AUSSDA – more than a digital archive

21.08.2019

Have you ever wondered how social science questionnaires were formulated in Austria in 1955? What were main research fields in the 1980s? Are you looking for general election exit poll data from the 90s?

AUSSDA at the Vienna University Library has recently acquired the majority of the social science archive material of the Austrian branch of the market research institute GfK (formerly FESSEL-Institut or FESSEL-GfK) from the 1950s to 2005. Our archiving experts Karin Faktor and Patrick Zieserl are currently reviewing the paper stocks. This data treasure containing several thousand publications will be gradually made available for research.  

Research also means ongoing discovery

Every day resembles a research expedition. Each of the more than 100 boxes awaiting inspection and reviewing in AUSSDA's basement contains studies with new topics and questions. 

Range of topics

The survey topics include electoral research, economic policy priorities, youth (cultural) research, consumer decisions, and much more. They are thus of interest to various disciplines.  

The first 88 studies soon available for download

Soon the first 88 studies will be available for scientific use in the AUSSDA Dataverse. Several thousand additional publications will be gradually recorded and digitized on demand for research purposes. 

We will keep you updated on the project's progress. 

Some remarkable studies we have already come across:  

  • A questionnaire with Viennese tailors about buttons (1957) 
  • The expected proportion of votes in the federal presidential election (1957)
  • Hygiene of men (1968)  
  • Attitude of young people towards school and work (1971) 
  • Future hopes and expectations of the Austrian population (1985) 
  • Chernobyl: Information perception and individual behaviour (1986) 
  • Youth and Politics: Political orientation (1993) 
  • What remained of old Austria? (1996) 
  • Hopes and fears: Education as premise for openness towards innovation (1997) 
  • Labour force potential / Women (2004)  

The AUSSDA Team sifting through the publications. (Foto: Sabrina Zehetner)