What is ZIS?

    ZIS is an open access repository for social and behavioural science measurement instruments (items, scales, questionnaires, tests).

    Documented are German, English and multilingual measurement instruments on a variety of topics in the social and behavioural sciences (e.g., politics, environment, health, personality). Among them are many measurement instruments that have been used in national and international social and behavioral science surveys (e.g., ISSP, ESS, PIAAC, Allbus, SOEP).

    All instruments documented in ZIS can be used free of charge at least for non-commercial research purposes.

    Each documentation includes information on the development and validation of the measurement instrument and is peer-reviewed and evaluated according to established scientific quality standards.

    The measurement instruments are available as paper-pencil version and predominantly also as slightly modified web-based version. The web-based version (*.lsg files; beta version of ZIS) is available for free download (after login) and can be imported into the online survey tool .

    The two functions of ZIS

    • Publishing. Empirically proven measurement instruments can be published in ZIS in a visible, permanently available and citable manner. This is possible in ZIS even if you have already published or made available your instrument elsewhere (see Publishing Requirements). Publishing measuring instruments is for free.
    • Search and find. In ZIS, you can find suitable measurement instruments for your research project. A thematic list and a search function are available for this purpose. A database of more than 300 measurement instruments published in ZIS is accessed. Furthermore, ZIS can be used to search the database of the RDC Education at the DIPF for measurement instruments from educational research and the database of the Open Test Archive at ZPID for measurement instruments from psychology and related neighboring disciplines.

    Why publishing in ZIS?

    • Establishment of the measurement instrument. Each measurement instrument and its documentation in ZIS are registered with its own DOI in da|ra to facilitate citations.Digital Object Identifier. Thus it becomes permanently available and can be cited sustainably.
    • Protection of copyrights. You retain the copyright to your instrument. We use Creative Commons Licenses.
    • Promotion of new research. Sharing the measurement instrument with other researchers can promote new research.
    • Data collection. Additional users of the measurement instrument can obtain new data on the measurement instrument.

    Why searching in ZIS?

    • Findability of measurement instruments. A special search function makes it easier to find suitable measuring instruments.
    • Compare measurement instruments. A uniform documentation scheme facilitates the comparison of different measurement instruments.
    • Transparent terms of use. The terms of use are specified in each documentation.
    • Existing comparative data. Comparative data are provided for all measurement instruments.
    • Information about the development status. Each measurement instrument is evaluated by ZIS according to the information content of the documentation for the development and validation of the instrument.