The General Social Survey

Medium:

RCF

Contents and Scope:

The book titled ICPSR Guide to Resources and Services contains an overview and a description for the General Social Survey studies (indexed by title and by study number). A copy of this ICPSR Guide is kept in the VKC (Applied Social Sciences) Library.

Format:

raw (ascii) data

Access Instructions:

ICPSR Study 2685 is a cumulative file which apparently contains data from 1972 through 1998. It is available on the RCF and at the ITSdatastor Web site. To see the files related to this data base, list the directory where they reside, as follows:

ls   ~datastor/gss/2685

To see the same files on the datastor Web page, go to:

www-rcf.usc.edu/~datastor/gss/2685/

A previous cumulative file, containing data from 1972 through 1991, also is available. To see the files related to this data base, list the directory where they reside, as follows:

ls  ~datastor/gss/6217

To see the same files on the datastor Web page, go to:

www-rcf.usc.edu/~datastor/gss/6217/

There is also an update to the 1991 Cumulative File, issued in 1994. To see the files related to this update, list the directory where they reside, as follows:

ls  ~datastor/gss/6492

To see the same files on the datastor Web page, go to:

www-rcf.usc.edu/~datastor/gss/6492/

Another update to the 1991 Cumulative File was issued in 1996, but this study is no longer available from ICPSR, presumably because it has been superseded by the above-mentioned Cumulative Files. To see the files related to this update, list the directory where they reside, as follows:

unitree -public list /users/socscidl/gss/6870

Study Number 9967 also is stored in UniTree, but, as explained in our online documentation for that study, it apparently is obsolete, and is no longer available from ICPSR.

The data file(s) can be downloaded to UNIX disk (or, in the case of SPSS or SAS, can be read directly from the RCF storage locations) or can be downloaded from the ITS datastor Web site. The RCF and Web locations are noted above.

Documentation/Code Book:

General Social Survey Data and Information Retrieval System (GSSDIRS)

Owner/Coordinator:

Information Technology Services, Customer Support Center

LVL Lower Commons, 213.740.5555

NOTE: Most of the data maintained by Information Technology Services (ITS) were obtained from other groups at USC, not from the original data providers or researchers. Every attempt to preserve the integrity of the data sets has been made; however, it is the responsibility of any user of a data set to verify its accuracy and completeness.

Other Sources of Information Regarding the General Social Survey:

Inside USC

Outside USC