Forms of Group Involvement: Alternatives to the Standard Question

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142110465
Author(s):  
Claude Fischer ◽  
Xavier Durham

Deciding whether Americans have become decreasingly involved in group life entails a methodological issue: Does the standard question about the associations to which respondents belong, asked for decades by the General Social Survey (GSS) and many others, miss newer and more diverse forms of group involvement? Following on Paxton and Rap, we mine a recent panel survey, UCNets, that provides several different means for allowing respondents to describe their group involvement. We observe more and much more varied kinds of group involvement than those elicited by the last GSS administration of the standard question in 2004. (Analyses in the Supplement of a few additional surveys confirm this diversity.) These results lead to suggestions for how to better measure involvement in groups, in particular being more sensitive to many axes of difference in the general population. The results have implications for the larger debate as well.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 572-588
Author(s):  
Hanyu Sun ◽  
Roger Tourangeau ◽  
Stanley Presser

Abstract It is well established that taking part in earlier rounds of a panel survey can affect how respondents answer questions in later rounds. It is less clear, however, whether panel participation affects the quality of the data that respondents provide. We examined two panels to investigate how participation affects several indicators of data quality—including straightlining, item missing data, scale reliabilities, and differences in item functioning over time—and to test the hypotheses that it is less educated and older respondents who mainly account for any panel effects. The two panels were the GfK Knowledge Panel, in which some respondents completed up to four rounds measuring their attitudes toward terrorism and ways to counter terrorism, and the General Social Survey (GSS), in which respondents completed up to three rounds with an omnibus set of questions. The two panels differ sharply in terms of response rates and the level of prior survey experience of the respondents. Most of our comparisons are within-respondent, comparing the answers panel members gave in earlier rounds with those they gave in later rounds, but we also confirm the main results using between-subject comparisons. We find little evidence that respondents gave either better or worse data over time in either panel and little support for either the education or age hypotheses.


2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeralynn Cossman ◽  
Gary A. Lewers ◽  
Janet K. Wilson ◽  
Elaine Fox ◽  
Jeffrey J. Kamakahi

While most Right to Die studies have examined the ethical and moral implications of assisted suicide, few have investigated the active membership of Right to Die organizations. Two studies, one in 1983 and one in 1995, have surveyed The Hemlock Society USA membership in an effort to identify those who are actively involved in the Right to Die social movement. This study compares the social demographic descriptors of members of the Hemlock Society at these two different points in time: from the 1983 survey to the California portion of the 1995 survey and between all three Hemlock samples and the General Social Survey. The most significant findings of this study demonstrate that the population of the Hemlock Society is increasing in religiosity and continues to be defined as a well-educated and healthy membership. The Hemlock Society membership over-represents the female population, those over 55 years of age, divorcees and widows/widowers, atheists, and those who are well-educated compared to the general population. Additionally, Hemlock Society members appear to be healthy adults who are still living on their own as opposed to depending on their families for assistance. In other words, the Hemlock Society members constitute a unique and dynamic group of individuals.


Author(s):  
Leanne Findlay ◽  
Dafna Kohen

Affordability of child care is fundamental to parents’, in particular, women’s decision to work. However, information on the cost of care in Canada is limited. The purpose of the current study was to examine the feasibility of using linked survey and administrative data to compare and contrast parent-reported child care costs based on two different sources of data. The linked file brings together data from the 2011 General Social Survey (GSS) and the annual tax files (TIFF) for the corresponding year (2010). Descriptive analyses were conducted to examine the socio-demographic and employment characteristics of respondents who reported using child care, and child care costs were compared. In 2011, parents who reported currently paying for child care (GSS) spent almost $6700 per year ($7,500 for children age 5 and under). According to the tax files, individuals claimed just over $3900 per year ($4,700). Approximately one in four individuals who reported child care costs on the GSS did not report any amount on their tax file; about four in ten who claimed child care on the tax file did not report any cost on the survey. Multivariate analyses suggested that individuals with a lower education, lower income, with Indigenous identity, and who were self-employed were less likely to make a tax claim despite reporting child care expenses on the GSS. Further examination of child care costs by province and by type of care are necessary, as is research to determine the most accurate way to measure and report child care costs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Scot Ausborn ◽  
Julia Rotondo ◽  
Tim Mulcahy

Mapping the General Social Survey to the Generic Statistical Business Process Model: NORC's Experience


2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142199485
Author(s):  
Ashley Wendell Kranjac ◽  
Robert L. Wagmiller

Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex relationships have liberalized considerably over the last 40 years. We examine how the demographic processes generating social change in attitudes toward same-sex relationships changed over time. Using data from the 1973 to 2018 General Social Survey and decomposition techniques, we estimate the relative contributions of intracohort change and cohort replacement to overall social change for three different periods. We examine (1) the period prior to the rapid increase in attitude liberalization toward same-sex marriage rights (1973–1991), (2) the period of contentious debate about same-sex marriage and lesbian and gay rights (1991–2002), and (3) the period of legislative and judicial liberalization at the state and federal levels (2002–2018). We find that both intracohort and intercohort change played positive and significant roles in the liberalization of attitudes toward same-sex relationships in the postlegalization period, but that individual change was more important than population turnover over this period.


Author(s):  
Bente Træen ◽  
Nantje Fischer

AbstractThis study describes the use of contraception and protection for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in six different birth cohorts of the general population in Norway. The results are based on a 2020 national web panel survey among 18–89 year-olds in Norway (n = 4160). For respondents born within 1931–1950 versus those born within 1990–2002, there was a significant increase in the use of protection against unwanted pregnancy and STIs during sexual intercourse, and a significant drop in the proportion of those who did not use any protection at all. More women today (than in previous decades) are using hormonal contraception. The main reason for not using condoms during intercourse was both parties felt safe that they were healthy, especially those born within 1990–2002. To prevent unwanted pregnancy and STIs, it is beneficial to continue to increase the availability of free or subsidized hormonal contraception, including emergency contraception, and free condoms in public arenas that people frequent and where they meet their partners.


2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Fullerton ◽  
Jun Xu

Adjacent category logit models are ordered regression models that focus on comparisons of adjacent categories. These models are particularly useful for ordinal response variables with categories that are of substantive interest. In this article, we consider unconstrained and constrained versions of the partial adjacent category logit model, which is an extension of the traditional model that relaxes the proportional odds assumption for a subset of independent variables. In the unconstrained partial model, the variables without proportional odds have coefficients that freely vary across cutpoint equations, whereas in the constrained partial model two or more of these variables have coefficients that vary by common factors. We improve upon an earlier formulation of the constrained partial adjacent category model by introducing a new estimation method and conceptual justification for the model. Additionally, we discuss the connections between partial adjacent category models and other models within the adjacent approach, including stereotype logit and multinomial logit. We show that the constrained and unconstrained partial models differ only in terms of the number of dimensions required to describe the effects of variables with nonproportional odds. Finally, we illustrate the partial adjacent category logit models with empirical examples using data from the international social survey program and the general social survey.


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