Using the General Social Survey to Investigate Social Relationships

Author(s)

Rongjun Sun, Cleveland State University

Learning Goals

Skill
Learning about survey methodology and sampling methods
Using software to access and analyze census data
Identifying independent and dependent variables
Quantitative writing
Learning how to construct, read, and interpret bivariate tables displaying frequencies and percentages
Substance
How to examine relationships between social constructs empirically.

Context for Use

This exercise for a Social Demography class utilizes General Social Survey data to analyze a problem of interest.

Description and Teaching Materials

Exercise: https://ssdan.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/UsingGeneralSocialSurvey.pdf

In the first part of this exercise, students will learn (1) how to do preliminary data analysis using the General Social Survey (GSS); and (2) how to examine relationships between social constructs empirically. To carry out this study, whey will follow the basic procedures in social research and apply the concepts and techniques that have been discussed in class.

Teaching Notes and Tips

This activity uses the data software on the SDA Archive. The SDA Archive is an easy-to-use tool to investigage U.S. trends using General Social Survey Data.

SDA Archive: http://sda.berkeley.edu/archive.htm