The Berman Jewish Policy Archive and North American Jewish Data Bank today launched the Jewish Survey Question Bank (JSQB), a compilation of more than 15,000 survey questions and response options used in Jewish social research that is designed to serve as a resource for academics, leaders of Jewish organizations and Jewish educators by helping them craft their own surveys.

“JSQB offers access to Jewish education and demographic research, as well as program evaluation of education initiatives,” says Professor Steven M. Cohen, director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU. “It is an unprecedented compilation of information that will be helpful to the professional researcher, academic, or Jewish organization professional or lay leader. Ultimately, JSQB is a tool that should enable these individuals to do their jobs more effectively.”

The user-friendly database is searchable by specific question, survey topic, geographic region, researcher, and other advanced search functions. Question topics cover the spectrum of Jewish social research – from Affiliation to Zionism, with thousands of other questions in between, many geared towards programmatic offerings.

“Jewish professionals at organizations and synagogues often write their own surveys for program evaluation and needs assessment,” says Sarah Benor, Associate Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College “Yet, when they do, they often don’t know where to start, how to phrase questions, and how to properly develop the structure of a survey. The JSQB enables them to search for questions that have been tested in the field and tailor them to their own specific needs. And when professionals use those questions and publish their survey results, scholars will be able to conduct meta-analyses comparing multiple studies.”

Professor Cohen offers a brief introduction to the JSQB in the video below and will be conducting webinar tutorials for academics and researchers over the next few months.

The JSQB was funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation and is one of multiple initiatives the Foundation is pursuing to increase and improve the availability of data and research findings for the field.