The General Social Survey (GSS) and its allied surveys in the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) gather data on contemporary American society in order to monitor and explain trends and constants in attitudes, behaviors, and attributes and examine the structure and functioning of society in general as well as the role played by relevant sub-groups. These data are also used to compare the United States to other societies in order to place American society in comparative perspective and develop cross-national models of human society. Since 1982 the GSS has conducted 19 independent cross-section surveys of the adult household population of the United States and in 1982 and 1987 carried out oversamples of black Americans. By collaborating with distinguished social science institutions around the world, the GSS obtains comparable cross-national data that greatly enhance its scientific value at virtually no additional cost. ISSP currently has 18 participating nations. Each year 2,000 respondents from the United States are interviewed and about 20,000 respondents from other countries. The GSS has aptly been described as a "national resource" because it makes high quality data easily accessible to hundreds of social scientists who use the data annually for research papers and thousands who use the GSS in classrooms. The GSS is second only to the Census/CPS in its use among sociologists. This grant renews support for the GSS for five separate in-person cross-sections each with 1,500 cases using a biennial, split sample design in order to substantially reduce costs and still maintain the same scope of the GSS. In 1993 there will be a GSS with 1,500 cases, a core of 60 minutes, a 15 minute standard topical module on culture, and a 15 minute ISSP module on the environment. In 1994 two major innovations are introduced. First, the traditional core is substantially reduced to allow for the creation of mini-modules, i.e., a block of about 15 minutes devoted to some combination of small to medium size supplements. Second, the 3,000 case sample will consist of two parallel sub-samples of 1,500 cases each. The two-subsamples will both contain the identical core. The A sample will in addition contain a standard topical module, mini-modules, and an ISSP module on women, work and the family. The B sample will have a second topical module, mini-modules, and an ISSP module on the environment. The Board and PIs will extensively solicit proposals for the topical and mini-modules from the social science community. In 1996 the same design described in 1994 will be repeated. The GSS will play an extremely important role in providing data for social scientists to study the human dimensions of global environmental change. Information on the attitude of respondents to the environment in the United States and at least the 19 other countries now participating in ISSP will be collected in 1993 and 1994. A group of additional environmental items of interest to the European Community are to be developed by EC members of ISSP to supplement the ISSP environmental module. Starting in 1994 additional environmental items will be added to the core. These will be chosen from the ISSP module, the EC supplement and the extant literature.
