scholarly journals Updating A Time-Series of Survey Questions: The Case of Abortion Attitudes in the General Social Survey

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Cowan ◽  
Mike Hout ◽  
Stuart Perrett
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Community Surveys ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Interpersonal Dynamics ◽  
The Core ◽  
Abortion Attitudes ◽  
Attitude Measures

Long-running surveys need a systematic way to reflect social change and to keep items relevant to respondents, especially when they ask about controversial subjects, or they threaten the items' validity. We propose a protocol for updating measures that preserves content and construct validity. First, substantive experts articulate the current and anticipated future terms of debate. Then survey experts use this substantive input and their knowledge of existing measures to develop and pilot a large battery of new items. Third, researchers analyze the pilot data to select items for the survey of record. Finally, the items appear on the survey-of-record, available to the whole user community. Surveys-of-record have procedures for changing content that determine if the new items appear just once or become part of the core. We provide the example of developing new abortion attitude measures in the General Social Survey. Current questions ask whether abortion should be legal under varying circumstances. The new abortion items ask about morality, access, state policy, and interpersonal dynamics. They improve content and construct validity and add new insights into Americans' abortion attitudes.

scholarly journals Attitudinal Change, Cohort Replacement, and the Liberalization of Attitudes about Same-sex Relationships, 1973–2018

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142199485
Author(s):  
Ashley Wendell Kranjac ◽  
Robert L. Wagmiller
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Individual Change ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Population Turnover ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
Lesbian And Gay Rights ◽  
Using Data

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.

scholarly journals Response Rates and Representativeness: A Benchmark Comparison of the General Social Surveys to the American Community Surveys, 2012-2018

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Response Rate ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Community Surveys ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Auxiliary Data ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
National Surveys ◽  
The Us ◽  
The One ◽  
Us Census

The response rate for the General Social Survey (GSS) declined in 2016 and 2018 more than expected. After a slight decline in 2014 to 69.2 percent, the response rate fell abruptly to 61.3 percent in 2016. In 2018, it fell again, but by a more modest amount to 59.5 percent. The reasons for the recent declines are not fully understood, and research with auxiliary data and other surveys may be able to provide additional clarity in the future. In the meantime, I offer this report to promote transparency and reassurance. On the one hand, the GSS is fighting the same non-response headwind that other national surveys confront, and thus there is reason to be concerned. On the other hand, the problem is not so acute that a decline in the demographic representativeness of the GSS is yet apparent. This overall conclusion is based on a comparison of the realized demographic demographic composition of the GSS and the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) from 2012 through 2018.

Valued Characteristics of Children in a Changing Social Environment

2006 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-284
Author(s):  
Nancy Scotto Rosato ◽  
Mark F. Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Cultural Sensitivity ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Child Autonomy ◽  
Selection Of

Social scientists believe that social change impacts individual as well as family value orientations. The current study uses data from the 1986 and 2000 General Social Survey to compare these years on the types of social factors affecting the selection of child autonomy relative to obedience. Results indicate that several individual and family factors predict the inclination for autonomy versus obedience, including religious affiliation, income, education, and race. However, no significant differences were found between the two years, indicating that social change alone does not affect value orientation. The discussion offers the implication of these findings to family practitioners, specifically focusing on the necessity of cultural sensitivity and respect in achieving optimum results.

GSS 2011 Linked with TIFF: Exploring the Cost of Child Care in Canada and the Use of the Child Care Tax Benefit

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-103
Author(s):  
Leanne Findlay ◽  
Dafna Kohen
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Cost Of Care ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Care Costs ◽  
Compare And Contrast ◽  
Employment Characteristics ◽  
Different Sources

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.

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

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Scot Ausborn ◽  
Julia Rotondo ◽  
Tim Mulcahy
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Model ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Business Process Model ◽  
Social Survey

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

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