The General Social Survey (GSS) is a nationally representative personal interview survey of the United States adult population that collects data on a wide range of topics: behavioral items such as group membership and participation; personal psychological evaluations including measures of well-being, misanthropy and life satisfaction; attitudinal questions on such public issues as crime and punishment, race relations, gender roles and spending priorities; and demographic characteristics of respondents and their parents. The GSS has provided data on contemporary American society since 1972, serving as a barometer of social change and trends in attitudes, behaviors and attributes of the United States adult population. In 1984, the GSS stimulated cross-national research by collaborating with Australia, Britain and Germany to develop data collection programs modeled on the GSS. This program of comparative cross-national research, called the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), now includes 43 nations and enables researchers and analysts to place findings and trends from the United States within a comparative context.
Since its inception, the GSS has completed 34 in-person, cross-sectional surveys of the adult household population of the United States with response rates that exceed 50 percent. The survey is currently fielded biennially with numbers of cases typically in the 2500 range. Data from the GSS are made available to scholars, students and the public for research, analysis and educational activities within 12 months of data collection.
Several innovations have been initiated over the past 15 years, most of which warrant continuation. Most significantly, the GSS has been exploring a substantial use of web mode while maintaining the integrity of the time series. The 2022 and 2024 surveys used web mode in various combinations with face-to-face administration for purposes of testing and comparison. A collaboration with the American National Election Studies (ANES) was initiated for the 2020 election and continued for the 2024 election. Other innovations are linkages with administrative data made possible by asking respondents for permission (since 2018) and use of post-stratification weights (since 2020).
In 2016, a group of scholars organized by the Committee on National Statistics of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine conducted a study of the future of the "Big 3" Surveys that are funded in whole or part by the National Science Foundation.
We suggest that proposals consider some of the following suggestions stemming from that review:
- Continue surveying a nationally representative sample on a biennial cycle to monitor trends in attitudes and behaviors of the adult United States population.
- Enhance the panel design whose baseline sample was initiated in the 2006 survey.
- Maintain participation in the ISSP data collection program.
- Involve the Scientific Advisory Board actively in selecting, evaluating and approving the content of both core and topical survey modules.
- Support a "module" competition that would allow members of the Scientific Advisory Board and other social scientists to propose topics and questions for inclusion in the GSS.
- Encourage experimentation and innovation in survey administration and techniques, embedding methodological and substantive experiments within the survey.
- Retain and revitalize GSS core items, involving the user community and Board in the process.
- Continue to explore ways to over-sample minority groups, improving the quality and precision of comparisons, and collect more "paradata" and "metadata" from the process and context of survey administration.
- Experiment with digital recording of interviews to enable studies of social interaction that occurs during interviews, using the results both to improve data quality and to encourage the integration of qualitative and quantitative data.
- Upgrade documentation and dissemination technologies to improve the speed, completeness and ease of use of data for research and teaching.
- Improve the variety and flexibility of data available online, allowing potential users to produce customized data sets (for example, by year, topic, module or ethnic group) for analysis.
- Continue collaboration with the ANES.
Interested applicants should send the following documents in sequence in one PDF file (File name: Last name_NSF24-537_2024 no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
1. Cover Letter (1 page, pdf):
- Descriptive title of proposed activity
- Name(s), address(es), and telephone number(s) of the PD(s)/PI(s)
- Names of other key personnel
- Participating institution(s)
- Number and title of this funding opportunity
2. Project Description (no more than two pages, pdf) and identify the project scope that addresses the key aspects and elements, principal investigators, collaborators, and partner organizations.
3. 3-page biosketch of Investigators
Formatting Guidelines:
Font/size: No smaller than 11 pt.
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.