Founded in 1965, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) is an Organized Research Unit at York University. The Institute's purpose is to promote, undertake and critically evaluate applied social research. The Institute provides consultation and support services to the University administration and York faculty, students and staff conducting research primarily in the social sciences but also in the biological and physical sciences. For researchers from other universities, government agencies, public organizations and the private sector, the Institute conducts research projects, provides consultation on research design, and undertakes data collection, data processing and statistical analysis on a fee-for-service basis.

The Institute, with more than 40 years of experience in social science, public opinion and policy research, houses the largest university-based survey research unit in Canada. ISR annually conducts between twenty and thirty research projects at the local, provincial and national levels in such areas as education, housing, gender issues, energy and the environment, health and medical services, politics, law, social interaction and other social issues. ISR also carries out on-going studies of York students that are relevant to policy makers as well as academics in their roles as researchers, teachers and administrators. The Institute staff performs all stages of the survey research process from questionnaire design, sample selection and data collection to the preparation of machine-readable data files, statistical analysis and report writing.

The Institute regularly conducts seminars in social research methods including questionnaire and sample design, the implementation of mail and telephone surveys, data analysis, focus groups and interpreting qualitative data. With partial support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), ISR's Statistical Consulting Service (SCS) provides consultation on research design and statistical analysis. SCS also sponsors short courses on statistical analysis, research methodology and the use of statistical software.

Survey data collected at the Institute and selected data sets from other major Canadian surveys are kept in the data archive at ISR for the purpose of secondary analysis and teaching. The Newsletter of the Institute, usually published three times a year, keeps academics and policy makers up-to-date on the research studies in which the Institute is engaged. The Institute has a Publication Series with more than 80 titles in such areas as education, health studies, policy research, research methodology, gender issues, quality of life studies, and ethnic and immigration studies.