GSS Data for Sociology

Prepared by
Theodore C. Wagenaar
Miami University

These files contain data from the National Opinion Research Center�s General Social Survey for 1994 and 2004.

Four files are included:

• gss94_04each750
• gss94_1500cases
• gss04_1500cases
• gss94_04allcases

The first three files are designed for use with Student SPSS in that they are limited to 1,500 cases and 50 variables.

The first contains 750 cases from each year for instructors who wish to have students examine both years in a single analysis, perhaps by running tables of year by variables of interest.

The second contains 1,500 cases from the 1994 sample and the third contains 1,500 cases from the 2004 sample. These two files are designed for instructors who desire larger sample sizes, but the files require students to do separate analyses if they wish to compare the two years.

The last file contains the full samples for both years on the selected variables. This last file includes all the variables included in the limited size files plus additional variables.

Recall that the split-ballot technique employed by NORC means that many questions were asked of only half (more or less) of the sample. Hence, the first file (with 750 cases per year) may contain only about 375 cases on a particular variable for each year. When students set up a table of such variables with other variables which may have been asked of different respondents, cell sizes attenuate very quickly.