General Social Survey

Abstract The National Opinion Research Corporation (NORC) at the University of Chicago initiated the General Social Survey (GSS), which is funded by the National Science Foundation's Sociology Program and other sources, to allow analysis of social trends by supplying replicated longitudinal measures over as many as 42 years (1972–2014) and to provide social scientists and their students with ready access to high quality data and the opportunity to propose their own research questions for inclusion in the national GSS survey. Administered annually until 1994 and in English until 2006, the GSS is now conducted biennially, in both English and Spanish versions. Since 2010 the GSS sample has used a three‐wave, rotating panel design: respondents participate in three waves of the GSS for a total of four years. By 2012 the GSS had collected extensive survey data on 57,061 individuals; it had an annual sample size of 1,500 through 1992 and double that upon its biennial administration, which began in 1994. The value of the GSS has been enhanced through survey questions that are also used in comparable survey programs in 57 other countries. GSS data are widely available to universities, instructors, and students. The value of the data set is reflected in thousands of publications.