General Social Survey (GSS)

 You can browse:

• By topic or subject

"Topical” modules in the GSS focus on one subject area for US respondents only. Most items in topical modules appear on the GSS only once, but some are repeated. There have been many GSS topical modules, including major modules on social networks ("Topical” modules 1985, 2004), intergroup relations and multiculturalism (1990, 1994, 2000), religion (1988, 1998), work and work organizations (1991, 2002), medical care (1996, 1998) and the Internet (since 2000). Occasionally a topical module will include items that have appeared in a previous GSS. To see the years in which any particular GSS item was measured, consult Appendix U: Variable Use by Year/Ballot.

• By trends
  Select a module or topic and then select variables to create a graphic to view key trends and user responses over time. You may then share, print, or export your visualizations
• By replicating core variables
• By any variable using the Codebook or the Data Explorer.

The sections on variables, below on this guide, explain how to browse and search by topics, trends, and variables. Take special note of the change to the Race and Sex variable for the 2021 Cross-Section survey.

"The GSS comprises a core set of items (the Replicating Core) that are repeated every round, as well as topical modules, which may or may not be repeated. [The questionnaire is called a ballot.] The GSS is currently composed of three separate ballots (A, B, and C), as well as two separate forms (X and Y), which allow for up to six different paths through the interview itself (in addition to paths determined by  espondent answers, such as questions about spouses or partners, or questions on employment). Not every question in the Replicating Core is asked of every respondent; most only appear on two of the three ballots. However, every item in the Replicating Core overlaps on at least one ballot with every other item in the Replicating Core, ensuring that researchers can estimate inter-item correlations. Forms are used for experiments such as wording variations within questions, ensuring that half of the respondents on each ballot see the experimental or control conditions of each relevant variable. Within the GSS, these form experiments are usually assigned mnemonics that end in -Y."

Source: 2021 GSS Codebook. 
Replicating Core_0707 (discusses the replicating core contents)

There are several ways to search for questions and variables.  The recommended searching method is using the GSS Data Explorer.

• The main codebook includes the wordings of all GSS questions in the cumulative file. There are over 600 variables.
• Use the questionnaire files for a text search using regular search utilities. Be aware that such searches would only cover the particular version and year of the GSS that you were accessing. Note that while recent GSS questionnaires generally included GSS mnemonics, most questionnaires do not.
• The GSS Data Explorer search function covers both mnemonics and question text for each variable in the cross-section data. Basic analysis of variables can also be conducted.  Search more than 5,000 GSS variables by keyword, subject, tag, or year. Information on each variable includes name, description, years available, survey question, and summary statistics for the variable. Create your own tags.  Browse variable by subject. Search variables guide.
• Subject Index in the GSS Codebook:  When looking for specific question, be aware that between 2006 and 2014, it only covers questions asked in the cross-sections. Items asked only in the panel reinterviews were are not covered, including two ISSP modules.

Key Trend Topics

Panel reinterview Variables

There are two different resources available to locate variables in the panel reinterviews.

1. The Panel Codebook, which documents all questions and frequencies asked in the panel reinterviews, similar to the GSS Cumulative Codebook.
2. The Cross-Section and Panel Variable and Module Identification, which can be used to identify both the modules with which any given variable is associated, and which, if any, panel reinterviews the module appeared in.

Codebooks

Consult the codebook to learn the exact wording of questions in the survey. A variable is often an abbreviation for the questions or responses.  For example:  “Abortion if woman wants for any reason” for variable ABANY.  The codebook also lists the values or choices for each question and the codes assigned to them.  There is also methodological notes for understanding and interpreting results.

Using the The GSS Data Explorer to find variables YouTube video.

Survey questions in the “GSS replicating core” are regularly administered as part of each GSS. Core items include background information about respondents (for example: age [AGE], sex [SEX], education [EDUC, DEGREE], region of residence [REGION]) and measures of attitudes (such as views about gender roles [e.g. FEHOME], confidence in institutions [e.g. CONFINAN] or gun control [GUNLAW]) or behaviors (such attendance at religious services [ATTEND] or voting in the most recent US Presidential election [VOTE68 through VOTE12]).

To learn how regularly any particular GSS item is measured, consult codebook Appendix U: Variable Use by Year/Ballot.  Get list of core variables and more information on the Replicating Core PDF.

Source: GSS FAQ

Questions include core items to track change in selected social indicators and special “modules”, which are sets of questions to go into depth on a subject within a single GSS. Because NORC is the US member of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), as part of the GSS, it implements the ISSP developed cross-national module. The about 60 question module focuses on a subject matter area such as the role of government, social inequality, national identity, or religion. GSS respondents answer these questions, as well as respondents to national surveys in other countries. Many items in ISSP modules are repeated when that subject is again the focus of an annual ISSP module. Each ISSP module is obtainable in two ways. If you are only interested in the U.S. data, they are incorporated into any datafile associated with the year that the module was fielded. The full cross-national datasets can be obtained through GESIS' ZACAT and can be downloaded by registered users. Please note that there is often a two year lag on the release of ISSP data, to allow for harmonization of data from many countries.

Until 2000, the GSS measured race mostly by interviewer observation (variable RACE), using categories of white, black, and other. If in doubt about how to code a respondent’s race, interviewers asked the respondent “what race do you consider yourself?”
Beginning in 2002, the GSS measured race following the procedures used in the decennial Census, asking all respondents for a racial self-identification and recording up to three mentions. These data are in variables RACECEN1, RACECEN2, and RACECEN3 (The same questions also were asked as part of the “Multi-Ethnic United States” topical module administered to one of the two samples in the 2000 GSS).
For 2002 and later GSSs, a value of RACE has been imputed based on RACCEN1 and other information.

Source: GSS FAQ

In face-to-face interviews, interviewers traditionally coded SEX based on observation. In the web mode, SEX was asked explicitly of respondents.

Sex and gender identity are collected as two separate items: Sex recorded at birth (SEXBIRTH1) and current gender identity (SEXNOW1). In the past, these items have only been asked to 2/3rds of respondents (i.e., two ballots), on a self-administered topical module. Beginning with the 2020 GSS (both the 2016-2020 GSS Panel Wave 2 and the 2020 GSS Crosssection), SEXBIRTH1 and SEXNOW1 are asked of all respondents.

For the purpose of backward compatibility, the panel dataset contains SEX_2, which uses the traditional binary coding scheme, and is based on recoding both SEXBIRTH1 and SEXNOW1.

Source: GSS Codebook