Boenisch (wolff-boenisch@cessda.eu)

CESSDA stands for Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives and ERIC stands for European Research Infrastructure Consortium. CESSDA provides large-scale, integrated and sustainable data services to the social sciences. It brings together social science data archives across Europe, with the aim of promoting the results of social science research and supporting national and international research and cooperation.

www.cessda.org

List of all service providers

The third edition of data and documentation for the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 10 has just been published.

Data from all 31 countries who took part in Round 10 (2020-22), including Switzerland, is now available via the ESS Data Portal.

A short briefing can be consulted here: Notes on ESS Round 10 data release.

The Round 10 survey includes the core questionnaire, fielded in every round.

It also includes two rotating modules: Europeans’ understandings and evaluations of democracy and Digital social contacts in work and family life.

Additionally, a special COVID-19 module was fielded by countries on a voluntary basis.

Detailed information on Round 10 data release is available on the ESS website.

The data overview for Round 10 Switzerland can be consulted here: Ernst Stähli, Michèle, Ochsner, Michael, Pollien, Alexandre, Nisple, Karin & Sapin, Marlène (2023). European Social Survey, Switzerland – 2021 (Round 10) (1.0.0) [Dataset]. FORS data service.https://doi.org/10.48573/8p06-0t58

Researchers from FORS and the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lausanne held a workshop at the university’s ‘Mystères de l’UNIL’ event from the 1st to the 4th June. The aim was to give children aged 8 to 12 an introduction to data literacy and to raise awareness in the general public of FORS surveys, which collect data on the health of the Swiss population.

The workshop was designed and organised by Caroline Roberts, researcher and lecturer in quantitative methods in the SSP Faculty of UNIL and survey methodologist, who collaborates with FORS on research aimed at improving the quality of our data. The workshop was set-up in collaboration with FORS collaborators Carmen Borrat-Besson and Michèle Ernst-Stähli, and Scientific Mediator Elodie Cachelin and her colleagues on the event organising team, and included an exhibition with 7 stands with interactive activities covering different topics related to measuring the health of the general population with sample surveys.

At each stand, games and activities were led by FORS and LIVES staff members Maud Wieczorek, Robert Reinecke, Louis Durussel and Marc Asensio Manjon, organisers Caroline Roberts, Carmen Borrat-Besson and Michèle Ernst-Stähli, and two students from the Faculty, Camille Haas and Marie Muratori. The activities were designed to illustrate key concepts relating to measuring health in surveys – from the role of data and statistics in decision-making; the different types and sources of health data and the role of surveys; visualising statistics to understand health inequalities, and the importance of ‘good data’ (data for the public good, but also good quality data) in public health research.

During the four-day event, we welcomed around 300 people, including eight school classes from the Lausanne region just starting out in their learning about the world of quantitative data.

Copyright: Caroline Roberts

We have published Wave 23 of the SHP! You can find all the data sets on SWISSUbase (Living in Switzerland Waves 1-23 + Covid 19 data). Wave 23 contains the two modules Religion and Psychological dimensions as well as new questions on chronic diseases.

You can access the new data here: https://doi.org/10.48573/cm0q-ah20

Christoph Zangger from the University of Bern has published a new study based on the SHP Covid-19 study. He investigated how and for whom relations with neighbors changed during the pandemic and how these changes impacted subjective well-being and trust in other people. His study shows that the most vulnerable groups in terms of health and socio-economic status saw their subjective well-being and trust negatively impacted through the challenging circumstances of the pandemic as well as indirectly through a relative deterioration of neighborly relations.

Find the detailed results here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101307

To increase the user-friendliness of the SHP data, we rethought the documentation page of our website. All the information concerning the SHP documentation is now compiled on one page and easily accessible. You can also find a new overview of all variables  included in the SHP and their availability per year.

This is our new documentation page.

In 2023, in response to requests from past editions’ participants, we are introducing three new courses:

• Designing and Conducting Social-scientific Experiments
• Conducting a Grounded Theory Study
• Web Scraping and Data Mining in R

The 2022 Annual Report showcases our research, our data services, infrastructure and collaboration programs and publications. The report also summarize all of the activities associated with our national and international surveys.

In the editorial of the report, FORS Director Prof. Georg Lutz highlights the fact that research infrastructures are important in many scientific disciplines, as they organise many long-term and collaborative undertakings relevant to entire research communities. FORS not only hosts such infrastructure projects as the national data archive and centre for national and international surveys; FORS also actively contributes to strengthening the position of SSH infrastructures in the long term and ensuring good coordination between existing projects and initiatives.

Consult the FORS Annual Report 2022.

The 6th wave of Selects was fielded  between September 26 and November 6, 2022. This wave provides insights, among others, into vote intention in federal elections, vote decision in popular votes, opinion on various issues related to the implications of the war in the Ukraine (like the reception of Ukrainian refugees, energy policy, security policy, etc.).

The data of waves 1 to 6 of the panel survey SELECTS can be found on SWISSUbase

https://doi.org/10.48573/4my6-rd07

Informaition on SELECTS: https://forscenter.ch/projects/selects/

We are pleased to announce the release of the MOSAiCH/ISSP 2022 data on “Family and Changing Gender Roles” and related topics, fielded in spring 2022.

The data and documentation on this release can be found here:  https://www.swissubase.ch/en/catalogue/studies/20135/18818/datasets/2161/2569/overview

The thematic focus of the MOSAiCH Study 2022 lies on the module “Family and Changing Gender Roles V” of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Repeated for the fifth time, this module is one of the longest-running thematic series of the ISSP, with Swiss data also available for the 2012 and 2002 editions. This international part is supplemented by selected socio-demographic questions, and a module composed of Switzerland specific questions.

The ESS Scientific Advisory Board has completed its selection of rotating modules for the European Social Survey Round 12.

For the first time the Board has selected 2 repeat modules. The successful modules are:

• ‘Personal and social wellbeing’ led by Frank Martela, Aalto University, School of Science (Finland)
• ‘Attitudes to immigrants and refugees’ led by Anthony Heath, University of Oxford (UK).  This module team includes NCs from Portugal (Alice Ramos) and Ukraine (Tymofii Brik).

Both modules address crucial academic and policy relevant topics for Europe and provide both innovation and continuity, thereby supporting new topics as well as time series analysis. For more information and to access the proposals see News | European Social Survey (ESS)

MOSAiCH 2024 – Call for question contributions

We hereby invite scholars to propose questions for the follow-up survey administered after the ISSP 2024 module on “Digital Societies”. Proposals will be selected according to their scientific quality, thematic relevance and survey applicability. Successful proposals will be fielded in spring 2024 and data will be available early 2025.

The deadline for submissions is Monday 24th of April 2023.

Further information and documentation can be found in the PDF document CALL MOSAICH 2024.

The European Social Survey (ESS) has published data from an additional 15 countries who participated in Round 10 (2020-22) of our survey.

This second release – available exclusively through the ESS Data Portal – includes 25 countries whose data has been published alongside post-stratification weights.

Due to measures implemented to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus, some countries fielded our Round 10 questionnaire using self-completion methods for the first time.

This updated dataset therefore includes 19 countries who administered the survey in line with previous rounds: using only in-person interviews.

Data collected in this way is available from 19 countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Data from six countries – Austria, Germany, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Sweden – was collected through online and postal questionnaires using a ‘self-completion’ design.

As a result of the inclusion of data that was collected using only self-completion modes, we have published a short briefing: Notes on ESS Round 10 data release.

Read the briefing: Notes on ESS Round 10 data release

Download the latest data from the ESS Data Portal

Further information on the release can be found on the ESS website

The “Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Research Infrastructures in Switzerland” initiative is piloted by a coordination group consisting of the directors of national research infrastructures (RIs) in the SSH, the national coordinators of international SSH RIs with Swiss participation (CESSDA, CLARIN, DARIAH, ESS, SHARE, GGP) and one representative of the Swiss Academy for the Swiss Academy for Social and Human Sciences (SAGW).

As a follow up to the first event (31 May 2022) and of the position paper (November 2022), the coordination group of this initiative invites the members of the Swiss SSH scientific community interested in research infrastructures to a second event on 18 January 2023.

This meeting has three main objectives.

• First, to raise awareness on the importance of research infrastructure in the SSH domain and how prioritisation and funding works (national and ESFRI roadmap process).
• Second, to share experiences from other countries and the European level on how collaborations between projects and infrastructures work.
• Third, to give a platform to potential new Swiss RIs in the SSH domain in order to reflect on needs of the SSH community and how to create synergies and join forces.

To reach these objectives, we will welcome four invited speakers from abroad (see the updated Programme), who will share their experience of how collaboration and clustering happened successfully in other countries and at the European level. In addition, the floor will also be given to several Swiss projects of RIs in the SSH field with the aim to reflect on user needs and possible synergies. Finally, the day will end with a Round Table with an open discussion, in which invited guests from the SNSF, the SERI, swissuniversities, the SAGW and all members of the audience will have the opportunity to express themselves.

Register now !

Organizing committee

Prof. Dr. Georg Lutz (FORS)

Dr. Cristina Grisot (DARIAH-CH & CLARIN-CH)

Dr. Elena Chestnova (USI)

Dr. Claire Clivaz (SIB)

Dr. Beat Immenhauser (SAGW)

Further information and registration: https://www.dariah.ch/post/ssh-research-infrastructures-in-switzerland-initiative

To the interview