SERISS · Project

Unified European Survey Tools That Make Cross-Country Social Data Collection Cheaper and More Reliable

digitalTestedTRL 5Thin data (2/5)

Imagine you need to ask the same question to people in 10 different countries and actually compare their answers — that's incredibly hard because languages, cultures, and survey methods all differ. SERISS brought together Europe's three biggest social survey networks to build shared tools: a web platform for managing surveys across borders, software for translating and harmonizing questionnaires, and a searchable library of existing data. They also tackled the tricky parts like data protection rules that vary country by country, and how to interview hard-to-reach groups like migrants or elderly people in care homes.

By the numbers

EUR 8,494,397

EU funding for development of cross-country survey infrastructure

partner organizations in the consortium

countries represented in the consortium

110

total project deliverables produced

major European research infrastructures integrated (ESS, SHARE, CESSDA)

The business problem

What needed solving

Companies and government agencies running multi-country surveys in Europe waste significant time and money dealing with inconsistent methods, incompatible data formats, and varying data protection rules across countries. This makes it expensive to get reliable, comparable results — and hard-to-reach population groups (migrants, elderly in care, young unemployed) are often missed entirely.

The solution

What was built

SERISS produced 110 deliverables including four key digital tools: a web-based survey project management platform opened to external users, a harmonisation web interface for cross-country questionnaire standardization, a searchable online library of survey data, and a prototype tablet-based SMS tool for fieldwork.

Audience

Who needs this

Multi-country market research firms running pan-European consumer studiesNational statistical offices comparing social indicators across EU member statesPublic policy consultancies advising governments on migration, employment, or aging policyAcademic survey organizations looking to reduce fieldwork costs through shared infrastructureData analytics companies building products on European social and demographic data

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Market Research & Polling

mid-size

Target: Cross-border market research firms running multi-country consumer surveys

If you are a market research firm struggling with inconsistent results when surveying consumers across European markets — SERISS developed a web-based survey project management platform and a harmonisation web interface that standardize questionnaire design, translation, and coding across countries. With 22 partner organizations across 10 countries contributing to 110 deliverables, these tools were built to handle real-world complexity of multi-language, multi-country data collection.

Government & Public Policy

enterprise

Target: National statistical offices and government agencies collecting cross-border social data

If you are a government statistical office that needs to compare employment, migration, or aging data with other EU countries — SERISS built tools to connect survey data with administrative records and created an EU-wide data protection compliance approach. The project specifically addressed how to better represent hard-to-reach groups like young unemployed, older persons in institutions, and migrants in population surveys.

Social Data Analytics

any

Target: Data analytics companies offering insights on demographics, consumer behavior, or social trends

If you are a data analytics provider looking for structured, comparable European social datasets — SERISS created a searchable online library of harmonized survey data and advanced web-based interviewing tools. The consortium of 10 research organizations and 10 universities produced resources that make it easier to access and compare social science data across European countries.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

How much would it cost to access or license these survey tools?

The project was publicly funded with EUR 8,494,397 in EU contribution under a Research and Innovation Action. The web-based platforms and harmonisation tools were developed as research infrastructure outputs. Licensing terms would need to be discussed directly with the coordinating organization (European Social Survey ERIC).

Can these tools handle large-scale commercial survey operations?

The tools were designed to manage surveys across 10+ countries simultaneously, which suggests significant scale capability. The web-based survey management platform was explicitly made available to external survey projects. However, these were built for academic research infrastructure, not commercial throughput.

Who owns the intellectual property?

The project was coordinated by the European Social Survey European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS ERIC), a public research body. IP from publicly funded RIA projects typically allows open or negotiated access. Specific licensing terms for the 110 deliverables would need to be clarified with ESS ERIC.

Is there commercial deployment of any of these tools?

Based on available project data, the tools reached working prototype and external availability stage. The web-based survey management platform was opened to external survey projects, and the harmonisation web interface and searchable online library are functional web applications. No evidence of commercial licensing or deployment was found.

How does this handle GDPR and cross-border data protection?

One of the project's explicit objectives was creating a consistent EU-wide approach for data protection in social surveys. Given the project ran from 2015 to 2019 — spanning the GDPR implementation period — the resulting tools should incorporate GDPR-era thinking, though specific compliance certifications are not documented in the available data.

What concrete tools were actually delivered?

The project produced 110 deliverables in total. Key demonstrated outputs include: a web-based survey project management platform available to external projects, a harmonisation web interface for cross-country questionnaire standardization, a searchable online library web application, and a prototype tablet SMS tool.

Consortium

Who built it

This is a purely academic consortium: 22 partners across 10 countries, but with zero industrial participants. The consortium is split between 10 universities and 9 research organizations, plus 3 other entities. Only 2 partners qualify as SMEs. The coordinator is the European Social Survey ERIC based in the UK — a well-established research infrastructure body, not a commercial entity. For a business buyer, this means the tools were built by researchers for researchers. Any commercial adoption would require adaptation work and a licensing conversation with academic institutions that may not have standard commercial terms in place.

EUROPEAN SOCIAL SURVEY EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUMCoordinator · UK
UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRAthirdparty · ES
FONDATION SUISSE POUR LA RECHERCHE EN SCIENCES SOCIALESthirdparty · CH
GESIS-LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUR SOZIALWISSENSCHAFTEN EVthirdparty · DE
STICHTING CENTERDATAthirdparty · NL
KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN - KNAWparticipant · NL
NSD - NORSK SENTER FOR FORSKNINGSDATA ASthirdparty · NO
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVAthirdparty · IT
CESSDA ERICparticipant · NO
UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIAthirdparty · IT
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEXthirdparty · UK
CITY ST GEORGES UNIVERSITY OF LONDONthirdparty · UK
INSTITUTE OF SOCIOLOGY OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC PUBLIC RESEARCH INSTITUTIONthirdparty · CZ
TILBURG UNIVERSITY- UNIVERSITEIT VAN TILBURGparticipant · NL
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEMthirdparty · IL
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EVthirdparty · DE
EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUM FOR THE SURVEY OF HEALTH, AGEING AND RETIREMENT IN EUROPEparticipant · DE
UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANIthirdparty · SI
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAMparticipant · NL

How to reach the team

European Social Survey ERIC (UK) — contact via project website or CORDIS portal

Order a report on this consortium See EUROPEAN SOCIAL SURVEY EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUM profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

SciTransfer can help you evaluate whether SERISS survey tools fit your cross-country data collection needs and facilitate introductions to the ESS ERIC team.

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