9.4

EXERCISE 9.4 Using Structured Interview Questions from the GSS

The GSS, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), uses a structured interview schedule.  The GSS was administered annually from 1972 and then biennially from 1994 to a national probability sample.  Some questions are asked on every survey, other questions have rotated, and some have been used only in a single survey.  The GSS measures a great many variables using answers to questions as indicators.  The variables included on past surveys cover a wide range of behaviors, among them drinking behavior, membership in voluntary associations and the practice of religion, and numerous attitudes, such as opinions about abortion, affirmative action, capital punishment, family roles, and confidence in the military.  Browse through the archives of the GSS to find questions asked between 1972 and 2008, which is available at http://sda.berkeley.edu/archive.htm and select a few variables of interest.

1.List the names of the variable and the questions on the GSS that are the indicator(s) of those variables.

2.Comment on the specific questions that were used. Do you think they are valid indicators for the variables? Are the questions clear and easy to understand?  What do you think of the answer categories?