Browse 114 concepts used in the study of religion, review how survey researchers measured them in the past, and quickly compare the results of more than 7,600 survey questions.
The archive is a collection of surveys, polls, and other data submitted by the foremost scholars and research centers in the world. Review and analyze data online, or download free of charge.
Examine the religious composition, religious freedoms, demographics, constitutional clauses, survey findings and multiple social and political measures for 250 nations.
View maps of the United States and individual states for hundreds of variables, including congregational membership, census data, crime statistics and many others.
Generate congregational membership reports for any county, state and urban area in the United States using data collected by the Religious Congregations & Membership Study.
Compare the members of 31 different religious groups (including agnostics and atheists) using data from the 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, collected by Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The profiles chart schisms and mergers, document membership trends, offer basic descriptions, and link to additional resources for more than 400 past and present American religious groups.
Browse dozens of topics from a major national survey of religious congregations. See how the responses vary by the size, religious family and region of the congregation.
Browse dozens of topics covered by major national surveys. See how the responses vary by demographic categories and, when available, how they change over time.
View maps of the United States and individual states for hundreds of variables, including congregational membership, census data, crime statistics and many others.
The General Social Surveys (GSS) have been conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) annually since 1972, except for the years 1979, 1981, and 1992 (a supplement was added in 1992), and biennially beginning in 1994. The GSS are designed to be part of a program of social indicator research, replicating questionnaire items and wording in order to facilitate time-trend studies. This GSS panel dataset has three waves of interviews: originally sampled and interviewed in 2006, interviewed for the second time in 2008, and interviewed for the third wave in 2010. This file contains those 2,000 respondents who were pre-selected among the 2006 samples and those variables that were asked at least twice in three waves. Survey items on religion include the following: religious preference, religion raised in, spouse's religious preference, frequency of religious service attendance, religious experiences, and religious salience.
To download syntax files for the GSS that reproduce well-known religious group recodes, including RELTRAD, please visit the ARDA’s Syntax Repository.
NORC has introduced an innovative approach to demographic sampling frame construction and sample design for NORC's program of face-to-face surveys from 2004 onwards. The important changes from previous GSS designs are: (i) the construction of a new list-assisted sampling frame for 72 percent of the population; (ii) an increase in the size of the certainty stratum (the proportion of the population covered by certainty area selections); (iii) designation of new primary sampling units (PSUs) for the certainty stratum; (iv) designation of new secondary sampling units (SSUs) for the remaining "urban" areas; and (v) designation of larger SSUs for the remaining areas.
This data set includes four different weights: WTPAN12, WTPAN123, WTPANNR12, and WTPANNR123. The four different weight variables are differentiated by whether they include NR in the variable name and whether if they have 12 or 123 at the end of variable name. First, weight variables with NR indicate if the weight variables considered a nonresponse adjustment in addition to selection. Second, while weight variables with 12 indicate two-wave panel (06-08), weight variables with 123 indicate the three-wave panel, which are 06-08-10 panel data.
Note 1: Occupation and Industry Codes
The following links provide a detailed description of the occupation and industry codes utilized in this data set:
In analyses, the first three categories are considered to be correct, and are generally collapsed into a code "1" or "scientifically correct." The last three categories are considered to be incorrect, and are collapsed into a code of "0" or "incorrect" in analyses.
1. Formulation of Theories, Test Hypotheses - The top category includes some notion of theory or hypothesis. However, if the response is simply =theory' or =hypothesis' with no elaboration then the response is coded as a '5.'
2. Do Experiments, Control Group - This does not include theory, but mentions experiment or control group. Key words for a response to be placed in this category are 'control group,' 'experiment,' or 'controlled group.'
3. Rigorous, Systematic Comparison - This category understands scientific study as such things as being rigorous (repeated testing, over a long time), systematic (or orderly), unbiased, and replication. Responses mentioning the need for a 'controlled study' or 'controlled environment' will be classified here if they do not include additional information that would allow them to be categorized as a '1' or '2.'
4. Measurement - This category includes the notion of something done 'in a laboratory' or focuses on quantitative methods such as surveys or polls or gathering fads without additional information to allow them to be categorized in one of the above categories. Responses simply indicating 'testing' are coded here.
5. Classification - These responses focus on more vague forms of research such as 'investigate' or 'go to a library' or 'go in depth' or 'do research.'
6. Redundancies/Incorrect/Irrelevant - This category includes all incorrect responses as well as redundant responses that mention 'what scientists do' or 'the scientific method.'
