DOI: 10.3886/icpsr35588
title: National Social Survey [United States]
title: Archival Version

description: The National Social Survey is a series of public opinion surveys, conducted in 2002 and 2004, about quality of life in America. This series of surveys is designed to provide an in-depth view of the nation's social health by examining how Americans experience important aspects of daily life, such as social and economic well-being as well as community participation and engagement. Beginning in 2002, two surveys were fielded: one covering the nation's social health in general (National Social Survey) and the other covering the nation's social health with an emphasis on arts and culture (Survey on Arts and Culture). In addition, the Survey on Arts and Culture measured Americans' social well-being focusing on engagement in arts and culture, such as adult participation in arts and culture, children's participation in arts and culture, and the significance of the arts in people's lives. Interviewers asked to speak with the person living in the household who met the following criteria: 18 years old or older, has the next birthday, and is currently at home. The 2002 surveys collected data on 2,004 respondents. The 2004 surveys collected data on 1,601 respondents. The National Social Survey was created at the Institute for Innovation in Social Policy as part of a long-term effort to develop instruments that monitor the state of society in areas different from those that are assessed by traditional business-economic indicators.
description: The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth view of the nation's social health by examining how Americans experience important aspects of daily life, such as social and economic well-being as well as community participation and engagement.
description: 2002 Surveys: For the National Social Survey 2002, the National Survey of Social Health was first put into the field by Harris Interactive in June of 2000 and then again in February 2002. The components on income security, health care, and social and cultural participation had 1,002 respondents. For the National Social Survey 2002: Survey on Arts and Culture, data were collected in February 2002 by Harris Interactive. There were 1,002 respondents for the survey on arts and culture.


2004 Surveys: For the National Social Survey 2004, data were collected in April 2004 by Quinley Research. There were 800 respondents. For the National Social Survey 2004: Survey on Arts and Culture, data were collected in April 2004 by Quinley Research. The survey on arts and culture had 801 respondents.


For all of the surveys in this series, interviewers asked to speak with the person living in the household who met the following criteria: 18 years of age or older, has the next birthday, and is currently at home. If no qualified member of the household was available, interviewers requested to arrange a callback date and time.
description: Data were weighted by age, education, marital status, gender, race, ethnicity, and region to achieve a nationally representative sample.
description: The aim for each survey of this series was to achieve a nationally representative sample. The estimates of sampling error for all surveys of this series are plus or minus 3.1 percent.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: National Social Survey 2002
DS2: National Social Survey 2002: Survey on Arts and Culture
DS3: National Social Survey 2004
DS4: National Social Survey 2004: Survey on Arts and Culture
description: Adult Americans aged 18 years and older.
description: computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)The National Social Survey was produced by the Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy with funding provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Data for the 2002 surveys were collected by Harris Interactive, and data for the 2004 surveys were collected by Quinley Research.This data collection was previously distributed by the Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive (CPANDA). The CPANDA Identification Number (study number) for the entire data collection is c00018. The CPANDA Identification number for the National Survey 2002 is a00220, for the National Social Survey 2002: Survey on Arts and Culture is a00229, for the National Survey 2004 is a00230, and for the National Social Survey 2004: Survey on Arts and Culture is a00231. CPANDA conducted the following processing steps for release of this collection: produced a codebook, checked for undocumented codes, performed consistency checks, provided frequencies, performed recodes, and reformatted the data.Users are encouraged to view the Institute for Innovation in Social Policy Web site for any additional information about this data collection.