General Social Survey

1. General Social Survey Jon Stiles April 29, 2010

2. General Social Survey What I’ll talk about today What is the GSS? (and why should I care?) What’s on the GSS? Core Content Topical Modules ISSP (Cross-national) Modules What’s changed over time on the GSS? How can the data from the GSS be accessed? What tools exist? Where’s documentation? Where can ISSP data be accessed? What tools exist? Where’s documentation?

3. General Social SurveyWhat is the GSS? (and why should I care?) The General Social Survey is a nationally representative survey of non-institutionalized adults in the U.S., providing demographic, attitudinal and behavioral measures collected using face-to-face interviews beginning in 1972. The survey was fielded annually between 1972 and 1993 (except for 1979, 1981 and 1992), and biennially after that. The annual surveys had a sample size of around 1500, and the biennial surveys had a sample size of around 3000. As of 2008, it had collected data for more than 53,000 respondents, covering more than 5,000 data items. It is one of the most widely used data sets in the social sciences. With the exception of the Census and CPS, the GSS is the most frequently used data set in the three leading sociology journals. As of December 2007, NORC has identified it use for nearly 8000 journal articles, 2500 books, and 350 dissertations.

4. General Social SurveyWhat is the GSS? (and why should I care?) The GSS is widely respected, andhas been described as: • A "national resource" (Alwin, 1988; Firebaugh, 1997; Freese, 2007; NSF, 2007; Working Group on Large-Scale Data Needs in Luce et al., 1989). • A “core database” in both sociology (Campbell, 2001) and political science (Kasse, 2001). • A “gold standard” (Bobo, 2003; Bradburn, 2007; Healy, 2004; Heath, Fisher, and Smith, 2005;Miller, Azrael, and Hemenway, 2002; Miller, 2004; NSF, 2006a & 2007; Saguaro Seminar, 2006;Seligman, 2004). • The “best data available” (Bolzendahl and Brooks, 2005; Brooks and Cheng, 2001; Loftus, 2001;Miller and Stark, 2002). • “Essential for the field of population research” (Population Association of America, 2007). • “The premier academic sociology survey” (Teixeira, 2006). • “The most comprehensive national monitoring of public opinion” (Robinson and Martin, 2006). • “The highest-quality omnibus survey done in the United States” (Zipp and Fenwick, 2006). • “Benchmarks to which other surveys are compared to assess their representativeness or the overall accuracy of their results” (Tourangeau, 2003).

5. General Social Survey Part II. What’s on the GSS?

6. General Social SurveyWhat’s on the GSS? Core Content – A replicating core of items asked consistently over time, allowing for analysis of trends. The core content typically consumes about two-thirds of the 90 minute GSS interview. Topical Modules – Usually appear once, and examine specific topics, attitudes and behaviors in greater depth. May vary from one or two questions to a longer series. The topical modules are usually geared to take around 15 minutes. ISSP (Cross-national) Modules – A series of modules, which are geared to repeat periodically, and are replicated in many other countries.

7. General Social SurveyCore Content The core sections of the survey emphasizes collection of data on social trends though exact replication of question wordings over time. These items fall into two major categories: socio-demographic/background measures, and; replicated measurements on social and political attitudes and behaviors Core items may be full coverage (asked on all surveys) or rotating.

8. General Social SurveyCore Content: Demographic and life-course data (self) Age, Cohort, Astrological sign, Month of Birth, Sex, Race, Hispanic origin, Ethnic origin, Nativity Family Composition Marital Status, age first wed, ever divorced, widowed, separated Children ever born, age at birth of first child Labor Force Employment, unemployment, hours worked, weeks worked Occupation, Industry, DOT classifications, Union Superiors/subordinates in workplace Income Education, Degree Family Income Political Party Religion Geography 1998 – 2006 : All Topical modules externally funded.

9. General Social SurveyCore Content: Demographic and life-course data: Spouse/Origins Demographic and life-course data: Spouse/Origins Household roster (Relationship to HH, age, sex, marital status) Number of generation in HH, HH type Proxy reports for: Spouse Employment, unemployment, hours worked, weeks worked Occupation, Industry, DOT classifications, Union Education, Degree Political Party Religious preference Proxy Reports for: Father, Mother, Age 16 Occupation, Industry, Education, Nativity (parents & grandparents) Family Type Religion (raised in) Geography (region, size of place)

10. General Social SurveyCore Content Technical Year, Date of Interview Form, Ballot, Version Weights (ADULTS, OVERSAMP, FORMWT, WTSSNR,WTSALL) Sampcode Interviewer assessment of respondent cooperativeness, comprehension Interviewer race, hispanic origin (since 2004)

11. General Social SurveyCore Content Social/Political Attitudes & Behaviors Well-being: Happiness, Marital happiness, Views of others Religion: attendance, prayer, beliefs (life after death, God, Bible), school prayer Suicide Abortion Gender roles Family & Children (ideal family size, divorce, birth control, spanking, gay marriage, ideal child attributes) Social contacts – relatives, neighbors, friends, bar Sex – Education in school, premarital, teens, extramarital, gay, pornography, Work – security, satisfaction Class/financial well-being/standard of living/anticipation for future Political – Votes for president, liberal/conservative, attitudes toward government intervention, priorities for national spending, civil liberties, confidence in various social institutions Racial attitudes, stereotypes

12. General Social SurveyTopical Modules

13. General Social SurveyTopical Modules

14. General Social SurveyTopical Modules

15. General Social SurveyTopical Modules

16. General Social SurveyTopical Modules

17. General Social SurveyTopical Modules

18. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp • The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a continuous programme of cross-national collaboration running annual surveys on topics important for the social sciences. The programme started in 1984 with four founding members - Australia, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States – and has grown to 45 member countries from all over the world in 2008. • The ISSP is unique in a number of ways: • The cross-national collaboration is not ad hoc or intermittent, but continuous. Thus, the ISSP makes cross-national research a basic part of the national research agenda of each participating country. • The programme is based on voluntary co-operation. Major decisions on modules or questionnaires, on membership or membership obligations are taken by the ISSP in common, by votes in the ISSP’s general assembly. • ISSP surveys are designed to serve as replications. Hence, the ISSP offers two powerful research strategies to study societal processes - by combining a cross-time with a cross-national perspective. 

19. General Social Survey ISSP Modules

20. General Social Survey ISSP Modules Number of Countries Participating by Year

21. General Social Survey Part III. What’s changed over time?

22. General Social SurveyWhat’s changed over time on the GSS? 1970 Sample Frame Block Quota Sample Transition to Full Probability sample 1975/1976

23. General Social SurveyWhat’s changed over time on the GSS? 1970 Sample Frame Full probability sample First Topical Module (1977) Black Oversample (1982) 1979, 1981 samples dropped 1 1

24. General Social SurveyWhat’s changed over time on the GSS? 1980 Sample Frame Full probability Annual Topical Modules 1985 on ISSP modules begin 1985 Black oversample 1987 Shift from across-survey rotation to split-ballot rotation 1988 1992 sample dropped 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

25. General Social SurveyWhat’s changed over time on the GSS? 1990 Sampling Frame Full probability 1994 Redesign reduced core, enhanced topical Biennial – even numbered years, starting 1994 Pencil & Paper to CAPI 2002 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 4 7 5 9

26. General Social SurveyWhat’s changed over time on the GSS? 2000 Sampling Frame Full probability Sub-sampling for non-response Spanish language survey 1996 Rotating Panel Design 2008 (New CX 2008 + re-interview 2006) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 4 7 5 9 14 12 9

27. General Social SurveyHow can the data from the GSS be accessed? What tools exist? Where’s documentation? NORC: Data Questionnaires Reports (methodological, trends, cross-national) Restricted Use (geography) http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/Documentation/ SDA (Berkeley) http://sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/hsda?harcsda+gss08 ICPSR http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/25962 Roper Center http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/data_access/data/datasets/general_social_survey.html

28. General Social Survey How can the data from the GSS be accessed?

29. General Social Survey How can the data from the GSS be accessed?

30. General Social Survey How can the data from the GSS be accessed?

31. General Social Survey How can the data from the GSS be accessed?

32. General Social Survey How can the data from the GSS be accessed?

33. General Social Survey Part V. Where can ISSP data be accessed?

34. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/

35. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp

36. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp List of Years List of Countries

37. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp Selection of any module topic provides listing of years fielded. Selection of year provides lists of participating countries, sample sizes, links to original questionnaires in the language it was fielded in, And……

38. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp Summary of general topic areas, questions; when a replication, what items were asked in which years

39. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp Codebook with country-level detail on PI’s, sample design, response rates, weighting, marginals, notes.

40. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp Monitoring report on translation of the survey and possible problems raised by translation, whether it was pre-tested, whether it was fielded alone or as part of another survey, whether question ordering was preserved, sampling/design/field issues (use of quotas, substitution, age cutoffs, mode of Collection, non-response follow-up, response rates, etc…)

41. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp Online analysis and download of data, as well as study and variable description

42. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Scienceshttp://www.gesis.org/en/services/data/survey-data/issp Current ISSP practice is to re-administer modules covering a given topic (e.g. role of government, social inequality, religion) on a 10-year cycle. Two-thirds of the items in an ISSP module are to be replicated content.