Compilation of social science items and scales

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Compilation of social science items and scales (ZIS)
Gesis ZIS - Logo final dt.png

Logo from ZIS

founding 1990
Duration 269 ​​freely accessible documented measuring instruments (as of February 2020)
Library type Document server
Website https://zis.gesis.org/

Compilation of social science items and scales ( CIS ) is an Open Access - repository for social and behavioral science instruments (questionnaires, test items, scale, index). It is published by GESIS - Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences .

German, English and multilingual measuring instruments on various social science research topics are published. ZIS offers a platform to both document and find measuring instruments with the associated information on the theoretical background, development and psychometric quality criteria on the one hand. With over 260 documented measuring instruments (as of 2020), it is the largest range of freely available measuring instruments for the social sciences in German-speaking countries.

history

ZIS has its origins in the ZUMA handbook of social science scales that was published in the 1980s . This was followed by the ZUMADOC online database in the 1990s.

ZIS appeared at the end of 1990 under the full name “ZUMA Information System” as an electronic manual for German-language measuring instruments in the social sciences. It was founded with the aim of collecting measuring instruments and the associated theoretical and methodological information in a centralized manner, which are often published in different sources (e.g. articles, individual websites, books).

Since the restructuring of GESIS in 2008, ZIS no longer stands for "ZUMA Information System", but for "Collection of Items and Scales for the Social Sciences". In 2014, the electronic manual was replaced by the current online version. Since then, an international orientation has also been pursued, with increasingly English and multilingual measuring instruments being documented and published.

Goals and direction

ZIS is primarily aimed at researchers from various disciplines in the social sciences (especially sociology, psychology, communication studies, media studies, cultural studies, education, political science, health sciences, economics). The aim is to improve research conditions by collecting information that could only be found in advance after intensive research (Glöckner-Rist & Bandilla, 1997).

The instrument documentation is based on the quality guidelines of the RatSWD and, in addition to the instrument itself, also contains information on the theoretical background, development and quality criteria (e.g. reliability and validity). Anyone who has designed, expanded or transferred a social science measuring instrument to other contexts and checked it on the basis of empirical data can submit the associated documentation in ZIS. Every documentation of a measuring instrument is provided with a persistent identifier ( digital object identifiers [DOIs]). This makes a measuring instrument and its documentation permanently available, clearly identifiable and scientifically citable.

ZIS can be used free of charge, and publishing in ZIS is also free of charge. Publications from December 2019 appear under a Creative Commons license.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Center for Surveys, Methods and Analyzes & Information Center for Social Sciences (Ed.): ZUMA-Handbuch Sozialwissenschaftlicher Scalen . Mannheim / Bonn 1983.
  2. ↑ Krebs, D .: ZUMADOC: The ZUMA scale manual online. In: ZUMA News . tape 34 , p. 116-119 .
  3. ↑ Glöckner-Rist, A., & Bandilla, W .: The ZUMA Information System (ZIS). In: ZUMA work report, 1997/06 . Mannheim: Center for Surveys, Methods and Analyzes -ZUMA 1997.