General Social Survey

Kiran Doranalli

Lucy Li

Data & GIS Library Services, U of S Library

https://library.usask.ca/data/

September 11, 2008

General Social Survey (GSS) - Overview

Primary objectives/Aims: Collect data on social trends in order to

monitor changes in living environment and welfare of Canadians over time.

Provide instant information on specific social policy issues of existing and emerging interests.

Target population for GSS:

CANSIM via Statistics Canada

Population living in private households in the 10 provinces

Survey collects data over 1 yearSample size till 1998 - ~ 10,000 personsSample size from 1999 to 2006 - ~ 25,000 persons

Method of data collection:

Computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI)

Response rate over years for GSS is approx. 80%.

Cycles of GSS available till date:

Cycle no. Year GSS cycle topic Focus issue

1 1985 Health Social support

2 1986 Time use, social mobility

Language

3 1988 Victimization Victim services

4 1989 Education, work and retirement

No focus issue

5 1990 Family and friends No focus issue

6 1991 Health Various health topics

7 1992 Time use Culture, sport and unpaid work activities

Cycle no. Year GSS cycle topic Focus issue

8 1993 Victimization Alcohol and drug abuse

9 1994 Education, work and retirement

Transition into retirement

10 1995 Family Effect of tobacco smoke

11 1996 Social support Tobacco use

12 1998 Time use Sports participation/ culture

13 1999 Victimization Spouse, senior abuse/ perceptions

14 2000 Technology – Computer and internet

No focus issue

15 2001 Family No focus issue

16 2002 Social support and aging

Retirement planning and experience

17 2003 Social engagement No focus issue

18 2004 Victimization No focus issue

19 2005 Time use Social networks/ trust/ transportation

20 2006 Family Family transition

GSS cycle 1 (Health & Social support): 1985

Cycles in 1991 (6), 1996 (11), 2002 (16).

Target population– 15 years of age and older in Canada

– 15-64 years of age (telephone interview), 65 and older (personal interview)

– Exclude Yukon, Northwest territories and Nunavut and full-time residents of

institutions.

Reference period – Sept to Oct 1985

GSS cycle 1 (Health & Social support): 1985

Brief of variables measured

Short and long term disability

Height and weight

Well-being

Health problems

Smoking

Alcohol use

Physical activity

Sleep

Use and help of health care

facilities

GSS cycle 1 (Health & Social support): 1985 - Survey Design

Employed 3 different sampling techniques

A. Persons aged 15 to 64a. Elimination of non-working Banks method

(NewFoundland and Ontario) – Details in section 4.2 of Code book

b. Waksberg method (Remaining provinces) – Details in section 4.1 of Code book

B. Persons aged 65 and oldera. Survey based on Canadian Labour Force Survey Frame

and sampling procedures – Details in section 4.3 of code book.

GSS cycle 9 (Education, work & Ret.): 1994

Cycles in 1989 (4).

Target population– 15 years of age and older in Canada

– Exclude Yukon, Northwest territories and Nunavut and full-time

residents of institutions.

Reference period – Jan to Dec 1994

Brief of variables measured

Work and education in the service economy

New technologies and human resources

Emerging trends in education and work

GSS cycle 9 (Education, work & Ret.): 1994

Data collected from Jan to Dec 1994 were evenly distributed over 12 months to counterbalance the seasonal variation in the information gathered

Sample selected using Elimination of Non-Working Banks technique of Random Digit Dialing (RDD).

Supplementary sample was added to RDD from Labour Force Survey

For method description please refer section 4.2 in code book.

GSS cycle 9 (Education, work & Ret.): 1994 – Survey Design

GSS cycle 18 (Victimization): 2004

Previous cycles in 1988 (3), 1993 (8), 1999 (13).

Target population– 15 years of age and older in Canada

– Exclude Yukon, Northwest territories and Nunavut and full-time

residents of institutions.

Reference period – Jan 2004 to Dec 2004

GSS cycle 18 (Victimization): 2004

Brief of variables measured

Age, sex and marital status

Perceptions, history and risk

Criminal victimization screening

Abuse by current spouse/partner

Abuse by ex-spouse/partner

Spousal abuse report

Ex-spousal abuse report

Housing characteristics of respondent

Stalking of respondent

Crime incident report

Other crime events

Main activity of respondent

Education of respondent, spouse/partner,

parents

Activities of spouse/partner

Ex-spousal abuse report

Method references

Waksberg, J. 'Sampling methods for Random Digit Dialling,'

Journal of the American Statistical Association, 73, (1978):40-46.

RDD; A bank of telephone numbers is a set of 100 numbers with

the same first eight digits (i.e. the same Area Code-Prefix-Bank ID).

Thus 613-951-9180 and 613-951-9192 are in the same bank, but

613-951-9280 is in a different bank.

U of S Data Archive Data Lib webpageBy subjectSelect the fileU of S data archiveDownload the file and unzip itCodebooks and other documentations are available in

TXT or PDF format (some are available in print copy—search the library catalogue)

Restrictions: DLI license

Codebook What is a codebook? 

– “A codebook describes and documents the questions asked or items collected in a survey. Codebooks and study documentation will provide you with crucial details to help you decide whether or not a particular data collection will be useful in your research. The codebook will describe the subject of the survey or data collection, the sample and how it was constructed, and how the data were coded, entered, and processed.  The questionnaire or survey instrument will be included along with a description or layout of how the data file is organized.  Some codebooks are available electronically, and you can read them on your computer screen, download them to your machine, or print them out. Others are not electronic and must be used in a library or archive, or, depending on copyright, photocopied if you want your own for personal use.”

--ISSR Social Science Data Archive, UCLA

General Content of GSS Codebooks:Description of the study or cycle – who, why and how it was done?Sampling information – population studied, how was sample drawn

and number of response rate.Technicality about files – number of observations or variable, length

of record, number of records per observations.Structure of the data within file – eg., hierarchial, multiple cards

etc…Details about the dataQuestionnaire and responses

Example (Data Dictionary):

Question Text -Exact text of a question as delivered to a respondent. 

The fourth Variable;

the 4th column in spreadsheet

The variable starts from column 19 ends in column 20 in datafile

Data dictionary is found from Pages C1 to C 200. This example is on Page C2.

Example cont.Here is what the same information might look like in a data file:

The first line is not a part of data, we put it here to identify the position of the variable more easily.

If a variable A is noted as “Field: 2 Position: 5-8”,

then variable A’s value starts from column 5, ends in column 8.

And this variable A is the second variable. You will find it in column B in spreadsheet.

This is how the data looks like after you put them

into SPSS.

3. Ask Data Library Staff

Winnie Smit (7261)

Lucy Li (8841)

Kiran Doranalli (8841)

Elise Pietroniro (2677)

Rob Alary (5987)

Darlene Fichter (7209)

(on sabbatical)

Office: 2nd Floor, Main LibraryAppointments recommendedEmail us at refdata@library.usask.ca

Questions?