The Sixth International Workshop on Comparative Survey Design and Implementation (CSDI) took place in Ann Arbor, Michigan from March 5-7, 2009. Because of the workshop nature of CSDI meetings, attendance was by invitation.

The International Workshop on Comparative Survey Design and Implementation (CSDI) was founded in 2002 in Brussels at a meeting of researchers active in cross-national or cross-cultural survey research. The main goal was to improve comparative survey design, implementation and related analysis and to provide a forum and platform for researchers involved in research relevant for comparative survey methods (see http://www.csdiworkshop.org/). Task forces were set up at the first meeting to encourage and facilitate cooperation on different key issues. Members of the groups seemed to prefer the title “work groups” however and we have gravitated towards that name.

The CSDI Workshop meets each year to present new research and report on work group projects. The following 6 Methodology groups have been established: CSDI Guidelines, Questionnaire Design, Multilingual Matters (a cover name for several subgroups), Data Collection, Knowledge Management & Documentation, Survey Quality and Analysis.

In the work group on Guidelines, researchers and practitioners are working on Cross-Cultural Survey Guidelines for every phase of the survey lifecycle (see http://ccsg.isr.umich.edu). Their aim is to develop and promote internationally recognized guidelines that highlight best practice for the conduct of comparative survey research across cultures and countries. The intended audience for the Guidelines includes researchers and survey practitioners planning or engaged in cross-cultural or cross-national research.The Cross-Cultural Survey Guidelines are based on (1) survey methods, cross-cultural, and comparative literatures, (2) published study-specific manuals and other
documents, and (3) authors' and reviewers' experiences with numerous comparative surveys. They have a standard format of guideline, rationale, procedural steps and lessons learned. The web-based material is set up to be dynamic and reviews and improvements carried out as better information becomes available. Version numbers will be provided for updated Guideline versions.

The next meeting is expected to be hosted in March 2010 by the Swiss Foundation for Research in Social Sciences (FORS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Details will soon be announced. The aim is to have this be a somewhat larger meeting than in the past and people interested in attending should contact the coordinator, Janet Harkness.

Given the focus of interest of the CSDI it might be interesting to explore synergies with the groups involved in similar tasks in the PRO field. In this connection, Janet Harkness will be an invited speaker at the Annual Meeting of the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL) in autumn 2009 in a session on health-related quality of life and other patient-reported outcomes.

For more information about CSDI contact Janet Harkness at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it