DOI: 10.3886/icpsr34664
title: Korean General Social Survey (KGSS), 2008
title: Archival Version

description: The Korean General Social Survey (KGSS) is the South Korean version of the General Social Survey (GSS), closely replicating the original GSS of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Each round of the KGSS typically includes the topical module surveys of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), and/or the East Asian Social Survey (EASS), an international survey network of four GSS-type surveys from countries in East Asia (including China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea). Respondents were asked for their opinions on Korean society, trust in people and institutions, politics and reunification, economic issues, social issues, and religion. Additional questions were asked about the everyday life, household, family, education, occupation, and social life of the respondents. Demographic information includes age, sex, education level, household income, employment status, religious preference, political party affiliation, and political philosophy.
description: No Weights were used in this study.
description: Response Rates: The response rate for the KGSS-2008 was approximately 60 percent.
description: Consistent with the requirements of ISSP and other GSS-type surveys, the sample for the KGSS is a national sample drawn by full probability sampling procedures. A more convenient quota sampling at the block level is not employed at all, simply because the quota sampling in terms of age and sex criteria, for instance, is vulnerable to a variety of misuses and abuses that result in serious sampling biases. The target universe of the KGSS is the adult population aged 18 or over who live in households of Korea. From this universe, a total of 2,000 individuals are sampled by the three-stage area probability sampling method. The total number of sample blocks (or clusters) is 200, and some 10 individuals are sampled from each block. Below is a more detailed description of the sampling procedures involved.
First, the total sample blocks are distributed to 16 do's or si's at the province level, proportionate to the distribution of households in Korea. Second, in accordance with the PPS principle, a number of dong's and/or myun's (ward level administrative districts in cities and rural counties, respectively) are selected proportional to the number of sample blocks assigned to each province. Third, from each dong and myun selected, one sample block-tong-ban in dong or ri in myun-is randomly selected. Fourth, in each tong-ban or ri selected, about 10 households are randomly selected, make a list of adult members aged 18 or over in each household with their dates of birth on it, and finally select the person who has the birth date occurring the first during the year. For instance, in a household whose members have birthdays in April, February, November, and August, the very person with the birthday in February becomes the respondent.
The multistage element in these sequential sampling procedures serves to narrow down the hierarchically stratified geographic areas into the lowest sample blocks, thereby enhancing the sample representativeness, while the cluster component there serves to maximize the efficiency of fieldwork operations.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Korean General Social Survey (KGSS), 2008
description: The national population aged 18 years or over residing in households in South Korea. Smallest Geographic Unit: State
description: face-to-face interviewMore information about Korean General Social Surveys can be found on the Survey Research Center (Sungkyunkwan University) Web site.