The Core Study Questionnaire
TSS administers a yearly core study questionnaire that captures essential socio-demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal information among all panel members. These data are made freely available to the scientific community, allowing you to save time and avoid repeating basic questions in your own surveys within the TSS panel (such as education level or household composition). The full overview of themes addressed is available below.
Take advantage of this valuable resource to enrich your research without any additional effort or cost!
Core Study Questionnaire 2024
The first Core Study Questionnaire of The Social Study was fielded in 2024, collecting a broad range of data across three full survey waves – plus additional questions from other waves – amounting to approximately one hour of survey time; you can explore here the three main 2024 questionnaires in French or in Dutch.
Click here for the full codebook of the Core Study Questionnaire 2024 (opens in new window).
Core Study Questionnaire 2025
Starting in 2025, the Core Study Questionnaire will consist of a single survey wave. This wave primarily includes repeated questions from previous editions to ensure up-to-date data collection, while also introducing new modules to address an even broader variety of topics. The 2025 Core Study Questionnaire is available for consultation here in both French and Dutch.
If you have any questions about the data of The Social Study, please contact thesocialstudydata@thesocialstudy.be.
Main themes of TSS Core Study Questionnaires
🏠 Personal information
- Demographics (age, gender identity, nationality)
- Education and school trajectory
- Language use at home and additional languages
- Housing type, ownership and satisfaction
👨👩👧👦 Family and relationships
- Household composition, household members’ basic demographics, relationships
- Partner’s basic demographics
- Family structure (siblings, grandparents, children) [2025]
- Parental relationships, contact frequency and satisfaction [2025]
🧑💼 Employment and work conditions
- Employment status and job characteristics
- Work intensity, autonomy, and supervision
- Unemployment history and job search
- Telework and commuting habits
- Job satisfaction
💶 Financial situation
- Personal and household income sources
- Financial well-being and satisfaction
- Changes in financial situation over time
🕒 Leisure and cultural participation
- Frequency of social and cultural activities [2024]
- Media consumption (TV, cinema, concerts, museums) [2024]
- Artistic hobbies and reading habits [2024]
- Volunteering and association membership [2024]
🌍 Diversity and intercultural relations
- Contact with people from different cultural backgrounds [2024]
- Attitudes toward diversity, integration, and discrimination [2024]
🧠 Personality and well-being
- Personality traits (Big Five)
- Emotional states and psychological well-being
- Self-esteem and social trust
🧑🤝🧑 Social networks and support
- Social contacts and intimacy
- Perceived social support and loneliness
- Household and partner dynamics [2024]
- Parenting and division of household tasks [2024]
🗳️ Voting behavior and political engagement
- Vote choice for 2024 European, federal and regional elections; for 2019 federal elections
- Voting motives [2024]
- Union membership [2025]
- Health insurance affiliation [2025]
🏛️ Opinions on society and politics
- Views on climate change, inequality, and justice [2024]
- Attitudes toward welfare state and public services
- Political interest, trust, and participation [2024]
- Opinions on gender roles, family, and social norms [2024]
- Political preferences (religion, federalism, immigration, …) [2024]
🏥 Health and lifestyle
- Physical and mental health conditions
- Health behaviors (diet, smoking, alcohol, physical activity,…)
- Use of healthcare services
- Perceived health and limitations
- Sport participation [2025]
🚶♂️ Mobility and transportation
- Driving license and available vehicles [2025]
- Use of shared mobility and of public transport [2025]
- Living and working environment (urban/rural classification) [2025]
- Mobility infrastructure: proximity to public transport, highways, bike lanes [2025]